The second AMD Athlon XP 3000+ CPU with 400MHz made its appearance in Japanese retail stores a couple of days ago, Akiba PC Hotline reports. A US-based company also offers the chip according to PriceWatch search-engine. About one month after AMD launched its Athlon XP 3200+ processor for higher-end personal computers the company started to sell a more affordable solution with the same 400MHz FSB.

The Athlon XP 3000+ processor with 512KB L2 cache for 400MHz FSB is clocked at 2100MHz, while the original 3000+ CPU with 512KB of L2 cache for 333MHz bus functions at 2167MHz. The microprocessors feature 1.65V Vcore and dissipate nearly the same amount of heat. OPN of the novelty is AXDA3000DKV4E.

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ is priced at about $280 in Japan, considerably lower than $480 for the Athlon XP 3200+ microprocessor. The US-based Monarchcomputer.com sells the chip for $289. I believe that once more Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz and 3.20GHz  appear on the market, prices on AMD’s 3000+ and 3200+ will start to get lower.