"Following the release of the XP2700+ and XP2800+, AMD has already begun briefing its motherboard partners on the speeds and features of its upcoming Barton and Hammer chips.
The reasoning behind these briefings, according to AMD, is that partners need to be prepared for the changes introduced by these chips but the timing of the briefings suggests that they were used as a means to soften the blow caused by the expected delay of the chips.
OEM partners just found out that they will not be receiving clawhammer samples within October, as expected, instead, they will have to wait until the end of January 2003.
The facts the briefings contained about the new cores however, were extremely interesting. "
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