The Athlon XP 2700+ represents a significant leap forward for the Athlon line – it solves a long-term problem by stepping up the default frontside bus (FSB) speed from 266MHz to 333MHz.

Last year the Pentium 4 was beginning to show its true colours as a top performance desktop CPU, but it was still squarely outmatched in the value stakes by the new Athlon processor. DDR RAM was also becoming the standard, with SDRAM finally going the way of the extinct plankton, graptolites.

For our system, we wanted high performance without high cost. The performance issue immediately rules out Intels Celeron processors and AMDs Duron processors, although more wallet-conscious buyers wou

nVidia GeForce 256

Fastest PC

Advanced Micro Devices this week introduced its fastest desktop processor, heating up competition with rival chip maker Intel for the hearts of PC enthusiasts and hard-core gamers.

Chip giant Intel has announced that it would introduce a model numbering scheme across its consumer CPU range.

Not long ago both Intel and the underdog, AMD, battled to reach the coveted and psychologically significant 1GHz mark. When the AMD Athlon reached the landmark first - it marked a new era in c

The long awaited 45nm Phenom X4s are coming first thing 2009, if reports are to be believed. And not before time we say.

Shuttle is a bit of a pioneer in the world of barebones PCs, and is one of few manufacturers to have a range of systems on offer and not just a couple of basic units. Its also the only one in this roundup to offer a barebones based around the new Athlon 64.

Up to Gateways usual high standard of build quality,

Fastest PC

The CWS SuperPro S3 has some very nice components under the hood: its equipped with the fastest Athlon XP in this months crop (a 2100+), 512MB of PC2100 DDR and an 80GB HDD.

Emagens offering was the fastest PC overall this month.

We made the decision to test this model as the representative of the leading monitor vendor by volume shipped, having already had the monitor available in the Labs from the Peripherals Plus Athlon in our 600MHz PC Labs (see page 54).The monitor itself is a fairly nondescript piece of equipment.

We spotted an AMD roadmap on Expreview that shows AMD introducing a bevy of e-class Phenoms and Athlons in early 2009.

While this system may not be the highest performer overall in the group, it still represents very good value for money, as demonstrated by its above average 112 Value score.

Over a year ago, the PC Authority Labs team was speculating about the possible union of DDR-RAM with the Pentium 4 processor as an alternative to the problematic pairing with RDRAM. While many of the

All the acronyms and obscure new technologies got you in a jargon jumble? Tim Dean busts it up to help us make sense of it all.