Two of the biggest PC makers have now announced plans for high-end models built around AMD's new Athlon chip.

Compaq says its new Presario 5861 will come equipped with an AMD Athlon 600-MHz chip, 128 Mb of memory, a 13 Gb hard drive, a fast 3DFX graphics subsystem, and a 17" monitor for $1,999. The system will be available within 30 days, company officials said.

Mercury Research tested systems with 600MHz chips and found that PCs built around the Athlon processor scored up to 14 percent higher than an identically configured system based on Intel's Pentium III.

IBM is expected to unveil a new consumer PC built around the 650-MHz version, the fastest of the AMD chips, later this week.

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