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Duron 1.6 Ghz vs. Athlon XP 2500+ Barton.......Will a noob notice ?

NightCrawler

Diamond Member
Building a computer for a noob and wanted to know if there would much of a performance gain that he would notice.

Budget matters for this machine:

$38 Duron 1.6 Ghz
$76 Athlon XP 2500+


 
Will he notice doing what ? And what is he using now ? There is quite a difference in performance between the two, but depending on what he does, he would(or not) notice.
 
Than the Duron would be fine if the budget is that tight. He might want to do other things later, in which case the extra money now would have him an upgrade. Are you saying that the $38 extract is that tight of a budget ?
 
In the begining he prolly won't notice. At first they will say something like, "This thing RAWKS!!!". But almost no-one remains a noob forever.

Eventually, noobs learn to read - and will notice upon booting that the screen will say Duron or it will say some variety of XP. And he will try someday to run a benchmark - and it won't match or come close to anything that in its class. And the noob will seek you out and want to know WTF you sold him. And if you tried to defraud him he will pummel your ass, and spread the word that you can't or shouldn't be trusted. You will become an ex-employee of Michael's Computers, and walk in shame for the rest of your life.

 
Originally posted by: farscape
In the begining he prolly won't notice. At first they will say something like, "This thing RAWKS!!!". But almost no-one remains a noob forever.

Eventually, noobs learn to read - and will notice upon booting that the screen will say Duron or it will say some variety of XP. And he will try someday to run a benchmark - and it won't match or come close to anything that in its class. And the noob will seek you out and want to know WTF you sold him. And if you tried to defraud him he will pummel your ass, and spread the word that you can't or shouldn't be trusted. You will become an ex-employee of Michael's Computers, and walk in shame for the rest of your life.

LMAO....He knows about the Athlon XP and that it has more cache, I think I will try and convince him to at least get a Athlon XP 1800 for $50 I mean it's only $12 more to get into the modern class.

PS: I outweigh him by about 100 pounds so I doubt he will pummel my ass.
 




LMAO....He knows about the Athlon XP and that it has more cache, I think I will try and convince him to at least get a Athlon XP 1800 for $50 I mean it's only $12 more to get into the modern class.

PS: I outweigh him by about 100 pounds so I doubt he will pummel my ass.

🙂😀:beer:
 
I'd say you should convince him to go with the 2500xp. It'll last him longer and even with the 100% price difference, it's still the better investment for the long term.
 
even though the duron is more than enough, the barton with the extra cache just feels more snappier doing basic stuff on your pc.

let him choose for himself
 
if he is strapped for cash, duron.. if not, barton. regardless... he's living on a p133.... i don't think it matters.

*since you said budget matters, go with the duron. He will not care IMO.. look at what he has put up with till now, a p133. anyone here saying the extras for the barton are worth it... well... you gotta look at it from his POV. I would spend the extra money saved on a faster HD.. or just flat out save it.
 
Originally posted by: farscape
In the begining he prolly won't notice. At first they will say something like, "This thing RAWKS!!!". But almost no-one remains a noob forever.

Eventually, noobs learn to read - and will notice upon booting that the screen will say Duron or it will say some variety of XP. And he will try someday to run a benchmark - and it won't match or come close to anything that in its class. And the noob will seek you out and want to know WTF you sold him. And if you tried to defraud him he will pummel your ass, and spread the word that you can't or shouldn't be trusted. You will become an ex-employee of Michael's Computers, and walk in shame for the rest of your life.
Can turn off display & only show mobo logo at boot in bios.
 

AP03-SOHO @ $329.00 CAD (210.00 USD)

processor · AMD® Athlon? 2000+ processor
memory · 256MB PC3200 DDR Infineon memory
mainboard · ASRock ATX mainboard (K7S41GX+)
DMA controller · UDMA-133 support, 4 x USB 2.0 ports
ROM drives · LG 52x CD-ROM Reader
hard drive · Maxtor/Seagate 40GB 7200rpm 2MB
floppy drive · Samsung 1.44MB 3.5" int drive
video · Integrated 4x AGP video card
audio · Integrated 64bit sound card
communication · Integrated 10/100 PCI network card
case · 17" ATX-styled (311-1PL) tower case
power · 300 Watt ATX power supply
input device · Windows 98 compliant 107 key PS2 keyboard
pointing device · Windows 98 compliant 2 button PS2 mouse
speakers · 2 x Satellite multimedia speakers

Integrated devices

* integrated 64bit sound
* integrated 4x AGP video
* integrated 10/100 NIC

Personalize: Upgrade to Sony 52x32x52 CD Writer w/Software for $25.00 CAD (USD 16.00)

or Upgrade to a Microsoft optical mouse for $12.00 CAD (USD $7.50)

or Upgrade to AMD® Athlon?XP Barton 2500+ for $29.00 CAD (USD $18.50)

-------------------------------------------------

Walmart Microtel PC @ $158.98 USD.
 
