"Provided that the rumoured information above is correct and AMD’s plans do not change, a year from now there will still be a bunch of 32-bit only CPUs from AMD. This means that software developers will not be very interested in optimizing their products for higher-end AMD 64-bit CPUs earlier than in 2005 or even later timeframe. This means that AMD may loose one of its very important advantages in case there are more 32-bit only processors than 32-/64-bit chips in the market."

If there is demand for cheep 32-bit CPUs AMD will supply for that demand. Plus users who buy a 754-pin AthlonXP will be able to upgrade to a 754-pin Athlon64. Intel has 80% of the desktop marke, if developers port to x86-64 they arn't going to do it because 20% of the market is capable of 64-bit. And actually it comes back to supply and demand if people demand 64-bit software, then it will be supplied by the developers. It comes down to money, not that AMD is still selling 32-bit CPUs.

Now that you have been proven wrong, will you please do a retraction?

The Athlon is being ramped up, not the Athlon 64 being ramped down. Sheesh read the roadmap again.

It would be interesting if they made a Athlon64 (single-channel) 754pin into a dual-channel system. This would put a memory controler on the north bridge that communicates with the CPU over the Hyper-transport front side bus. Cheaper chip, slighlty more expensive motherboard, more performance (DDR- or DDRII PC3200+ non-ECC SDRAM) ?

Personally I think its a smart move for AMD because it puts all of there processors on a common platform, making it easier for consumers to actually upgrade to a 64-bit proc later on down the road. As long as they keep the two lines compatible, they should increase the want and demand, for their 64-bit processor. Unlike Intel who does not have an x86-64 processor on the market at this time, and has to have a completely different setup for their 64-bit processor, making it more expensive for consumers, and less likely for a consumer to do the upgrade.

Could be a winner if they let you enable mixed-32/64 bit mode. Like the 80386sx

i have a Athlon 64 3300+ Real Code Name Paris Core, Aka Newcastle now, but its everything the 3100+ is except 64 an sse 3 disabled, everything else is all the same, you know about this Paris Core 3300+ i got some screen shots u may wanna see, email me back @ inursadmachines@gmail.com