Compaq shows off desktop running 1GHz Athlon

Computer giant Compaq teamed up with chipmaker AMD to publicly demonstrate a personal computer running at a ferocious 1 Gigahertz of pure processing power last week.

Clock-speed freaks were able to catch a glimpse of the Compaq Presario desktop dragster at Compaq's booth at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show, held from 6 January to 9 January in Las Vegas.

The Compaq Presario Internet PC is fuelled by a souped-up AMD Athlon processor and exploits KryoTech's patented cooling system to thermally accelerate the Althon's processing speed. Kryotech's SuperG technology creates a "super-cooled" environment within the Presario allowing it to perform at one billion cycles per second. The supercooling method is not, however, practical for consumer use.

Director of consumer desktop product marketing at Compaq Mark Vena is clearly not immune to the mysterious allure of an unnaturally enhanced CPU: "The rich combination of Compaq Presario desktop technology using an AMD Athlon processor and KryoTech's innovative SuperG cooling solution provides a glimpse into what the future holds for consumers who desire incredibly powerful personal computer systems."

Now that the gigahertz barrier has been broken, what's next? Will anyone care when we pass 2GHz? Michael Caton thinks not. Go and read the news comment at AnchorDesk UK.

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