OK, if K8/256K has approx same die size as K7, basing Paris on K8 makes sense. (I was under the impression that K8/256K would be larger than K7/512K.) It will have the cost saving of on-die memory controller, good for the value market and better performance per MHz to boot.
Here's what DOESN'T make sense -- eliminating AMD64 compatibility.
The socket supports it, no problem there.
Removing 64-bit capability would not same enough die space to be worth the headache. The 64-bit capability does not "slow down" the chip when running 32-bit Windows. Even if these low-end chips are never connected to more than two 512M DIMMs, by then there will be 64-bit-enabled games, video editing applications, encryption/decryption apps etc for Windows XP 64 that will just run a lot slower in 32-bit mode.
People will buy 64-bit PCs not because they want 4G of RAM, but because it will run their applications faster.
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