C|net takes a look at the megahertz war that AMD faces. While the company plans to release a 1.5GHz Athlon next month, the chip will still lag significantly behind Intel’s 2GHz Pentium 4 in terms of pure clockspeed. “While sophisticated PC buyers may consider the current Athlon a better buy or understand that a 1.5GHz Athlon can keep up with the 2GHz Pentium 4 in overall performance, analysts say the vast majority of PC buyers just look at the numbers and go with the bigger one.” Apple has long been battling the megahertz myth itself, with processors that have yet to break 1GHz. Intel, however, may find itself on the flipside of the equation in the future, as its next-generation Itanium chip is presently stalled at 800MHz.
