Re:A matter of interpretation? (Score 1)

The Spitfire is an Athlon core with 128K L2 on chip (Athlon has none on chip) in cheap socket7 packaging, and by all accounts predictably does outperform Athlon. I've also read what you said that AMD have Spitfires and don't want to launch them until they have Thunderbirds (again Athlon core, but with 256K L2 and same Athlon cartridge packaging) to take over the high end. Both statements about Spitfire and Thunderbird waiting may be true in that they're waiting to build up volume of both parts before launching. It's also unclear where Athlon will be when Spitfire and Thunderbord are out. If AMD keep producing Athlons then it could be: Spitfire - Athlon - Thunderbird low-high with Spoitfire kept to speeds below Athlon so as to not outshine it, or Althon may be discontinues altogther in favor of Thunderbird it's faster replacement. Incidently there will be two variants of Thunderbird, one with Aluminum interconnnect (same as all existing AMD and Intel chips) that will be manufactured in Austin, and another with AMD's new cpper interconnect manufcatured in Dresden, Germany. The copper version may well be at a higher clock speed than the other. The whole truth may be some combination such as that they have and are stockpiling copper Thunderbirds (I believe this is a fact), which they will release later, and also have Spitfires (made in Austin) which will initially released at lower clock speeds until aluminum Thunderbirds are ready to replace Athlon. Anyway, I think we're going to find out soon. AMD's annual shareholders meeting is on 4/27, and everyone is expecting an announcment of some kind, particularly as they just announced this Athlon sell-out (i.e. all production thru end of Q2 pre-sold). Incidently, I believe AMD stock is a great buy right now, despite the gains over the last year.