"The technical innovations in the K6 have led to exemplary performance," the magazine said in its January 1998 issue. "That edge comes from brilliant engineering."

"The greatest benefit from the AMD-K6 isn't technical, however," PC Magazine continued. "By aggressively competing in an area that showed every sign of being a monopoly, AMD has forced prices down and performance up across the board. That takes more than a good piece of silicon; AMD has shown consistency, reliability and the ability to deliver the K6 in quantity.",P> PC Magazine is the United Kingdom's No. 1 labs-based magazine. The magazine's product laboratories test thousands of products each year and annually honor selected products with Technical Innovation Awards. In addition to receiving the Product of the Year Award, the AMD-K6 processor received the Technical Innovation Award for "Best System Design ­ Processors."

"Showing innovation at all levels, while offering concrete benefits to users, the AMD-K6 is a deserving winner of this award," the magazine said.

The AMD-K6 processor was launched April 2. Currently, more than 100 PC manufacturers offer desktop systems based on the AMD-K6 processor, including IBM, Acer, Digital and Fujitsu/ICL.

"Receiving these awards from such a prestigious independent publication as PC Magazine is an outstanding achievement," said Rob Herb, AMD's vice president of group strategic marketing and co-general manager, Computation Products Group.

"Technical innovation arises from competition, and the AMD-K6 processor restored competition to the microprocessor marketplace, thanks to the PC manufacturers who, by producing AMD-K6 processor-based PCs, turned a compelling processor into today's most compelling PCs," Herb said.