233-MHz K6 nears Pentium II

More evidence has surfaced indicating Intel's (INTC) future Pentium II processor will face strong competition from Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) K6 processor.

In the wake of reports in German publications as well as an online site that the Pentium II may not perform as well as expected, PC World is reporting that a 233-MHz K6 processor from AMD comes close to matching a 266-MHz Intel Pentium II processor in performance.

The AMD K6 processor is slated for introduction on April 2, while the Pentium II is expected in May. Both processors come with MMX technology.

The upshot is that while AMD's processor will offer performance on par with the Pentium II, it is expected to engender systems that are less costly than Intel Pentium II systems. This is because the AMD chip can be used in current Pentium-based PC designs while the Pentium II requires new, more costly designs.

"That [K6 performance approaching Pentium II performance] is consistent with what I would expect to see. Also, there's a ton of money to be saved by going with the K6 [over the Pentium II]," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Dataquest.

AMD has also announced a chipset to deliver the building blocks for low-cost, high-performance PCs based on the K6 processor.