Let's get real for a second. Like it or not, the gross majority of PC gamers are Intel users - regardless of the fervent manner in which some people defend AMD and their products across numerous sites and message boards. Not that there's anything wrong with rooting for the underdog, mind you, but AMD's CPUs have historically and consistently lacked the processing power of Intel's equivalent offerings.

　　That could all change with the release of AMD's K7 this summer, however. The processor is hoped to perform on par with, if not better than, an equivalently clocked Intel Pentium III. The bad news for gamers is that AMD has designed a new core logic architecture for the processor, which means you won't be able to drop it into your favorite Slot-1 motherboard. Instead, manufacturers are tasked with developing brand new motherboards that use AMD's proprietary "Slot-A" architecture - which is where this story finally leads us.

　　Taiwanese manufacturer Gigabyte is now the first company to publicly announce the development of a Slot-A board. While Gigabyte hasn't been very forthcoming with the board's details, we do know that it will feature a 200MHz front-side bus, using Alpha's EV6 protocol (an asynchronous means of communication between the bus and memory), and have 5 PCI slots. Pricing for the new board isn't available yet, but it is expected to ship sometime in September, concurrent with the first K7 batch.

　　Performance isn't the only aspect that dictates a new technology's viability for gamers. Price, compatibility, and industry acceptance all have to be taken into account, and as such, it's still too early to forecast the K7's success. Of course, we'll have full reviews of these upcoming processors and motherboards when they become available for purchase.