Advanced Micro Devices today unleashed its new Socket A processor, the Athlon XP 3200+. It may be the last and final high-end Socket A chip ever announced, however, keeping in mind that AMD already postponed the beginning of phasing-out its Socket A, I will not say that the processor is actually the last and final top Socket A CPU.

The main feature of the new processor is 400MHz EV-6 FSB, a 66MHz increase over the previous Athlon XP chips with 333MHz FSB. The core of the new CPU is the famous Barton with 512KB of L2 cache and 128KB of L1 cache. AMD Athlon XP 3200+ with 400MHz FSB CPU runs at 2200MHz, up 33MHz from the Athlon XP 3000+ with 333MHz FSB. The Athlon XP + microprocessors are manufactured using advanced copper 0.13 micron manufacturing technology in Fab30, Dresden, Germany.

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ processor is available immediately worldwide. Systems powered by the AMD Athlon XP processor 3200+ are available immediately from computer manufacturers in North America and Europe. The AMD Athlon XP processor 3200+ is priced at $464 in 1000-unit quantities. Later this year AMD Athlon XP 3000+ processor with 400MHz EV-6 FSB will emerge on the market.

SiS, NVIDIA and VIA Technologies either already announced their chipsets with 400MHz EV-6 FSB support or will unleash such core-logic products shortly. Leading mainboard makers already supply Socket A mainboards with 400MHz EV-6 FSB support.

To learn more about performance of the newcomer in various applications and benchmarks, please read our "AMD Athlon XP 3200+ CPU with 400MHz Bus Review".