The baby of the Athlon family is the 500 MHz model. Originally planned for a June launch, the Athlon 500 finds itself in a position of being a little bit lower down the food chain than AMD had intended. This though is very good for the buyer as this makes the Athlon 500 the value member of the Athlon family with a price tag of around $300 (UK buyers can expect a price tag of somewhere in the region of £300).

Performance of the Athlon 500 will be roughly equal to that of an Intel Pentium III 550, which makes its price tag all the more appealing for gamers and high-end users. Its Floating Point Performance will be roughly that of the Pentium III 550, and its enhanced 3dNow! instruction set will enhance its aleady considerable gaming and 3D performance.

Unfortunately as the Althon launch was delayed by up to nearly two months, the 500 MHz chip is destined to be phased out relatively quickly by AMD as it ramps up the clock speed over the coming months. This chip probably will not be the volume member of the Athlon family as AMD will seek to promote the 550 and 600 MHz chips for this role as they will yield bigger profits for AMD. Whilst though the 500 MHz model will not be the most produced member of the Athlon family, it will present buyers with tremendous value, especially if the price drops towards the £200 point as the chip comes under pressure from the Pentium III over the coming months. This low end (low end! guffaw!) Athlon could turn out to be one of the most unexpected star processors of the year as its low(ish) price coupled to Athlon technology could turn out to be a very good buy indeed.

Availability.

Athlon 550.