Duron - Intel Performance Question

[Texun]

I am in the planning stages of building a second PC for home use. I want it to handle graphics and a game now and then, but I don't want to roast my toes or break the bank just to have a second PC.

I am leaning towards the Duron 1100 or 1200. Cost and OC'ing aside, can anyone advise how this would compare in performance to a Celeron 1.2 or even a PIII 900 or similar speed? Will I be able to run Max Payne or Operation Flashpoint at 1024x768 or better with no problem?

Yes, I've read reviews until my eyes hurt. I am looking for someone with real world knowledge of what I can expect and if there will be a sickening performance hit by going with a budget CPU. I tried this a few years back with a Celeron 466 as opposed to a PII400 and regretted every minute of it.

I will be using a DDR motherboard, either the XP333 or one of the KK266A's with 256 RAM and a GF2 card.

Thanks in advance!

 

[SSXeon5]

<<I am in the planning stages of building a second PC for home use. I want it to handle graphics and a game now and then, but I don't want to roast my toes or break the bank just to have a second PC.

I am leaning towards the Duron 1100 or 1200. Cost and OC'ing aside, can anyone advise how this would compare in performance to a Celeron 1.2 or even a PIII 900 or similar speed? Will I be able to run Max Payne or Operation Flashpoint at 1024x768 or better with no problem?

Yes, I've read reviews until my eyes hurt. I am looking for someone with real world knowledge of what I can expect and if there will be a sickening performance hit by going with a budget CPU. I tried this a few years back with a Celeron 466 as opposed to a PII400 and regretted every minute of it.

I will be using a DDR motherboard, either the XP333 or one of the KK266A's with 256 RAM and a GF2 card.

Thanks in advance!>>

Yea the 466Mhz Celeron 1 was a piece Well The only prob with the P3/Celeron setup is that they will not make any more P3/celeron after the middle of the year. Unless you want them to custom build you some for a company, If not I will recomend a P4 ..... the mPGA478 will be here untill around .... well past 4Ghz. Here is a cheap budget P4 setup:

-Pentium 4 1.6a Retail $135.00
-Asus P4S333 SiS645 $103.00
-Samsung 256MB PC-2100 $61.00

Total = $299.00 w/o shipping (googlegear)

And for games ... Get a Radeon 8500 Retail for about $155.00 shipped at newegg .... best price/performace card out!

This setup can oc to 2.1-2.4Ghz and can be upgraded to PC-2700+ RAM and 4Ghz+ prescott when they launch! Duron cant match a northwood and its high fsb Just my opinion.


SSXeon

 

[alexruiz]

I agree in the fact that a Nothwood will beat the Duron performance wise, but if this is your second computer, it really doesn't matter...

This is what I propose:

Duron 1GHz ($39+6.95 OEM at TCWO - beat that!!!)
ECS K7S5A ($52+8)
256 MB DDR PC2100 ($61)

That is only $160, it will handle any game (paired with a good video card, maybe aGeForce 2 GTS for $50 or less) at 1024x768x32. DDR is key here, as it makes the difference against the celeron (the tualatin celeron 1.2 is closer to the Duron 1.2 than any other previous iteration of that CPU)

Hope it helps

 

[Richardito]

<< I agree in the fact that a Nothwood will beat the Duron performance wise, but if this is your second computer, it really doesn't matter...

This is what I propose:

Duron 1GHz ($39+6.95 OEM at TCWO - beat that!!!)
ECS K7S5A ($52+8)
256 MB DDR PC2100 ($61)

That is only $160, it will handle any game (paired with a good video card, maybe aGeForce 2 GTS for $50 or less) at 1024x768x32. DDR is key here, as it makes the difference against the celeron (the tualatin celeron 1.2 is closer to the Duron 1.2 than any other previous iteration of that CPU)

Hope it helps >>


Let me add to this... Also keep in mind that with a Tualatin system your FSB speed will be limited to 100~150MHz (depending on the overclock) with regular SDRAM. While with the Duron you can have a FSB of 266~300MHz with DDR memory. The FSB will make all the difference when playing Max Payne (btw: I love that game ).

 

[Texun]

For all:

I appreciate the info. I am giving the suggestions serious thought and I am certain that I will make a move very soon. I have a PIII-550 that is going to my mom's house in another state. The back up will replace that one since I expect to stay on the XP1700 most of the time. While the 1700 cranks, it doesn't have the same feel as my trusty 550 with the antique Abit BH6 board and 512 RAM. That system may no longer considered fast, but it has been almost bullet proof and very smooth.

I want to acheive the same comfort level, quiet and rock solid, with whatever I replace it with. The 1700 is loaded with fans and I hope to avoid that with the next system.

I'm still looking. Thanks Richardito for the FSB reminder.

 

[bambam]

I am looking at this too to replace 4 year old P system. From what I've gleaned is that Duron is the best bang for the buck but power consumpution is higher = heat issues . One local shop guy said its like having a 40 watt light bulb in your computer - probably an exaggeration but I get the general idea . I suspect the newer AMD processors (Morgan cores etc ) use less power an heat issues are as severe as previous units.

 

[Kuroyama]

A Duron 1gig will easily overclock to 1.2+ ghz, I find that when I max out the FSB I get nearly as good memory stats on Sandra as with my overclocked 1700+ (~5-10% slower), and CPU stats only about 30% slower.

 

[spellchecker]

I have a duron 950 with the k7s5a that I got at Fry's for under a hundred bucks total. I have 384 meg of pc100 sdr and a GF2 GTS with 32 meg and I am playing the new Jedi Knight II at 1024x768 with all the prettys turned on and it is smooth as silk. It is also stable as a rock with a clean install of xp. The only driver I had to install was the onboard sound.

All the problems I've seen posted for this board are related to DDR and Athlon XP's so I'd be careful there, but with a cheap duron/pc100 combo it can't be beat.