What is "athlon"

Athlon is the brand name applied to a series of x86-compatible microprocessors designed and manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The original Athlon (now called Athlon Classic) was the first seventh-generation x86 processor. The original Athlon was the first desktop processor to reach speeds of one gigahertz (GHz). AMD has continued using the Athlon name with the Athlon 64, an eighth-generation processor featuring x86-64 (later renamed AMD64) architecture, and the Athlon II. AMD also uses the Athlon name for some of its series of APUs targeting the Socket AM1 desktop SoC architecture.

The Athlon made its debut on June 23, 1999. Athlon comes from the Greek άθλος (athlos) meaning ″contest″.