Enter the Green Athlon XP

You have to admit, the semiconductor, and indeed the technology industry is a lot like show business. Looks do matter in the general perception of products, and their performance. In the case of consumer electronics especially, if the product looks like it has been built with little regard for quality, chances are high that it won't last very long - at least that's our general impression.

When AMD introduced the Athlon XP on the OPGA (organic pin grid array) substrate they alleviated the problems seen by some Athlon and Duron owners where overzealous heatsink application cracked the processor in two. The move to fiberglass packaging made allowances for some flexing during heatsink installation and also improved processor performance by lowering impedance. The only downside was the rather ugly brown colour of the chips...

New AthlonXP - Green Substrate
Old AthlonXP - Brown Substrate

While this brown colour has nothing to do with the quality of manufacturing, or even how the Athlon XP performs, you couldn't help wonder who had chosen such a dull colour. The older Althons and Durons were placed on a purple ceramic substrate which, while brittle, at least looked like a processor. Thus AMD has recently switched over to a green substrate colour, appearing more like their Intel rivals, and ultimately affecting the impression of first time buyers even if they don't realize it.

With colour now entering into the motherboard industry as a marketable and identifiable feature, you have to wonder if AMD will take the change in AthlonXP substrate colour one step further and bring out a blue, red, or even black AthlonXP?