Carrera pumps up Athlon to 800MHz

The Maurice Greene* of processors is now available from British system builder Carrera. This clever lot have super-charged AMD's Athlon processor, which now runs at a staggering 800MHz, and put it in a workstation -- the Octan Frio. The Athlon processor is cooled to 40 degrees below zero by a patented cryochamber, made by Kryotech. The conductivity of the metal in the processor is increased as the temperature is lowered, making these speeds possible. The system has been designed for users working with image processing, CAD/CAE, scientific applications or digital content creation. But at the product launch, the company demonstrated its power at a gaming session. Carrera says the machine will appeal to those using 3D gaming, entertainment, Internet, and personal productivity software. This machine is not cheap, however, for playing Quake. For £3799 (ex. VAT) you get the rather zippy 800MHz Athlon processor, 256MB 100MHz SDRAM, a 37GB Ultra ATA hard drive, 3D Labs GVX-1 32MB AGP graphics card, 40x CD-ROM drive, Aureal Vortex 2 3D soundcard and a 3Com Ethernet adaptor. The package also includes a keyboard, 19in monitor, mouse and two-year on-site maintenance. ® * Maurice Greene is the fastest man in the world over 100 metres.