Athlon vs. Duron

[VulcanSoulPatch]

I need to get a new CPU and mobo this week, but I am on a tight budget. So, I am looking at a low-end Athlon or a high-end Duron. Can anyone enlighten me to the pros & cons of each?

The two that I have found within $4 of each other are:
Athlon TBird 950MHz 200MHz FSB, 256K Cache
Duron 1.3 GHz 200MHz FSB, 192K Cache

Also, any suggestions for a decent low-priced mobo are always welcome. What is the best chipset to look for?

I'm transferring:
192MHz SDRAM
Hercules Prophet II MX 32MB
SB Live!

Thanks in advance for the help.

VSP

<i>Upon the occasion in which the defecation comes into contact with the oscillating ventilator.</i>

 

[FENRlZ]

I would recommend the 1,3GHz Duron and a ECS K7S5A mainboard. The Duron is way faster than the Thunderbird, and the K7S5A will let you use the SD-RAM and also give you the option to upgrade to DDR later on.

 

[bront]

I'd go with the Athlon over the Duron. However, if you can afford an extra 20-30, you could get an Athlon XP 1600+ instead and get much better performance.

As for a montherboard, you should look for one that has SDR and DDR support (ALi made a chipset that did that, as I believe SiS did too).

"Search your feelings you know it to be true, I am your... twin sister" - Darth Vader

 

[FatBurger]

Pretty much all DDR chipsets support SDRAM as well, it's up to the motherboard to do it.

The Duron and ECS K7S5A is your best bet.

<font color=blue>Hi mom!</font color=blue>

 

[Phelk]

The Duron has the newer Morgan core which makes up for the lower L2 cache.

Go with the Duron

<font color=blue> The Opteration was a success... I'm now a full-wit</font color=blue>

 

[slickstaa]

you could overclock the athlon if u wanted to and still have the extra L2 cahce

 

[slickstaa]

you could overclock the athlon if u wanted to and still have the extra L2 cache

 

[VulcanSoulPatch]

Thank you all for your input. Based on information from here as well as other sources, I decided to to go for the Duron 1.2GHz, based on performance to price value. I also decided to dump the SDRAM for DDR.

Thanks again.

VSP

<i>Upon the occasion in which the defecation comes into contact with the oscillating ventilator.</i>