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how much better is a tbird vs a duron?

E

eLiu

Diamond Member
Im just curious...i mean, one can get a 850 duron to reach/pass 1ghz...even 1.1, tho i havent seen 1.2 yet.

anyway, how much better is the thunderchicken vs a duron? is it really worth the extra 50 bucks?

I REALLY want my thunderchicken...so, i guess ill just pay that 50, but still, im jus curious 🙂

-eric
 
eLiu - at the same voltage, and same clock speed, the wattages are fairly similar. The main reason why Duron's are cooler is because of the lower voltage (and it's easier for a duron to attain any given speed at a lower voltage than the T-bird due to less ondie cache which needs to be powered).

Well, the performance difference is between 10-20%, depending upon the application.
 
ic ic...for the budget minded guy (me), im startin to doubt whether i really should spend the extra 50...tho i REALLY wanna! 🙂

thanks for the info burntkooshie,
-eric
 
After using a Duron 600@850 for eight months, and then switching over to a 1 GHz T-bird, I noticed quite an improvement with video capture rendering (AVI to MPEG) as well as quicker image rendering in Photoshop. There's definitely an improvement in games like UT and Quake 3. But, the Duron is still an excellent chip with great performance for the price.
 
Compellor,
could you ilustrate the improvement eg. in time difference rendering AVI to MPEG2 with the Athlon vs. Duron 850 or the smoothnes of playing MPEG2s in the Athlon system vs. Duron 850?
In the present I'm using an AMD K2-400 with a 15.3 WD dedicated video HD, Ulead MSP6 to edit analog video and TMPGEnc to convert to SVCD (MPEG2).
I just plan an upgrade to a Duron 900 system. Does the speed of the Athlon justify the expense?
Yes, I know everything here is a compromise...🙂
 
greenpoint,

The time difference in rendering from AVI to MPEG-1 is probably 45 seconds to a minute (this is just a guess, but it's noticeable). I use Ulead Video Studio 4.0 for its easy interface and quick editing featutres. I encode in MPEG-1 because I run a few websites with multimedia content. I also do some encoding in Real Media. I just wanted a more powerful processor with more L2 cache to make my work go a little quicker. The T-bird doesn't offer anything more over the Duron as far as smoothness while running an MPEG file.

There's a huge difference in speed over the Duron when using the ACDSee 32 photo browser. The Duron would drag a little when bringing up a set of 1000+ thumbnail images on screen. The T-bird rules, here. The Duron 900 will offer you a big improvement over your K2-400, so, I'd say go for it. It's cheap and is a great processor.
 
Any improvements in speed or quality I have seen come directly from that bigger cache. I have been very happy with my oc'ed Duron, but do plan on stepping up to a T-bird in the near future!

edit--p.s. check out Comp-U-Plusand look at their AMD selection. That may help you decide on which one to get...
 
I think of DURON as stepping stone...if u're waiting for A4 Palo later on...then grab it to upgrade. But if you're getting a BIG UPGRADE like me, from P2-233, then go for the cutting edge. 😉
 
yea...this is a big upgrade, but it's on a budget (hopefully around 600...but 650-700 is looking more realistic)

It's gonna be a nice system...1.2ghz@1.4+, gf2 gts, 256DDR, Epox 8K7A...*smile*

upgrading from...a great p2 266 that has served us for 5 years now...but its time has come hehe

-eric
 
hello,

greenpoint, the best choice for you right now is to buy 1GHz TBird and overclock it. You can bet on 1333MHz with normal coolers (just not the crappiest), >1.4GHz with top-class ones such as Swiftech 462 and so on, you can read about them in this forum. Anything below 1GHz Tbird is not worth, Duron800 (overclockable just to ~960-~1000) costs approx. 40-60$ less... If you feel not for overclocking, 1.2GHz TBird is right now about 20$ more expensive than 1GHz, what can I say more...

If you can wait, new Palamino with SSE instructions is going to be better. If you have plenty of money, buy 2x AthlonMP 🙂 But your system is definitely asking for upgrade, not to mention its usage for video editing.

bye, mp3turbo.
 
