Family of x86-compatible processors introduced by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) in 1999. Athlon, which was code-named AMD-K7, is a successor to the AMD-K6 family. Comparable to upper-end Intel Pentium III processors in performance, Athlon is distinguished by over 22 million transistors; a fully pipelined, superscalar floating-point engine, which enhances performance of graphics and multimedia programs, Internet streaming applications, and games; a 200-MHz system bus; and a 128-KB L1 cache. Although the L2 cache is 512 KB in size, the Athlon can support L2 cache sizes up to 8 MB. The first Athlon releases featured clock speeds of 500 to 650 MHz; 800-MHz and faster versions are now available. Athlon, which runs 32-bit programs, is compatible with most PC operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Linux, OS/2 Warp, and NetWare.