A big welcome please, for... Thunderbirdgate. Or should that be ThunderVIAbirdgate? AMD users hoping to update to the next slot A version of Athlon, the Thunderbird, are in for a disappointment. Our friends at Tecchannel in Germany have a story here detailing timing problems with the Slot A version of the chip (the socket A version is OK, apparently) and VIA's KX-133. The upcoming KZ-133 and AMD's own Irongate chipsets are reported to work fine. More than 30 Slot A motherboards currently use the KX-133. It is believed the problems stem from longer traces on the Slot A cartridge which lead to the timing inconsistency. A similar problem with trace lengths led to Intel reducing the number of Rambus RIMMs supported on its Vancouver VC820 mobo late last year. As a result, AMD will now only ship "slotted" TBirds to OEMs and will try to stop them getting into the hands of retailers. So it looks like new mobos all round for upgraders, then. That'll teach them to laugh at Intel's 820 Caminogate misfortunes.