AMD’s K6-2 CPU’s were a pretty big deal in 1998. The CPU’s was still going to use the Socket 7 platform with no on-die/on-package L2 cache and depend on the motherboard based cache, but AMD was aware that their new CPU’s wouldn’t cut it when it comes to performance using the same ole Socket 7 standard vs the competition. The Pentium II was flexing very well and in part do to their better L2 (Level 2) Cache setup which ran 1/2 the Core’s clock speed. Hence, even the lower clocked 266 MHz P II had it’s L2 Cache running at 133 MHz which is much higher than the standard Socket 7 motherboard cache. And the 2nd generation Celeron (Mendocino) in August ’98 was going to bring strong performance at a lower price and likely be more of a threat to AMD since the cost of the Pentium 2’s were on the high side.
