AMD has unveiled what may be the latest desktop Athlon processor, the 3200+ operates at 2.2GHz and receives the same 'Barton' treatment like the previous 3000+ chip for a final front side bus speed of 400MHz.
It's unfortunate though AMD decided to bump up actual clock speeds so little (only 30MHz faster than its predecessor) and while performance looks good overall it does have a hard time competing with Intel's latest Pentium 4 running at 3GHz on a 800MHz FSB, as a matter of fact, the 3200+ PR rating wouldn't seem to make justice to the P4.
Reviews can be read at: AMDMB, Tech-Report, Firingsquad, HotHardware.
Both VIA and NVIDIA will release new chipsets that will bring full support to the 3200+, KT600 and nForce2 Ultra 400, respectively.
AMD is expected to close the book for the Athlon in terms of high-end offerings after this release though, the company will concentrate on the Athlon 64 that is scheduled to debut in September, then leave the good old Athlon as a lower-end offering as long as it's needed.