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AMD Hammer Model 3500+ Near?

By Zach Gusky

Date: August 31, 2001

2.0 GHz AMD Hammer Chip Coming Soon?

Industry sources, moles, and various others [ed: could that be us?] have rumored the fact that AMD is MUCH closer to completion of its Hammer series of MPUs than the chipmaker lets on.  The Hammer, AMD's next generation line of 64-bit processors, is perhaps sampling already and could be ready to sell in Q1 of next year.  AMD's public line on these chips is that they won't be ready until the second half of next year.

Some articles and reports suggest that a 2.0 GHz Sledgehammer will be equivalent to three 1 GHz Athlons.  If this is so and if the Athlon was the basis for AMD’s upcoming “Model” rating system, then we could infer that a 2.0 GHz Sledgehammer’s "Model" rating would be 3000+.  But the Athlon is not the basis for AMD’s upcoming “Model” nomenclature -- the Intel Pentium 4 is. 

I believe the whole reason for AMD's, at first glance, apparently ludicrous return to a “PR”-type naming system is that, when compared to the P4, this 2 GHz Hammer would carry around a 3500+ rating.  And this may be at a time when Intel Pentium 4 line tops out at 2.2 GHz.  [ed: Could this be why Intel demoed the 3.5 GHz P4 at IDF last week?]

The AMD Model rating system may not look healthy now when the scheme is being applied to Palomino Athlons, but when consumers realize they are getting a 2.0 GHz chip that can perform roughly at equivalent levels with nonexistent 3.5 GHz Intel Pentium 4s, they will indeed be surprised. 

And consumers WILL take notice.

Look for a significant amount of AMD's marketing budget -- large sums of money -- to be spent on “hammering” home this exact point sometime in the near future.
 

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