According to the rumors circulating on the web, AMD is getting ready to launch a new revision of the Thoroughbred core used in contemporary Athlon XP processors. According to Amdmb.com, the new Thoroughbred revision will be used in Athlon XP 2400+ and 2600+, which are due in Q3 and Q4 2003 respectively.

These rumors look pretty credible, so that I dare believe them. It is no secret that AMD Athlon XP 2200+, the first solutions based on the new 0.13micron Thoroughbred core, do not boast any outstanding overclocking potential. At the same time the launching of Athlon XP 2400+ and 2600+ will push AMD to increase the Thoroughbred core frequency up to 2GHz and 2.13GHz. And here AMD might face some problems as the tests showed. This is where the new core revision is right in time, as it will be adopted for work at higher core frequencies due to the polished manufacturing technology and some changes in the core structure.

The second part of this rumor spread by the British The Inquirer sounds much more sensational. Athlon XP 2400+ and 2600+ are rumored to be moved to a new faster 333MHz bus. However, this statement is quite likely to be far from reality. Although the increase in the bus frequency like that alongside with the use of faster DDR333 memory may improve the Socket A systems performance by a few percents, you should bear in mind that the current infrastructure is not yet ready for the faster bus. There are no mainboards supporting 333MHz FSB, no chipsets as well. Moreover, none of the developers ahs any plans of the kind. Therefore, we wouldn’t expect AMD to change anything in terms of their system bus (especially as AMD claims that they will not increase the bus frequency even after they shift to Barton core).