AMD Duron Vs. T-Bird

[Keith O. McKeever, Jr.]

I am in the process of finishing off my system and the only thing I need is my processor.


I am on a very limited budget right now and I see that through Pricewatch.com I can pick up a Duron 900 MHz processor fairly cheap. My question is should I just buy the Duron 900 MHz or should I spend the extra few bucks to pick up a T-Bird 900 MHz or 1 GHz? Just curious to see what your feedback would be....

[UnseenMenace]

Well obviously the Tbird is the better CPU and if you can stretch to that.. I would stretch... However the Duron is a great CPU and will be enough for most people
I run a Duron 800 @ 1050 which suits my needs at the moment however should my budget allow I would get a Tbird

[TranceBear]

You have a much better chance to acheive those monster O/C that we all want with the 1ghz. People say the AXIA is the bomb, and they are right, but I swear by the AVIA for obvious reasons (see sig). Good Luck!

[n2]

my opinion, is that if you want to O/C the chip..
get a 700 or better yet, a 600 Duron
because they do better, for O/C'ing vs. a 900 duron
and the cost factor is significantly cheaper, for what seems to be a better chip.

the Athlon is still too high priced for the budget minded.
and since the new AMD's should cause prices to drop alot.. i'd spend 40 bucks now and upgrade later to a AXIA 1gig when they're more reasonable.

[Keith O. McKeever, Jr.]

I just figured maybe if I posted the rest of my system (which I should have done in my original post!)...maybe it would help...

Mid Tower Generic Case w/ 400W PS
3 total case fans
Abit KT7A MoBo
512 MB PC133 RAM (1 DIMM)
Jaton GeForce MX400 32 MB AGP Video Card
Creative Labs SoundBlaster Gamer 5.1 PCI Sound Card
Sony 3.5" Floppy Drive
Samsung 52X CD-ROM Drive
Hewlett-Packard 9350i 10/8/32X CD-RW Drive
Maxtor DiamondMax 45.0 GB 7200 RPM ATA100 Hard Drive

[WillysNut]

Keith O. McKeever, Jr. (Jun 06, 2001 12:57 p.m.):
I am in the process of finishing off my system and the only thing I need is my processor.


I am on a very limited budget right now and I see that through Pricewatch.com I can pick up a Duron 900 MHz processor fairly cheap. My question is should I just buy the Duron 900 MHz or should I spend the extra few bucks to pick up a T-Bird 900 MHz or 1 GHz? Just curious to see what your feedback would be....

Keith...Duron's and Athlon's come from two separate plants. Duron's contain Alumnium interconnects whereas Athlon's/TB's containg Copper interconnects. What does this mean...a much better chance at stable overclocking w/ Copper.

Copper Interconnects create less resistance and better electromigration, leading to a cooler running, better performing chip. The difference in cost is becuse Copper is harder to work w/. I just bought a Duron because of money and...for the challenge. If I had the money...I'd have bought an Athlon or T-Bird. Hope this helps

[Keith O. McKeever, Jr.]

After all your help (thanks to everyone!), I laid down the money last night for a Duron 800 MHz NIB that someone sold to me dirt cheap, as cheap as I could find it on Pricewatch.com for OEM stuff. Gotta love having friends in high places... :)

Anyway, should be here this weekend. I can't wait to get it, and since I didn't spend that much on it (less than $50.00), I am not going to feel overly upset about O/C'ing it. I realize the defogger repair kit is the best way to go but who on here is using the graphite pencil method and running it stable? We did that to my friends PC and he is running the T-Bird 900 MHz stable with air cooling at a little over a 1 GHz.

Question 2 - I have the FOP38 cooler ready to slap on the bad boy so what, in your humble opinions would be reasonable to attempt for with regards to O/C?

Just to let you know here is what my other system is running right now (to show that I am no baby to O/C'ing):

Tyan Trinity 1590S MoBo
AMD K6*2 400 MHz Processor @ 500 MHz 2.4V Air Cooled
256 MB of PC100 RAM (2 * 64 MB, 1 * 128 MB)
Western Digital 20.1 Ultra/66 Hard Drive
Mitsumi 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive
LG-Electronics 32X CD-ROM Drive (SUCKS REALLY BAD)
Hewlett-Packard 10/4/32X CD-RW Drive
Diamond Viper 770 Ultra nVidia TNT2 Ultra 32 MB AGP Video Card
Creative Labs SB Live! MP3 PCI Sound Card
Creative Labs ModemBlaster PCI Modem Card
ADS Tech USBX404 TurboQuad 4 PCI USB Card

Running stable at the following temps:
At Idle = 33*C
Under Normal Load (Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2 Internet Explorers) = 36-7*C
Under Gaming Mode (After 3 hours straight of gaming with Tony Hawk PS2 or BG II) = 42-5*C

[UnseenMenace]

Keith O. McKeever, Jr. (Jun 07, 2001 09:42 a.m.):

Question 2 - I have the FOP38 cooler ready to slap on the bad boy so what, in your humble opinions would be reasonable to attempt for with regards to O/C?

Most of them hit the 1ghz
my Duron 800 @ 1050 (7.5 x140)

[tim]

yes; most of them hit about 1 G. My 800 DURON worked fine at 7.5x140=1050mhz but I have to stick with 7.5x133=1G because the NIC is so sensitive to anything higher than 33mhz.

[!-=sky=-!]

hmm

duron 750@990
7.5 X 131
can't go higher due to crappy cooling
FOP32 with 4500rpm ys tech fan
how bad does that suck?

[Rob Cork]

Keith O. McKeever, Jr. (Jun 07, 2001 09:42 a.m.):
...I realize the defogger repair kit is the best way to go but who on here is using the graphite pencil method and running it stable? We did that to my friends PC and he is running the T-Bird 900 MHz stable with air cooling at a little over a 1 GHz...
[/i]

I used a graphite pencil for my duron for the first 4 months I had it, but all of a sudden it just refused to boot at the gig I'd had it running at. Also i couldn't seem to unlock it anymore with the pencil, so I got some conductive silver paint and used that. Doesn't seem to have got me a higher oc as some people find, but I feel much safer knowing that all my multiplier settings will work. Pencil may work fine, and you might at least try it - but the best way in terms of reliability will always be the conductive pen or paint.