AMD announced the release of its most powerful processor to date to resellers and computer manufacturers worldwide – the AMD Athlon XP processor 3000+. Highlights of this latest processor include 640KB of total on-chip cache memory that gives this generation of the Athlon nearly 70 percent more power than previous AMD Athlon XP processors. AMD also claims that the Athlon XP processor 3000+ offers a 17 percent performance boost over competing desktop processor currently on the market – according to testing done on a variety of undisclosed benchmarking software. The AMD Athlon XP processor 3000+ is priced at $588 in 1,000-unit quantities. NEC-CI in Europe is already offering Desktop PCs featuring the new processor, with other manufacturers expected to off systems „any day now”.