In what it likens to Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon and Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, AMD has become the first mainstream processor manufacturer to break the coveted 1GHz clock-speed barrier. As of this morning, AMD, Intel's largest and only rival, announced the availability of its 1GHz Athlon processors, a CPU that wasn't expected to release until later this year.

　　"The commencement of commercial shipments of 1GHz AMD Athlon processors is a watershed event not only for AMD, but also for the personal computer industry," said AMD chairman and CEO W.J. Sanders III. "Attaining the 1GHz performance mark has long been a paramount goal for producers of PC processors. Introduction of a PC processor capable of executing one billion clock cycles per second is our industry's equivalent of breaking the sound barrier."

　　Unlike Kryotech's 1GHz Athlon system, which was demonstrated at last year's Comdex in Las Vegas, this new processor stands on its own merits, and it isn't a supercooled and overclocked version of a slower Athlon. The new 1GHz Athlon doesn't come cheap, however, as AMD is charging system vendors US$1,299 per processor in quantities of 1,000. In fact, AMD is limiting processor distribution strictly to two companies, so hardware junkies craving this speed demon will have to buy a complete system through either Gateway or Compaq - for the time being at least.

　　AMD also announced the availability of 950MHz and 900MHz Athlon processors today as well.