Duron still a viable solution?

[Jonestown]

I would be upgrading from a PIII 500 (the old Katmai's) to some AMD DDR solution. Would a Duron of around 1ghz w/ 256MB of DDR be a good upgrade from this old PIII, or is it just worth it to spring the extra $20-$30 to get a tbird around 1.2ghz.

I'm not the biggest gamer, usually limited to the homeworld games, and a few others, although the wifey is starting to get into a little photo editing.

If I went duron, I could always get a Athlon XP later down the road if the duron doesn't cut it. I'm trying to keep the cost to definately under $200 for the mobo and cpu w/hsf as I already have the crucial PC2100 ram. I'm already set on the shuttle ak31a. I know coolermaster HSF aren't the most highly thought of cooling solutions, but I wouldn't O/C too much and just need something cheap.

Input is greatly appreciated.

Jonestown

 

[cuteybunny]

definitely tbird since duron is run at 100FSB and has a total of 192KB of cache while tbird run at 133FSB and has a total of 384K of cache. so at same mhz a tbird maybe 33 percent better in most thing like compressing a zip files, gaming and encoding mp3. even if the tbird run at 100FSB which cost the same as duron, has 4 times the level 2 cache, you are still better off with tbird.

 

[Zach]

.5->1.0 Ghz is plenty, of course it's viable. Is it economical? I think so, but if you have the extra cash why not get a TBird.

 

[DarkMajiq]

Upgrading to a Duron would definitely be worth it, but if you have the extra $20-30 to get a T-Bird instead, it's a wise spend.

 

[Wind]

Spend on the Athlon...900 -1.2 Ghz is within the price range of the Duron 1 Ghz. Check it out at ur local store. Performance increase is noticeable switching from Duron to Athlon.

 

[Boonesmi]

the last 2 cpu's i bought were both durons (paid $25 which included shipping for each of them, got them in the "forsale/trade forum")

both of them overclock to 1ghz, i run them both at 7.5x on a 133mhz bus

to me thats "viable"