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AMD pitches Athlon 64 at Media Center PC makers

Wants more 64-bit games, too

AMD is trying persuade a number of PC makers, including HP and Gateway, to build its 64-bit processors into future Media Centre PCs instead of Intel's chips.

It also wants the likes Atari and Ubisoft to create 64-bit versions of their games and bundle them on such systems.

So said AMD Athlon 64 product manager John Crank in an interview with Reuters, and who are we to doubt him?

Or to be surprised by the comment. Of course AMD wants to see its processors incorporated into as broad a range of devices as possible, so it shouldn't shock anyone that it's attempting to persuade computer makers to buy its products.

What really defines a Media Centre PC is the software it uses, and there's no reason we can see why Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition shouldn't run as well on an Athlon 64 as a Pentium 4. Microsoft's Media Center UI is essentially just another app that runs on top of Windows XP, and will presumably do so whether the underlying OS is 32-bit or 64-bit. The 64-bit version of XP is expected later this year.

At that time, AMD hopes - having persuaded them to do so - that hardware vendors will bundle software that shows off the benefits of 64-bit computing over the 32-bit domain.

Crank said AMD is talking to Atari and Ubisoft to get them to develop 64-bit versions of their games and then bundle them with Athlon 64-based computers.

"Our intent would be to get those 64-bit versions preloaded on there so when the consumer takes it's home, it's as seamless and effortless as possible for them to realize the benefits of AMD 64-bit technology," he said. ®

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