DURON or Thunderbird??? which to buy ?

KIDO1

Member
May 5, 2000
135
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Hello.
I am going to buy a new mobo (probably Asus A7V).
I have the following question:

WHICH CPU TO GET :
Duron 800 = 82$
Thunderbird 800= 115$

I intend to do some o/c. I would like to hit 1ghz.

Thank you for your input!
 

KIDO1

Member
May 5, 2000
135
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Which one is better overclocker ?
Is it easy to o/c the Thunderbird? What do i have to do about it ?
 

pillage2001

Lifer
Sep 18, 2000
14,038
1
81
Both can yield 1Ghz quite easily. All you need to do is connect the L1 bridges. Go for the Tbird for better performance. :)
 

Qzruh

Member
Sep 19, 2000
122
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T Bird offer better performance at the same clock, but the Duron is more overclockable. Some people in this forum reported that they hit 1 ghz with their 600 Duron, so, with your 800, overclock to 1 Ghz isn't far away.

TBird is less overclockable due to the power comsumption and the heat generated.
my 600 can hit 900, while my Tbird 700 can only do 848

(i dont do watercooling, maybe it will make difference)
 

mrEvil

Golden Member
Nov 2, 1999
1,029
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I'd say it depends on your courage for overclocking, what motherboard you are going to use, what type of heat your are throwing out/how much you want to spend on cooling and what case you have.
I slapped my Duron 700 into a full-tower case and I'm getting 1.0Ghz @ 1.775 (may be able to go lower) and when I really stress it, it will hit 42C...it only jumps about 4C from normal state to full stress (Prime95)...not to mention my PC stays at 20C. I'll say that I'm pretty sure I can hit much higher on my 700 without doing much more. Can probably even lower my temp a couple degrees C if I invested in the high quality thermal compound and heat sink combo (I asked myself if it was worth another $50 to get another 150Mhz).
Personally, I've seen a Duron 700 for <$60 and then a 1Ghz TBird for $179. You can probably find lower, but those are not terrible prices by any stretch of the imagination. You really cannot go wrong with either one IMO. My only advice to anyone is to make sure you do not put a Montego Quadzilla 2 card into your AMD system and attempt to play games. Let's say that I had 2 days of frustration with this before I had any brain activity and actually decided to check the Turtle Beach web site....

One last thing - make sure you have a quality power supply. I'd highly recommend one of the Enermax power supplies. I have the Enermax 351 and it is sweet! Nice, quite and has 2 fans, plenty of connections and an extra long cable to reach the motherboard - nice for those towers.

 

JoPalm

Senior member
Dec 29, 2000
843
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How do you connect the L1 bridges?...what are they exactly. Oh and do you have to connect it to overclock the CPU. That's the only thing (well almost only thing) i never get when people say connect the L1 bridges...hehe.

Has to be some mobo's where you don't need to right. Do you have to, to oc it?
(ok i repeated myself there...:))
 

JoPalm

Senior member
Dec 29, 2000
843
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Thx Zero, what do most people do, use a pencil or a pen? Is it easy to do to. Hehe..i didn't think it was that easy...thought peoplem meant like connecting wires and cutting stuff off. Looks easy to do, but is it?
 

ZeroBurn

Platinum Member
Jul 29, 2000
2,892
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using a pencil is simply the easiest. however it may not have long term effects, since many report that the effects wear off after a while. but since it's so easy to re-apply it's not that big a deal, also note that it doesn't void your warrenty.

conductive pens are harder to use, and since they're so bulgy and clumsy you're going to have to use something else to apply it, tip of a needle, a small bristled brush, etc. also note that conductive pens weren't designed for such tiny applications, and also cost money.

another alternative that's quite popular, more so then the conductive pens but less so then the pencil trick, is using the rear window defogger repair kits. those work very well if you're able to connect the traces, you need a steady hand and don't get too nervous about it. easily removable however, only prob is it's a little tricky to put on, and a kit costs $5-8 at a local Pep Boys, AutoZone, etc.

easiest way would be the pencil trick, it also has the smallest risk involved- nothing easier then erasing it. use a mechanical pencil too, the tip is much finer for such a job. most use the pencil, some want more security and use the loctite defogger kits, not as many use the pens.
 

theanimala

Senior member
May 10, 2000
330
1
81
I've had my system running for 2 months now, and I decided to go the Tbird route. I little bit more money for what many specs show to be a substantial bump in performance. I have my Tbird 700 at 933, running 43C full load with RC5 running 24X7. At least a month since I penciled it, and it is still working.
 

Renob

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
7,596
1
81
I think your best bet by far is the tb 750 in the last 3months I have built 13 systems with the 750 and they all hit a gig and 6 fof them hit 1100 stable like a rock they were all built on abit kt7 boards with good memory and good air cooling......