Hi!

In every review states that the diference between the two is between average 5 to 10% at the same clock speed.
Of course there are aplication where the diference cannot be measured (MS Office, unzip, ...) 1-3%
And there are the video intensive applications where the diference is maximal 15% maybe 20%.

But you must know that such application are harder to write (keeping those memory footprints small to fit the cache) and because of that the performace/price ratio is better for Duron.

Well I'm happy with mine Duron 750@900.
I too watch DivX and code AVI->DivX and it's great.
During my TvTunner encodings 380x300 -> DivX the processor usage was 45-50% all the time. Dropped frames around 3 after half an hour.

Cheers,


 
Thanks, boys/girls
Yes, a 15-20% difference is a lot but the speed/price relation is important as well.
I am also hesitating about the mobo: SDRAM (A7V133-Raid vs. MSI K7T133-Pro Raid) vs. DDR (MSI K7T266) ?
Does the MSI K7T266 work with DDR in bank 1 + bank 2? Some review said it dosn't work with 2 DDR?
The decision is mine, and thanks averybody for ideas. 🙂
 
Go with the duron.

You'll love the jump in speed, but since you will probably be spoiled you'll want even more speed. You can OC the heck of the duron, maybe even push it beyond its limit, break it, and then upgrade to a T-bird and by the time you do the price will be the same with the duron factored in than if you just bought the T-bird a while ago, maybe even less.
 
Shudder,
I like your post 🙂
One is never satisfied with the speed. Need more and more. (early 1980 I started with a litle toy computer and 48 Kb! RAM, God, 48 Kilobyte 🙂 and I was happy with the first PC-8086 CPU)
You are right, the T-bird will be cheaper and cheaper and the feeling will be fine when I'll upgrade from Duron to T-bird.
My dilemma is the mobo, SDRAM vs. DDR and the question: can I use a Duron 900 (FSB200) with a 266/266 mobo, like the MSI K7T266 Pro equiped with DDR 266-PC2100?
The 50-60 bucks difference bw. the Tbird 1GHz Duron 900 is worth and a DDR motherboard is more justified.

Any ideas, please?

greenpoint
 
greenpoint,

Go with a DDR mobo. That's where I'm heading (ABIT KG7). A 200 MHz fsb T-bird or Duron will work with it.
 


<< I had a Duron @ 950 before, and my t-bird even at its stock speed (1200) feels a lot faster than it 🙂 >>



Big jump there, though. Of course with prices on the 1200 just over $100 now... hard to say no to it! 🙂
 
Kinda a morphing the question, but I have a classic athlon at 1 gig, would I see any performance increase with a thunderbird? I have thought about getting a 1.2 or so, but I really can't bring myself to do it considering I would have to change motherboards as well, and all for a couple mhz. I was debating yanking this mb/cpu and slapping klinux on it and getting a new tbird and mb, but I think I will wait for the SMP boards. They really excite me.

Bot
 
imho, I think you should wait for the Palamino to come out...it's really not gonna super-boost your performance from SLOT-A to Socket A. You will see a noticeable difference...buut, id say it isnt worth it.
 


<< Kinda a morphing the question, but I have a classic athlon at 1 gig, would I see any performance increase with a thunderbird? I have thought about getting a 1.2 or so, but I really can't bring myself to do it considering I would have to change motherboards as well, and all for a couple mhz. I was debating yanking this mb/cpu and slapping klinux on it and getting a new tbird and mb, but I think I will wait for the SMP boards. They really excite me.

Bot >>



You would probalby see a significant performance increase when going to a T-Bird. It would be like a 500 Katmai to a 500 Coppermine. You get less cache but much faster ones and a lower fab process allowing you to overclock really well. But if i were you, i'd wait, i'm running a P3 930 and it's fast enough for now. Going to wait for the Palaminos and the next gen of processors before buying a new CPu and Mobo.
 
you can find some awefully cheap mid-range tbirds being sold on the forums here as ppl upgrade....something to consider...

a couple of months ago i picked up a 750@1100 for $90.... its perfect for the 7.0x150mhz and cheap too....

dew.

 
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