System Builders Pick Up the Pace

To keep whittling away at rivals' share in the server and workstation markets, AMD keeps tweaking away at the Athlon MP processor responsible. The new Athlon MP 2600+ is the company's fastest multiprocessor chip to date.

Priced at $273 in 1,000-unit quantities, the Athlon MP 2600+ (which runs at 2.133GHz, a notch up from the 2.0GHz of the previous flagship Athlon MP 2400+) features AMD's Smart MP technology with dual high-speed, point-to-point system buses. It's built using the company's 0.13-micron copper process technology in OPGA (organic pin grid array) fiberglass packaging.