From all reports, a demonstration of the 4x4 system, featuring two dual-core Athlon 64 FX processors, was impressive on high load tasks such as gaming and multi-tasking, and clearly better than a single processor unit.

The 4x4 sits in two sockets, with each processor separately allocated up to 2M of cache.

However, strapping two dual-core chips together is clearly a stop gap measure until AMD can come up with something to match the performance of Intel's new range of Core 2 Duo dual-core chips, particularly the Core 2 Extreme processors that wowed audiences in previews last week.

The problem for AMD is that it won't be bringing out its quad-core offering until mid-2007, while Intel will bring its first quad-core product to market by the end of the year. In the meantime, Intel is getting very aggressive in the performance stakes after being whipped by AMD for the past couple of years. {moscomment}