The first new AMD CPU on the March part of the roadmap is the clock boosted AMD K6-2 450. The 450 is simply a technology extension of the K6-2 400, and will utilize the same core.

The K6-2 475 is somewhat of a surprise with a June introduction, because it signals that AMD is not yet ready to give up on the 95MHz FSB speed (5.0 x 95MHz = 475MHz). This is odd, since sharp readers will remember Sharky Extreme's earlier testing of a K6-2 300/100 CPU versus a K6-2 333/95 CPU. The testing indicated that the reduction in FSB speed from 100MHz in the 300 to 95MHz in the 333 resulted in nearly identical game benchmark scores between the two CPUs.

The K6-2 475 is apparently positioned squarely against the Intel(r) Celeron(tm) 466. Apparently AMD is maintaining that they can debut the K6-2 475 at a lower price than the similarly debuting in June Intel(r) Celeron(tm) 466. Intel(r) is determined to bring the Celeron(tm) 466 to market with a retail boxed price tag of $200, so that means AMD's target for the K6-2 475 is set.

Both of these CPUs are no surprise, as Sharky Extreme reviewed an early K6-3 400 CPU over a month ago. The surprise to us is really the lack of a K6-3 500 model, which is strangely absent within the 1H/99 AMD roadmap. This doesn't mean that AMD isn't planning on developing a 500MHz version of the "Sharptooth", but it does mean that it won't arrive before July/99.

AMD seems to be pitting the K6-3 line against the Intel(r) P2 series, which by March will only entail the P2-400 and P2-450. We're betting that AMD can bring the K6-3 400 and 450 to market at a price that's around five to ten percent lower than the P2-400 and P2-450 will be at that time (early March).

Our own review of the K6-3 400 CPU found that it compares very favorably with the Intel(r) P2-450…as long as the games that are being run on it are accelerated with AMD's 3DNow! instruction set. Otherwise the K6-3 offers only a slight improvement in performance over a similarly clocked K6-2 CPU (in games).