AMD Athlon 933MHz to cost less than $850 in April

Taiwanese OEMs close to AMD's plans have leaked details of the likely price cuts the firm is predicting for April, confirming once again the serious attempt it will make to topple Intel off its previously impregnable pricing tower. Yesterday we revealed that AMD will cut and slash its Athlon pricing next Monday, the 28th of February. But by April there will be a 933MHz Athlon -- which implies a 266/133MHz DDR/SDRAM bus. In April, the 600MHz Athlon will reach the end of its life. The 650MHz will cost $192, the 700MHz $235, the 750MHz $325, the 800MHz $495, the 850MHz $725 and the new 933MHz Athlon $860. These prices do not include heatsink and fans. According to the Taiwanese sources, the prices above are the minimum cuts AMD will make, and closer to the time the slashes are likely to be deeper still. Further good news for AMD and its Athlon Powers suggest that FIC's (First International Corporation's) SK11 boards are likely to hit OEMs real soon now, for around $85. These will use the Via KX153 chipset supporting 133MHz synchronous memory 4xAGP and other features. According to the source, the FIC SK11 has a software BIOS overclocking facility which will allow users to keep clocking up the board until it fails, and then to auto-drop to the last reliable clock-up. This mobo, apparently, will also tell users what error codes are, using real-life phrases like: "Your video it not working too well." The OEM splash screen will support 256 colours at 640 x 480, our source adds. ® See also AMD to slaughter Intel on Athlon pricing Intel's Pentium III pricing to June Intel's Celeron pricing to June Intel's Y2K desktop, server, mobile roadmap