Duron 800 to Athlon 1000. Is it worth the upgrade?

Rhonda85

Senior member
Jan 15, 2001
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I may buy an Athlon 1000 for $55. I currently have a duron 800. Would this upgrade be noticeable by much? Also, is 55bucks a good price?

Thanks...
 

Booster

Diamond Member
May 4, 2002
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<< may buy an Athlon 1000 for $55. I currently have a duron 800. Would this upgrade be noticeable by much? Also, is 55bucks a good price? >>



Yes, the price is good, but I think it wouldn't result in a dramatic performance improvement, thus no upgrade is needed. If you could lay your hands on an Athlon XP around 1800+ it would be definately worth it. Also, for about the same price you can grab a Duron 1.3GHz, it would really speed the things up. Plus it has SSE, hardware prefetch and runs coler. Personally, I'd go with the Duron.
 

minendo

Elite Member
Aug 31, 2001
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I'd buy the athlon 1.0 and overclock it. You may be able to get that athlon up 1.5 depending on cooling and stepping.
 

Jace

Senior member
Nov 23, 1999
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If it is an Athlon C, and your motherboard can do 133 (266) fsb then it's worth it.
 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
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<< I'd buy the athlon 1.0 and overclock it. You may be able to get that athlon up 1.5 depending on cooling and stepping. >>



Heh, I can't get mine over 1100. I have the OC curse.
 

akahai

Golden Member
Aug 24, 2001
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I personally don't think it's worth it.....I would rather get a Duron 1G for around $34 plus shipping.....Duron 1G with Morgon core performs very close to Athlon 1G......just my opinion...........
 

giocopiano

Member
Feb 7, 2002
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There were two types of Socket A Athlon 1GHz released. The earlier one on aluminum process. They soon became replaced by copper Dresden cores. If this is a used chip you are buying, ask what date it is. You may get over 1.3GHz with the copper type. Otherwise it may be less hassle to go for a new Duron which has SSE.
 

Boobers

Senior member
Jun 28, 2001
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With 1Ghz T-Birds, the most important thing is what stepping it is. You can easily read the stepping by looking at the second line of code etched into the core of the CPU.
Example:
First line: A1000AMT3C (B meaning 100Mhz, C meaning 133Mhz)
Second Line: AXIAR0123GPMW ( the first 4 or 5 letters are the stepping, the 4 #'s are the date of manufacture: 01=2001, 23=week 23)
Third Line: Y6464880170 (Y is better than 9 for OC potential)

If the used T-Bird you're considering has a C at the end of the first line, AXIA or AXIAR on the second line, then $55 is a deal. And if the third line begins with a Y, jump on it, as I have one of those chips that runs rock stable at 1.45Ghz.

I also have a 1Ghz with this stepping: B, AJFA w/9 (one of the first T-Birds made), and it won't even do 1.1Ghz. Very poor overclocker.
 

Rhonda85

Senior member
Jan 15, 2001
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My motherboard will not support the morgan core & is not overclocking friendly. It is a DFI AK-74EC. I would like to buy a morgan (duron) 1.2 or 1.3, but I cannot. I can go up to a tbird 1.2 though. Lastly, I have a 250w PS & for the last year I have had no problems. Could the tbird cause a power problem since it consumes alot more watts?

Thanks..
 

giocopiano

Member
Feb 7, 2002
120
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$55 is only $55, but you'll only be getting approx.25% performance increase. Would you even notice? Put the money towards an upgrade later when you can afford a more meaningful one.
 

spanky

Lifer
Jun 19, 2001
25,716
4
81
well... i must be spoiled from teh FS/FT forums... i dun think i would buy the 1ghz athlon for $55. i've seen a few xp's go for about $60. i got an xp1600 & sk6 for $85 last week :D i think u can do better.