Looking back at 2000 - Part 1: CPUs, Chipsets, Motherboards

AMD's Duron: A processor without a home

Before the end of June AMD made another release that drove the stake further into Intel's heart, or at least was intended to.  A value PC derivative of the Athlon core, uniquely named the Duron, was released in late June. 

The processor seemed perfect.  Not only did it deliver, on average, 90% of its bigger brother's performance, but also it was destined to be an extremely cost-effective solution.  For most hardware enthusiasts, the Duron became an instant hit; however as a competitor to the Celeron, it could not win. 

Intel's Celeron, throughout 2000, was crippled by a 66MHz FSB even while reaching clock speeds more than 11 times higher than that.  The Duron easily outperformed the Celeron and was often times much more affordable as well.  The tragic flaw that kept the Duron grounded while the Celeron continued to rack up sales however was that there was no cost-effective platform for the Duron like the i810E was for the Celeron. 

This simple oversight cost the Duron quite a few sales and although it did catch on quite well in Europe it was still severely hurt by its lack of a home. 

VIA's KM133 and SiS' 730S would both prove to be solutions to this problem, but as you can expect, both solutions hinder the Duron's performance considerably.  In the end, you get what you pay for. 

Just weeks later, it was discovered that the new Socket-A processors were able to be overclocked much like the older Slot-A Athlons, through multiplier manipulation.  With a slightly different twist and proper motherboard support, the Duron and Athlon became an even greater value.  Maybe you don't always get only what you pay for.