AMD shot back at rival Intel Thursday in the ongoing battle for chip supremacy.

AMD shot back at rival Intel Thursday in the ongoing battle for chip supremacy by releasing its fastest Athlon processor to date and by demonstrating a consumer PC that runs at 1 GHz. AMD_s new 800-MHz Athlon, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, matches the clock speed of Intel_s fastest Pentium III chip and actually outperforms the Pentium III in certain benchmark tests, according to analysts. Both IBM and Compaq Computer announced PCs to go along with the chip, while Hewlett-Packard opted for the AMD K6-2 for notebooks for the first time. Meanwhile, AMD, in conjunction with KryoTech and Compaq, showed off a Presario computer with a 1-GHz (1,000 megahertz) Athlon running inside. But consumers won_t see this system in stores; KyroTech_s minus 40 degrees Celsius cooling system, which is attached to the demo Presario, typically only comes with workstations. Still, the demonstration affords the company some bragging rights. The new Athlon, and AMD_s ability to keep up with Intel, are part of a growing sense of optimism for the often-derided company. In the past, AMD processors were slower, or in short supply, in comparison to its bigger rival. Now AMD chips keep up in performance and Intel is the company experiencing a supply pinch, although AMD has seen sporadic supply troubles on its fastest chips as well.