Which AMD cpu to get?

[BigEdMuustaffa]

I am building a new system for a friend who is currently running a PII 333. I currently run a PIII 866, 256 P133 ram and it's fast enough for gaming and everything else I do. The system for my friend should be at least as fast, etc. as my current system. I am planning on using AMD this build. The question is, what processor is going to be faster, better, than the PII 333 and at least as fast, etc, as the PIII 866? The AMD 1Ghz Duron with the SSE etc, of the XP, or the Athlon with more on die cache than the Duron but with out the SSE and such of the XPs? Also what speee? NewEgg has like Duron 750s or 800s for around $35-$40 dollars. Would they be an upgrade from the PII 333? Thanks....

 

[AthlonRaider]

Durons would be much faster than any PII. But I notice Athlon XPs to be a lot more snappier than a Duron or a TBird in opening up applications.

The Athlon XP has SSE and hardware data Prefetch, w/ 256k L2 cache. On pricewatch.com, you can get a Athlon XP 1700+ for $108+shipping or a Athlon XP 1800+ for $133.

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

Thanks AthlonRaider, what are your thoughts on the Duron morgan at 1ghz? or do you think for the same price or so, get an XP Athlon?
What about a cheapo Duron 700 or 800?

 

[alpineranger]

I'd go with one of the new durons (1 ghz+), because of the newer design (lower heat output, SSE, etc). The athlon xps are very nice, but much more expensive. If you choose your parts carefully, you can really save a lot of money. Team an ecs K7S5A up with one of the older durons and you'll have a motherboard and cpu that cost you less than $100.
Even if you get a duron 700, the difference will be dramatic. I went from a p2 300 to a duron 700, and although I upgraded everything else at the same time, I was amazed by how much faster everything was.

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

AlpineRanger...thanks for the reply. Just a follow up...So you would say that even with the smaller cache, the new Duron is worth getting in liew of a Tbird, since the new Durons have the prefetch, etc? thanks ...

 

[alpineranger]

For many applications, the difference in cache size makes a negligible difference. Sure it's there, but I was never convinced that it warranted the disproportional increase in price. If a p3 866 with sdram is enough for everything you do, then a 1, 1.1, 1.2... Ghz duron with ddr or even sdram will be even better. Look at it this way: even if the duron becomes seemingly slow in 5 or 6 months, you can pop a much faster processor in there at that time for very little money.

 

[Grendel99]

I was just looking on Ars Technica and looked at there budget box Here and they used an Athlon Thunderbird 1.13GHz. Which would be faster than the Duron (not sure if it would be faster or if by how much than a Duron with the Morgan core). Or you could get an Athlon XP 1500+. But then again a Morgon cored Duron would be a lot faster than his current setup

 

[akahai]

<< AlpineRanger...thanks for the reply. Just a follow up...So you would say that even with the smaller cache, the new Duron is worth getting in liew of a Tbird, since the new Durons have the prefetch, etc? thanks ... >>



If you want to go with Duron, I would recommand you to go with Duron 1G or above...it's cheap and it works great....I had one personally, and I love it for it's value and performance...unfortunally I cracked it .....tomshardware had a review for the duron 1G here , you will see that in some areas the Duron 1G actually perform close to T-bird 1G.....check it out.....

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

Thanks Grendel and AkaHai, Newegg has a great price for the 1gig duron, and the ECS board. Think that's what I'm gonna get.

Any ideas on installing the cpu and not cracking it? I installed a PIII 866 once, and the heat sink clip was a pretty hairy ordeal.

 

[alpineranger]

Bend the clip before you install the heatskink. I've done literally dozens of heatsink installs on a host of different motherboards in the past year or so for friends who have amazed me at the number of times they have ruined processor cores. The key is to make sure the heatsink is perfectly flat on the core and that you are applying even pressure (not pushing down on an edge or corner). This is very difficult to do if the clip takes a lot of force to install and is compounded by poor motherboard designs (eg. abit kt7 series) where the capacitors are right next to the socket. In my experience, the K7S5A (I'm assuming that's what you're looking at), is not a difficult board to install heatskinks on.

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

I assume you must take care as to not to bend the clip too too much as then the heatsing would not be secure enough to make a tight fit with the CPU, right?

 

[alpineranger]

Yes, but if you loosen it too much, you'll be able to tell when you put it on, and then you'd simply take it off, bend the clip back to make it tighter, and try again.
If the attached heatsink is loose enough that you can wiggle it around, it's too loose. The point is to make it easy to put on (which makes it safer for your board, and safer for those plastic tabs on the socket).