Ook Ars Technica komt nu met een review van de AMD Duron processor. Getest wordt de 700MHz versie, op een Gigabyte GA-7ZM moederbordje. Zoals velen voor hen hebben ook de mensen van Ars een zeer positieve ervaring aan de Duron overgehouden. Hij versloeg de Celeron in alle benchmarks, en soms zelfs de P3 op dezelfde kloksnelheid.
Having only had the Duron machine for a short period of time, I'm amazed at the performance of what AMD is selling as a "value" CPU. In fact, I'm a bit concerned at the performance of the Duron, for AMD's sake. The Duron handily beats out the Celeron (even when overclocked up to a 100MHz FSB) and even beats the Pentium III at the same speed at times. My guess is that AMD is trying to win performance where they can and be able to compete with Intel when Intel moves their Pentium III product to the "value" category (which is rumored to be their plan when they release their next-gen CPU). My bigger concern is the difference in performance among the Athlon, the Duron, and the Athlon "Thunderbird". Clearly, there's little reason (even now) to purchase an Athlon (classic, not Thunderbird). With the prices the Duron will be selling for--700MHz for $192, 650MHz for $154 and the 600MHz dropping in at an amazing $112--the Duron systems should be rather popular.