Can anyone tell me the differences between the AMD Athlon, Duron, and Thunderbird. Which is best?..
Difference between Athlon/Duron/Tbird
- Thread starter bscott88
- Start date
Athlon can be either a classic Athlon or a Thunderbird.
Classic Athlon:
This is the older version. Available in Slot A only. Most of the faster ones not have the L2 running at CPU speed. If you are buying a processor, do not buy these. If you have an existing Slot A board you want to use, go with the TBird. Its cheaper and faster.
Duron:
An Athlon with a smaller L2 cache. This chip has 128k L1 cache and 64K L2 cache and comes as socket A only. Quite overclockable and very cheap. Faster than the Celeron. A little bit slower than the TBird. Comparable to the classic Athlon at high clock speeds. Excellent value.
TBird:
An Athlon with L2 cache running at full speed. This makes it faster than the classic Athlon at high clock speeds. Comes in socket A or slot A, though only the slower speeds are available in slot A. Overclockable, but not as much as the Duron. Also an excellent value, but not quite as much value as the Duron. If you want 1.25GHz, this is the way to go.
Summary:
TBird and Duron are both great. Duron is a lot cheaper, and you can get pretty far with a $45 Duron 600. The TBird is a bit more pricey, but if you want a top of the line chip, you can get a 900+ TBird and OC it. Obviously, the 1.2GHz TBird is the "best" in terms of performance. Duron 600 is "best" in terms of value.
Classic Athlon:
This is the older version. Available in Slot A only. Most of the faster ones not have the L2 running at CPU speed. If you are buying a processor, do not buy these. If you have an existing Slot A board you want to use, go with the TBird. Its cheaper and faster.
Duron:
An Athlon with a smaller L2 cache. This chip has 128k L1 cache and 64K L2 cache and comes as socket A only. Quite overclockable and very cheap. Faster than the Celeron. A little bit slower than the TBird. Comparable to the classic Athlon at high clock speeds. Excellent value.
TBird:
An Athlon with L2 cache running at full speed. This makes it faster than the classic Athlon at high clock speeds. Comes in socket A or slot A, though only the slower speeds are available in slot A. Overclockable, but not as much as the Duron. Also an excellent value, but not quite as much value as the Duron. If you want 1.25GHz, this is the way to go.
Summary:
TBird and Duron are both great. Duron is a lot cheaper, and you can get pretty far with a $45 Duron 600. The TBird is a bit more pricey, but if you want a top of the line chip, you can get a 900+ TBird and OC it. Obviously, the 1.2GHz TBird is the "best" in terms of performance. Duron 600 is "best" in terms of value.
Are all 850 and greater Slot A Athlons now T-Birds?
I've heard lots of reports of Slot A T-Birds. Question is, are ALL new Slot A Athlons T-birds?
I'm hoping AMD doesn't forget the early Athlon adopters who bought Slot A.
I've heard lots of reports of Slot A T-Birds. Question is, are ALL new Slot A Athlons T-birds?
I'm hoping AMD doesn't forget the early Athlon adopters who bought Slot A.
great answers everyone! very concise and easy to understand. now.... can someone please explain what makes women tick? 
:Q
:QSlot A TBirds are supposed to be OEM only, but they can still be found at retailers. They are just OEM packaged and do not come with the same type of warranty.
"Thunderbird" is AMD's code name for intergrated L2 cache memory, so technically, even Durons are "Thunderbirds". The name got a lot of recognition when the OEM-only SlotA "thunderbird" core CPU's starting flowing through the grey market. SlotA "thunderbird" core CPU's were never released in retail form due to incompatibilities with the KX133 chipset, they only run RELIABLY on the AMD 751 "Irongate" chipset.
Here's the line-up:
[*]Athlon "Classic", SlotA, 512k L2 cache, max cache speed 350Mhz 500-1Ghz
[*]Athlon "Thunderbird" SlotA, 256k L2 cache, runs at core speed 700-1Ghz
[*]Athlon "Thunderbird" SocketA, 256k L2 cache, runs at core speed 700-1.2Ghz
[*]Duron SocketA, 64k L2 cache, runs at core speed 600-800Mhz
Here's the line-up:
[*]Athlon "Classic", SlotA, 512k L2 cache, max cache speed 350Mhz 500-1Ghz
[*]Athlon "Thunderbird" SlotA, 256k L2 cache, runs at core speed 700-1Ghz
[*]Athlon "Thunderbird" SocketA, 256k L2 cache, runs at core speed 700-1.2Ghz
[*]Duron SocketA, 64k L2 cache, runs at core speed 600-800Mhz
Zak,
Personally I think that the cheapness of the CPU offsets the extra cost of the motherboard. The $130 baord is the one that can be used to OC, with that along with a $45 CPU would cost $175. With this $175 CPU and mobo, you can get up to around 850-900MHz. Not bad.
Of course if you don't want to OC, the MSI K7T Pro is pretty cheap (~$100) and its a nice board.
Personally I think that the cheapness of the CPU offsets the extra cost of the motherboard. The $130 baord is the one that can be used to OC, with that along with a $45 CPU would cost $175. With this $175 CPU and mobo, you can get up to around 850-900MHz. Not bad.
Of course if you don't want to OC, the MSI K7T Pro is pretty cheap (~$100) and its a nice board.
Yeah, true. I have 1Ghz T-bird running on K7T, great board, I don't o/c, but some people asked me about el cheapo (but decent) computer, not for games, and I wish there was a simple $80-90 Duron mobo or $100 with some kind of video/sound option.
Zak
Zak
Zak,
The MSI K7T Pro has onboard sound and sells for about $100. Not to mention that fact that it is a great board if you don't plan to OC.
The MSI K7T Pro has onboard sound and sells for about $100. Not to mention that fact that it is a great board if you don't plan to OC.
Yeah, I just noticed the price drop! I paid $130 few weeks ago. I've seen it for $99 this morning at MWave. THAT is indeed a good value, considering the on-board audio as you pointed out! Add a $60 TNT2Vanta, $80 Duron, not bad
Zak
Zak
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