Originally posted by: NightCrawler
Originally posted by: farscape
In the begining he prolly won't notice. At first they will say something like, "This thing RAWKS!!!". But almost no-one remains a noob forever.

Eventually, noobs learn to read - and will notice upon booting that the screen will say Duron or it will say some variety of XP. And he will try someday to run a benchmark - and it won't match or come close to anything that in its class. And the noob will seek you out and want to know WTF you sold him. And if you tried to defraud him he will pummel your ass, and spread the word that you can't or shouldn't be trusted. You will become an ex-employee of Michael's Computers, and walk in shame for the rest of your life.

LMAO....He knows about the Athlon XP and that it has more cache, I think I will try and convince him to at least get a Athlon XP 1800 for $50 I mean it's only $12 more to get into the modern class.

PS: I outweigh him by about 100 pounds so I doubt he will pummel my ass.

LOL! what a riot! yeah get him to buy at least the Athlon XP 1800. IMO that's still a good bugdet chip.
😀
 
Originally posted by: OffTopic
AP03-SOHO @ $329.00 CAD (210.00 USD)

processor · AMD® Athlon? 2000+ processor
memory · 256MB PC3200 DDR Infineon memory
mainboard · ASRock ATX mainboard (K7S41GX+)
DMA controller · UDMA-133 support, 4 x USB 2.0 ports
ROM drives · LG 52x CD-ROM Reader
hard drive · Maxtor/Seagate 40GB 7200rpm 2MB
floppy drive · Samsung 1.44MB 3.5" int drive
video · Integrated 4x AGP video card
audio · Integrated 64bit sound card
communication · Integrated 10/100 PCI network card
case · 17" ATX-styled (311-1PL) tower case
power · 300 Watt ATX power supply
input device · Windows 98 compliant 107 key PS2 keyboard
pointing device · Windows 98 compliant 2 button PS2 mouse
speakers · 2 x Satellite multimedia speakers

Integrated devices

* integrated 64bit sound
* integrated 4x AGP video
* integrated 10/100 NIC

Personalize: Upgrade to Sony 52x32x52 CD Writer w/Software for $25.00 CAD (USD 16.00)

or Upgrade to a Microsoft optical mouse for $12.00 CAD (USD $7.50)

or Upgrade to AMD® Athlon?XP Barton 2500+ for $29.00 CAD (USD $18.50)

-------------------------------------------------

Walmart Microtel PC @ $158.98 USD.

Compare:

Case with 420 watt PSU
Epox MB: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-207&depa=0
WD 80 gig 7200 8 meg cache
52x CD Burner
Ati Radeon


 
Here's a little story about my bro who builds custom systems: This guy comes to him wanting an upgrade. All the guy does is surf the net, e-mail, and some Wordprocessing stuff. So my bro puts together an Athlon XP(approx 2000+ IIRC) system using Integrated video and the guy is happy. Couple months pass and the guy comes back to my bro complaining about his systems performance in Medal of Honour. So my bro tells him that if he wants to play games he'll need a new video card. The guy is totally pissed at my bro, goes off to FutureShop(Canada's version of BB) buys a new P4 system(with Integrated video
rolleye.gif
) and after upgrading the video card on it proceeds to brag about the "superior" gaming performance of his P4.

Anyway, the moral of the story is: Build a system based somewhat on what the User *might* choose to do. Anyone still using a Pentium system is definitely not going to be gaming, but once they have caught up with technology and start seeing what's available, they'll begin wanting to expand their computing experience.
 
explain to him he has a couple of choices, like the duron and the 2500+ barton and explain to him the difference in performance and price. show him a bunch of different benchmarks. give him your recommendation, but let him make the final call. From a p133 everything will seem fast! 🙂
 
Originally posted by: CraigRT
I'd go with the Duron

we have a few Duron 1200's at work and they are amazing CPU's for the money.

work fantastic.
duron 1600 is a different breed, i got mine overclocked to 2ghz and it smokes XP2400 😀 that's with default voltage heh, 12x166fsb=2000mhz

 
get him the duron. by the time he 'evolves' enough to notice a diff, the athlon XP 2500+ will have fallin to the price that hte duron is now, and he can upgrade his PC then
 
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