AMD Intros New Processors

Advanced Micro Devices unveiled another member in its 64-bit Athlon processor family -- the 64 FX-53 -- aimed at gamers and other high performance users.

AMD announced the processor Thursday amid endorsements from champion gamers. While it isn't available in end user configurations yet, AMD said the Athlon 64 FX-53 can easily be used to upgrade from systems using the Athlon 64 FX-51, because the two processors share the same socket-940 infrastructure.

AMD is targeting the new processor at "hard-core gamers, digital content creators and other performance-demanding customers," the company said in a statement.

Many popular computer games, originally created for 32-bit x86 processor architectures, are beginning to take advantage of AMD-based 64-bit systems. Cevat Yerli, CEO of game producer Crytek, said his firm will soon release a new version of the "Far Cry" action game that has been created to run on the 64-bit processor.

The 64 FX-53 is available for $733 in lots of 1,000.In another development, AMD announced Wednesday a low-power model of the Athlon for light notebooks, the AMD XP-M processor 2100+. Immediately in the wake of the AMD announcement, Fujitsu Computer Systems said it will use the processor to upgrade its Lifebook S2000 notebook. The low-power processor is priced at $97 per unit in quantities of 1,000.

AMD said manufacturers in China and Taiwan are planning to offer systems based on the low-power processor in the second half of the year.