AMD this week started to ship its Athlon XP 2800+ processor announced back in early October (see this news-story). At this time AMD only supplies its fastest CPU to limited number of system integrators and not in retail channel. It is rumoured that that the Athlon XP 2800+ processors will appear on the retail market only in the first quarter next year.

What is a bit funny, I learnt about the fact not from an AMD’s press release, but from NVIDIA’s one. Apparently, Falcon Northwest now offers Mach V personal computers for gamers based on NVIDIA nForce2 Leadtek WinFast K7NCR18D-Pro mainboard and the AMD Athlon XP 2800+ processor with 333MHz FSB. The price of Mach V system, including the nForce2-based mainboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800+ processor and ATI RADEON 9700 PRO graphics card starts from $2186 and one can configure the system according to personal needs online here.

Well, it seems that AMD managed to get the Athlon XP 2800+ CPUs to the market almost on time, in early December, but not in late November, as it was said in October. Unfortunately for AMD, Intel supplies loads of the Pentium 4 2.80GHz processors to the retail channels, therefore, those gamers, who build computers on their own are very likely to go with Intel this year.

Also see the following:

- Athlon XP 2800+ with nForce2 CPU Review
- AMD to Launch Even Faster Athlon XP “Thoroughbred” Processors. 2900+? 3000+?
- On Availability of the New AMD Processors. Athlon XP 2400+: Now, Athlon XP 2800+: in 2003
- Overclockability of Athlon XP 2800+ Processors. They Cannot Be Overclocked
- Amaze Me, Impress Me: AMD Launches Athlon XP 2700+ and 2800+. Recognise the Performance!
- AMD Slashes the Prices on the Desktop CPUs: Athlon XP to Beat the Celerons and the Pentium 4 to Beat the Athlon XPs