Duron motherboards review -- comments

[Henry Kuo]

I am working on something, and wonder what you guys think...

Currently most KT133 boards cost about 110 bucks in general, where Duron chips are under 100. How many of you are willing to get a KT133 board for your Duron chip now? How many will wait for the KM133 (just like KT133, but with on-board Savage 4. No benchmarks yet though )?

On the other hand, what do you guys think is a reasonable price for Duron motherboards? Anything you "would" expect to see on the KM133 board if you were to get one?

 

[Rigoletto]

I work in English money
Cheapest new mobos are £60. Pc chips v.v. integrated socket7 £65. Athlon mobos like £100-£140 (Asus A7V is £140). Duron boards now £100 but this is still way above the £60 minimum.
The integrated video is a boon for many who for some strange reason want the power of a duron but not for games or video. Economically very good, though I still don't like Diamond chips, I have a savage 4. I think most users would prefer integrated sound though.
If a board with video sound modem lan were available for £100 with an AGP slot that would be mind blowing.

 

[RagingGuardian]

Given the Duron's low price it would be great if a Duron KM133 system can be built for less than $150. I'd say the about $80 would be the sweet spot for a KM133 board.

A box like this would be great to network with your main system and keep your family off your computer.

 

[Tripleshot]

I understand amptron is now building a duron mobo for low end systems. If the total for Duron 600 and mobo was in the $100-$135 range,it will then wipe out K6-2 systems and celerons from competing. I would like to see something on that from your labs,Henry.

Keep up the good work.

 

[chansen]

A modern, integrated motherboard must have good quality video, sound and ethernet capabilities. 3D rendering speed is not an necessity, only a bonus. Compatibility and stability are the primary concerns. I don't know much about the Savage4, but would have preferred an ATI Rage 128 or nVidia TNT2 chip. To cut costs, I think two banks memory are sufficient (though three would be better), and perhaps two or three expansion slots. ATA100 is not yet a requirement, but may be soon (probably a mute point anyway). You could base a perfectly good desktop client on this with some potential for upgrade.

Another item that AMD must address is the requirement for a 300W power supply. It's just one more item that raises the cost of a Duron system.

For integrated motherboards, overclocking abilities should be abandoned. I don't want some schlep I sold a computer to coming back with a fried CPU and shrugging his shoulders when asked "What did you do?" because he read an overclocking article somewhere.

Anandtechers won't buy the board I've outlined above, but we aren't the target market.

As for cost, I'm used to working in Canadian dollars. I recently bought the MSI K7T Pro 2-A for $173 ($112US). I would hope that the board I've outlined above fall in the same range - perhaps $120US max. I realize that PCChips, PCPartner and other budget brands could likely produce boards for less, but I would hope that Asus and MSI, for example, would produce boards that do not sacrifice stability for integration. Realize that I'm proposing on-board ethernet as well - I don't know if KM133 boards will be similarly equipped.

Regards,
Craig

 

[Henry Kuo]

a little bump in case someone missed it.

 

[DaddyG]

Henry,

I think that the SIS730s has good potential from the reference mobo reviews. $150-$160 with Duron would make alot of my customers happy. The 300 watt supply is simply bogus. Standard clocked Durons use about 22watts. I believe that AMD targeted the Duron for the wimpy micro-ATX 145watt spec. Not sure if they made it. If you are a large OEM, supplies are easy to find. HP uses a special 185 watt for pretty loaded Athlon systems. The supply only puts out 4 amps on the +12 but has plenty on the +5 and +3.3.

 

[andylawcc]

in case the other ppl haven't talked about yet,

Duron is both a 1.Power User CPU and an 2.Entry/Low Profile cpu, so people who play 1.Quake3 and those who only 2.web-surf/Office2000 falls into the market of duron.
as a result,
How many of you are willing to get a KT133 board for your Duron chip now
1."people" will pay 120 or more for a kickass a7v, KT7, K7T, while

and

the How many will wait for the KM133 question is for
2.'people' wants a cheap integrated mobo like an i810 to match with a celeron.

I would prefer a Sis mobo coz I guess it would be cheaper than KM133, 2.people don't really care about overall performance.

 

[Rigoletto]

I figure that people who don't know much about computers or who buy for office use are more easily led to the big "reliable" and familiar name of Intel, which is still a little cheaper solution right now, so they would not likely have a Duron system. I really do think Durons are for cut-price gaming and "enthusiasts". These people who really know what they're doing are in the minority. Still AMD could change things with integrated chipsets, no matter who makes them. Hating Diamond as I do from bitter experience, I think ATi would have been better to approach for the video.

 

[Playitagainsam]

Guys, please give me a hand here! You seem to be the Duron experts!

I'm looking at an upgrade, but it seems I'm lost in specs. Check my thread here and tell me what do you think!

Thanks!