Athlon 64 Hits The Store Shelves

December 10, 2003 (1:36 PM EST)

The 64-bit AMD Athlon rubber is hitting the road as PC makers are beginning to sell the machines to end users. TigerDirect.com, Emachines, and Hewlett-Packard are offering the machines.

Besides the 64-bit power, the PCs are unique in that they run 32-bit software applications in native mode as well as new 64-bit software created for the processor. Initial users are expected to run the gamut from gamers and multimedia enthusiasts to scientists and engineers.

Emachines, a low-price supplier, has sent a limited supply to Best Buy retail outlets and the machines are also available at the PC maker's web site starting at $1300. TigerDirect.com, another budget supplier, is offering a Systemax brand model. Prices for the Athlon 64-based machines are somewhat higher than typical PC configurations, but not out of reach for most PC buyers. The Emachines model features 512MB of 400 MHz double data rate RAM. TigerDirect.com is offering more robust configurations with 1Gigabyte RAM, 160MB hard drive, DVD burner and many additional features for $1,780.

Hewlett-Packard is selling Athlon 64-based PCs only from its Web site at this time. Advanced Micro Devices unveiled the product in September.