AMD debuts entry-level dual-core Athlon, cuts prices

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) added a new dual-core Athlon 64 processor to the bottom end of its desktop X2 line, and cut prices to earlier models of the cpu.

The 3800+, a 2GHz chip that sports 512K of L2 cache memory, is meant to push AMD's dual-core technology into a broader market by virtue of its $394 price point in lots of 1,000, the lowest price for the double-processor chips.

AMD dropped prices of other X2 processors at the same time. The top-of-the-line 2.4GHz 4800+ X2, for instance, fell to $902 from $1,001 in lots of 1,000.

The X2 line also features AMD's Enhanced Virus Protection (EVP) technology, the chip maker's name for No eXecute, a way to block some, though not all, buffer overflow attacks.

Rival Intel unveiled its first dual-core desktop chip, the Pentium D, in May, just days before AMD rolled out its first X2.

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