When AMD updated it’s Athlon from the original core to the newer Thunderbird core, it also created a new socket A processor to replace its aging K6 line of chips. Its name is the Duron, and its mission is simple: take out the Celeron II at all costs. Duron was released in 2000 using the “Spitfire” core. The name of the AMD value chip wasn’t just a random shot in the dark, either. It’s named “Duron” to rhyme with “Celeron” so users associate the two processors together. It’s almost like what AMD did before the Pentium, named it’s chips the same as Intel did so that users would think they actually were the same (which they were, more or less). But the Duron and the Celeron aren’t the same. The Duron is a very different chip, yet it’s still similar because it’s x86 compatible. Below is a list of a few key features:
- Same internal core as the AMD “Thunderbird” Athlon. A member of the K7 Family.
- 128KB of L1 Cache, split equally into 64KB Data and Instruction caches.
- 64KB of On-die Exclusive L2 Cache
- MMX and Enhanced 3DNow! Instructions
- Same 100MHz DDR EV6 Front Side bus as the Athlon.
The Duron is basically an AMD “Thunderbird” Athlon, with 128KB of L1 cache but only 64KB of L2cache, which is a quarter of what the Thunderbird has. The lack of cache reduces die size, which reduces not only cost, but performance. The performance hit isn’t as well seen in 3D games as it is in business apps which are heavily dependent on L2 cache to store text, data and possibly even the file the program is working with. Ff you’re really lucky, it can hold the program itself.
Another problem with the Duron is the simple fact that’s it’s not an Intel Chip. Ever since the early 1990s, Intel has been using it’s Intel Inside campaign furiously, getting people to associate the Intel name and only the Intel name with performance and reliability. Anything else is just an Intel wanna-be, or at least that’s what Intel wants people to think. Hardcore techies know differently. The Duron, on top of being within 5% of it’s big brother socket A Athlon with four times as much cache, is a highly overclockable chip. Because it offers the same core that is known to take 0.2V or even 0.3V on top of its 1.6V standard voltage, its a proven overclocker’s dream. Almost any Duron “Spitfire” chip made in the year 2000 can hit 900Mhz easily, with a 50% chance of hitting 1GHz with some good case cooling and the luck of a good quality core.
In August of 2001, AMD released the Duron “Morgan”. This chip broke out at 950 MHz but quickly moved past 1 GHz. The Morgan processor core was the key to the improvement of Duron here, and it is comparable to the effect of the Palomino core on the Athlon. In fact, feature-wise, the Morgan core is basically the same as the Palomino core, but with 64 KB of L2 rather than 256 KB.
The Duron is definitely a worthy contender to the Celeron and I woudl rather buy a Duron than a Celeron. So, in the aspect of its mission, it succeeded.
