AMD Duron (General Comments on Processors)

Member Name: ryanbritto

Product:	General Comments on Processors
Date:	20/01/01 (296 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fast,

Disadvantages: quite expensive

So, I took my AMD K6-2 and sent it packing... but I didn't want to go back to Intel just yet. I like to think of the AMD Duron as an Athlon with a reduced cache. It still has more cache than a comparable Intel Celeron processor, has a more advanced internal architecture, is built with a .18 micron aluminum die-casting process for more speed with less power consumption at a reduced price, and has the ability to communicate with the motherboard at 200 Mhz as opposed to 66Mhz for the Celeron.

The Duron requires a pretty powerful cooling fan, and I've got a heat sink in a cylindrical configuration on top of it with the fan in the middle of the cylinder. I've had to keep my case closed because this fan could easily cut a finger or paw should a cat decide to investigate what that whirring noise is. I've left this system running SETI@Home and some benchmark tests when I am at work and it hasn't triggered the cooling alarm on the motherboard yet. It's stayed pretty cool.

This processor currently works with a Via KT133 chipset, and a few motherboard manufacturers have already released products with the Socket A to sink this devil's teeth into. I settled on a GA-7ZM from Gigabyte - no ISA slots at all in that puppy and sound was integrated on to it. The AGP slot says it's 4x, but who makes a 4x card yet? I even managed to trade up my PC-100 memory for PC-133 without much of a hassle even though there were jumpers I could have used to tell the motherboard to use the PC-100 and like it.

Infant Mortality

I don't know if this was because they rushed the things out too quickly, but both my Duron and my motherboard died when I was trying to assemble my new system around them. The parts shop swapped them under the warranty without a problem... stuff happens.

Performance

It's been extremely responsive compared to the AMD K6-2 550Mhz and the motherboard it replaced. I've found that my &qu
ot;recent" game purchases such as Mortyr and Ultima IX and Thief have become significantly more responsive, even though AMD would probably rather have me get an Athlon for such things. Thief has absolutely no lag to it at all in rendering at a reasonable resolution.

There have been no processor-related errors so far with Windows 98. On a lark, I put in a different hard drive and tried Windows 2000 for a bit. My system was much peppier than a Celeron 500 MHz-filled iPaq I tinkered with a week ago.

Just running my usual applications of Word and Outlook Express and Yahoo Messenger and so on all at once, I have yet to hit a snag unless it's been because I'm on a slow 56K dial-up line to the Internet.

Price

Compared to the "equivalent" Celeron processors, the Duron is settling in at prices much less than them. I got my Duron 700, motherboard with sound, and a trade of PC-100 to PC-133 for around £200. I did a little math and found that I could probably put together a system that will smoke the iPaq C500 for £400 to £500 and still provide some room for expansion in the future. If it weren't for that pesky need to pay for an operating system... but still the newsroom may be filled with Duron clones when the budget year rolls around and it's time to replace those creaking P200MMX's in Compaq cases.

Still, when the major manufacturers start tinkering with Durons and don't have to deal with those suspicious Rambus memory chips, you're going to find some pretty sweet peppy systems way under £600. As more motherboard and chipset manufacturers get into the Duron game, the prices are going to come down even more.

I'd suggest the 600 MHz variety of this processor over the AMD K6-2 or -3 at this point for the people needing a basic, cheap system to get their chequebook, finances, document writing, e-mail, and web surfing going. The additional cache and clock speed are worth the extr
a dollars it takes to get into the game. Later on in this product's lifecycle, you'll be able to extend the lifepan of whatever motherboard you get now with the 600 MHz with the final version of the Duron that will go into your system. I'm betting on a 1.2 GHQ version to end the run, but I could be wrong.

I'll be borrowing a copy of Diablo 2 from someone this weekend to see if this Duron can handle the current crop of games.

Summary: