At least some partners of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices have received AMD Athlon 64 4200+ microprocessor which is made using 90nm process technology and sports numerous enhancements over currently available Athlon 64 4000+ and FX-55 models.

A Chinese web-site's forum member has posted what he claimed to be a benchmark result of the AMD Athlon 64 4200+ processor as well as a screenshot from a microprocessor identification program which could not correctly determine the brand-name of the product, but could reveal its specifications. At press-time the pictures were available over XtremeSystems.org and Digital-Info web-sites.

AMD's Athlon 64 4200+ processor is clocked at 2.60GHz, contain 1MB of L2 cache and sport dual-channel PC3200 memory controller, copying major specs of the currently shipping AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processor for Socket 939 infrastructure. However, the Athlon 64 4200+ is made using 90nm fabrication processor, sports SSE3 instructions as well as minor memory controller enhancements. Potentially, the chip may also fit into lower thermal envelope than the FX-55 model.

Availability of the AMD Athlon 64 4200+ processor among those affiliated with AMD may indicate approaching commercial release of the chip. Still, the launch is not inevitable just because of that.

According to unofficial sources, AMD's Athlon 64 FX-57 processor at 2.80GHz made using 90nm Silicon-on-Insulator process technology will be released in Q2 2005. By the time the AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 hits the market, the Sunnyvale, California-based chipmaker will have launched its Athlon 64 4000+ (Q4 2004), Athlon 64 4200+ (Q1 2005) and Athlon 64 4400+ (Q2 2005), some sources said.

Advanced Micro Devices did not comment on the news-story.

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