AMD puts new face on Opteron, Athlon 64

The chipmaker on Tuesday launched a new logo program designed to help identify products that contain its Opteron workstation and server processor and its forthcoming Athlon 64 processor for PCs.

AMD, which refers to the 64-bit chips collectively as its AMD64 platform, will offer three similar logos, including one for the AMD64 platform and one for each of the chips. The logos will be used in AMD's advertising and packaging as well as in ads and packaging from third parties that license the icons.

A PC maker will be able to affix an Athlon 64 logo to one of its PCs that contain the chip. A company like graphics chipmaker Nvidia could use a logo on the packaging of a graphics card to show it is compatible with the chips.

AMD plans to launch the Athlon 64 chip, designed for both desktop PCs and notebook PCs, in September.

The Opteron came out in April. Last week, AMD boosted the chip to 2GHz with introduction of its new Opteron model 246.

The chips use a new approach AMD created that extends the x86 architecture, the underpinnings of PC processors like the Athlon, to 64 bits. The change helps increase performance by allowing for measures such as increasing the amount of memory a computer can use. But AMD says the chips can still run standard 32-bit software, including applications such as word processors, giving customers an upgrade path once 64-bit software and operating systems become widely available.