Please prove me wrong! (long)

[Jugernot]

Ok let me start off by letting you know that ever since the K6-2 came out I've had a bias against AMD. My reasoning behind this was simple! Hardware incompatibility and performance sucking is certain programs (games, FPU intensive stuff, etc.). When the Athlon was released it took are of the performance part, but the compatibility problems still remained. I know most of compatibility problems have been fixed, but just a month or two ago I heard something about certain Athlon boards not working with the Geforce II GTS boards. Yet again, the compatibility problem shows its ugle head.

It is for this reason that I haven't kept up much in the Athlon, Thunderbird, and Duron news/events. I need help from you guys that are relatively unbiased toward AMD "OR" INTEL (I know that no one is totally unbiased!).

I'm currently running:

Celeron 366@550
Abit BH6 v1.1
Voodoo3 2000 overclocked to 175MHz (gonna upgrade this to a Geforce II MX Twinview later this month)
Diamond MX300
Netgear FA310TX PCI NIC

I was going to get a PIII 750E for $210 and try for 930MHz, but for $210 I could get a new motherboard and a Duron 600MHz for cheaper.

I have noticed that VIA has released several chipsets in the short time the Athlons have been released. If I buy a Duron 600MHz (and hopefully overclock it to 900 or 950MHz) and a KT133 mobo (you tell me which one) now, will I regret it later because of problems and performance issues?

I know this was a lot to read, but I'm relying on your opinions to help me choose.

Thanks guys!

Joe

 

[Jamey]

I am sorta in the same boat because I am builing two computers for family members. I am thinking of doing the 2 duron 600's from Buy.com deal. I just got through building a CUSL2/ p3 700 system for me, and I am pleased with it. I haven't run any benchmarks yet, cause I'm still using the cheap onboard video 'til I get a GTS MX card. First I would say to you....don't get a 750 P3..get the 700 with CB0 stepping. I am not sure of the percentages, but LOTS will goto 933 at default voltage (even more at slightly higher voltages). Mine will reach 1 gig at stock voltage and cooling, but it's only about 95% stable there. Past that I have to raise the voltage. The question still remains though, Duron or P3. At the same rated speed, performance will be similar. I would worry about the Duron 600 reaching 900+ more than I would worry about the 700 P3 reaching 933. Of course, the vast majority of users won't notice the difference between 600 mhz to 933 mhz without using processor intensive tasks (mp3 encoding/decoding). With the crowd here though, a few frames/sec or an extra 2 seconds to boot up matters.

What I am going to do is look for the best Duron board and check out the price. Then I will add in a decent video card if it doesn't have on board video. I can use the onboard video of the CUSL2 if I go the P3 route. With you, the onboard video doesn't matter, so the Duron maybe more attractive. If you are going to get a Duron, make sure to get one that can be overclocked. Some are being produced (so I've read) that will not be able to be overclocked by "pencil".

 

[jonnyGURU]

Are you in a position where you HAVE to swap your board? Does your Abit not do the Coppermine cores? If that's not the case, then just buy a P!!! CPU and throw it in the Abit.

As for building with scratch, go ahead and get the 700 Duron instead of the 600. Why? Because there is no guarantee that any of these CPUs, Intel or AMD, are going to overclock to anything. So, if you're going to completely overhaul your box, make it count.

Personally, I'd wait until the DDR boards come out later this year. From a 550 on up, you're not going to see much difference in most things except for number crunching for RC5 or SETI.

It sucks that the DDR boards are so clearly in the future that any board you buy today in a Socket A will be truly obsolete in comparison.

 

[erub]

There are no Athlon boards (Duron/Tbird/classic) available with onboard video as far as I'm aware. You will have to wait for a new VIA chipset (PM-133 i think its called - with Integrated Savage4 video).I'm building new computers for family members as well, and have decided to go with the Asus CUSL2 simply for the onboard video (computers for office type-work, webbrowsing & word processing only) as well as the family members being partial to Intel for stock reasons. Just my 2cents