The layman and expert will be equally impressed: Tom's Hardware Guide received the opportunity to take a closer look at two working test systems - each of which was equipped with the AMD "Claw Hammer". Suse Linux (64 bit) was installed on one of the PCs, and Windows XP (32 bit version) was installed on the other.

Hammer processors compared: Sledge Hammer (left) for use with servers, and Claw Hammer (right) for desktop use.

Although the test systems were using models that are still in their very early stages, they seemed to be stable. However, AMD was unwilling to tell us the clock speed and performance details. Also, they did not grant our wish to restart both of the PCs in order to look at the BIOS messages, despite repeated requests. So for now, we bring you the first exclusive images of the two systems, as well as the AMD "Solo 2" motherboard.

Two of the early test systems with the AMD Claw Hammer: the one on the left with Suse Linux and the one on the right with Windows XP.

An open Claw Hammer system.

A system running with Claw Hammer.