Duron 700 SDR vs. P4 1.5 SDR

2ms

Junior Member
Nov 29, 2000
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An office mate of mine just got an awesome new G4 with OS X that he will be using instead of the crappy PIV 1.5 SDR that he was using. This means that his old PIV is up for grabs. Should I consider switching from my Duron 700@791 (stock cooler and no case fans - it's an office computer - shouldn't be oced at all so no making fun please) to that thing? I'm looking for well rounded performance, so I don't care if the PIV is faster in a few things if it is going to be slow as hell in other things. However, if the PIV is just plain almost always faster, then I sure as hell should switch. I'm generally quite amazed by this Duron though. Oh, I don't have DDR, it's actually an old A7V board without 133 membus even. Many might think I'm crazy for considering Duron over P4, but last time I tried using a PIV SDR to burn CDs, i couldn't believe how slow it was - was taking like minutes to switch between applications
 

Sid03

Senior member
Nov 30, 2001
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i'd take the p4 in a heartbeat!

as for your issue with that p4 system being slow when burning cd's... sounds like a poor configuration or motherboard. i've used a p4/sdram combo before, and it performed flawlessly. i couldn't tell the difference between that and my rdram setup, during typical usage.
 

ST4RCUTTER

Platinum Member
Feb 13, 2001
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The P4 should be faster, but nowhere near twice as fast. That's a Duron after all, and an older one at that! The OEM 800's are retailing for $39 bucks! You could always drop an Athlon in there...1.1Ghz would run you $80 and would probably whip up on that 1.5 P4 w/SDRAM. (Might want to add one quiet case fan though. ;)
 

MilkPowderR

Banned
Mar 30, 2001
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2ms, remember that even a P3 933 whipping a P4 with way over a 1Ghz(don't remember exactly what mhz). I don't think you'll see a huge performance difference betw. your Duron and P4 1.5. P4 sux.
 

Sid03

Senior member
Nov 30, 2001
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<< 2ms, remember that even a P3 933 whipping a P4 with way over a 1Ghz >>

anybody else have a clue what that means?
 

MilkPowderR

Banned
Mar 30, 2001
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yah it means a p3 933 beating a P4 1.5Ghz in just about any benchies and real-world apps. Put a P4 1.5 to a shame, hahahahaha. That P4 is a classic version with SDR platform. It will perform like a garbage. P4 classic with a DDR is a different story and so does the P4 NW. LOL
 

Sid03

Senior member
Nov 30, 2001
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looking over 2ms' original post, i don't see a p3-933 mentioned anywhere in there.

let's stay on topic, shall we (and not ruin 2ms' thread.)

(perhaps you could pm me with the p3-933 vs p4-1.5 sdram benchmarks. i've never seen such a comparison, but would be very interested in one.)
 

Wind

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2001
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The p4 is faster...no doubt bout it. But the increase in performance is not justified by the cost. Although I'm not sure wht cost u'll be paying for the p4, but the p4 under SDR sucks. RDRAM or DDR is a different story thou.

I suggest u save ur $$ & stick w/ the Duron. :)
 

OlorinBD

Junior Member
Jan 21, 2002
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It would be free, I'd grab P4 and someone else in office would use the Duron. I feel my Duron would definately be faster it had DDR, but it only has 100MHz SDR (A7V not A7V133). Maybe i should try running benchmarks. Can anyone recommend reasonably not time-consuming/complicated suit of tests I could run? No 3D cuz all I've got is Voodoo3 (office, at home I got something else :))
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
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What exactly do you use the computer for? If it's just office stuff, then there would probably be little difference in performance, except in multitasking. Who would win in Multitasking, I dunno, but I'd suspect that the P4 SDram system might have some problems in that area. My bro uses P4 1.5s at his job(sawmill) and is always complaining about how slow they feel compared to the Athlons/Durons/PIIIs that he builds as a home business.

Perhaps you could get a trial run with it?
 

2ms

Junior Member
Nov 29, 2000
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I'm using it for web development (html, php, js, css, photoshop, ftp, browsers). I do quite a bit of multitasking. My experience has been exactly the same as your bro - PIV seems incredibly slow at switching between apps and just in general when lots of things going on. That's what prompted me to mention my dislike for inconsistant performace earlier in thread - it's so annoying when it's quick on some stuff, but then excruciating slow on other things. Wish officemate had athlon with DDR, dont even care about clockspeed much, just want that cache, faster ram, and ability to through in insanely fast cpu for cheap anytime. Right now I don't want to upgrade current duron puter cuz 100MHz bus and SDR would be bottle neck. At least Duron was designed for SDR unlike PIV which was designed to be completely reliant upon RAMBUS which Intel was sure would be rammed down our throats by now. 1.5GHz is heck of a lot higher than 791 though.
 

x86

Banned
Oct 12, 2001
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<< i'd take the p4 in a heartbeat!

as for your issue with that p4 system being slow when burning cd's... sounds like a poor configuration or motherboard. i've used a p4/sdram combo before, and it performed flawlessly. i couldn't tell the difference between that and my rdram setup, during typical usage.
>>



Agreed. There might be a flaw in the code. What CD Burning software did you use? I have used P4s and they have performed without hesitation.
 

Duvie

Elite Member
Feb 5, 2001
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IN most modern system of the last year should be able to run cd-burning like you an I breath...MOst likley user error in configuration of system....


I would take the p4...beggars can't be choosers...while the p4 neutered with the sdram is not much of boost in major fpu intensive appz like autocadd and running simple business apps in which a p3 600 is almost overkill, the multimedia capabilities should be a definite enhancements....

What are you going to be doing with it???


I agree if the board is free to take, take it!!! If you can get a cpu upgrade for your existing board a 1.2 duron or a 1.2 athlon would smoke that puppy for under 100 dollars...
 

MilkPowderR

Banned
Mar 30, 2001
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2ms, I have another suggestion for you.
You could upgrade your mobo by replacing it with a Iwill XP333 ($98) along with a stick of PC2700/PC3000 DDR CAS 2 ram from Corsair ($130) and downclock your Duron 700 mutiplier and try to up the FSB to 133 or more. Can u do that? Can u get the FSB to 133+? This would be a good investment for future upgrade if you want to upgrade your processor to some XP processors. This mobo combo with descent amount of FSB will *kill* the KT266A systems. Just a thought for you.