De 1,3GHz Duron is vandaag verschenen en de eerste reviews komen online. Zo ook bij AMD Zone. Helaas vergelijkt men de nieuwe Duron telg alleen met een ouder broertje dat op 700 MHz werkt. Men concludeert dat de Athlon inmiddels de beter verkopende processor is, maar dat de Duron een vlot presterende CPU is, geschikt om oudere Duron systemen te upgraden, zeker bij FPU-intensieve taken waarbij cachegrootte geen grote rol speelt. Overclocken deed men op op een ECS K7S5A plankje en met behulp van een Golden Socket. De FSB werd opgeschroefd naar 266 MHz DDR en de multiplier verlaagd, wat uiteindelijk resulteerde in een clocksnelheid van 1,46 GHz:
AMD has waited two weeks to follow up the release of the Athlon XP 2000+ with the 1300MHz Duron. This decreases the gap between the CPUs to 366MHz and puts the Duron equal to the Celeron at 1.3GHz. For this release AMD has pulled no punches as the Duron running at 1.3GHz is identical in architecture to the previous Durons starting at 1GHz. All of these speed grades use the Morgan core while the sub GHz Durons use the original Spitfire core.
Duron popularity has suffered in recent quarters as the Athlon XP has taken foothold, and as Intel has dropped Celeron pricing to "irrational levels" according to AMD CEO Jerry Sanders. Q4 2001 marked the first time in some time that Athlon sales have topped Duron sales. This is an interesting development that speaks to the Athlons popularity.
With the apparent success of the Athlon XP speed rating system many are anticipating that AMD will move the Duron to a similar ratings system. This is not the case with the new Duron, and there are no indications that this will ever happen. Unless Intel moves the P4 into the value space replacing the Celeron then it is unlikely to happen.
Another question many have had is when the Duron will be moved up to the 266MHz bus. That question may be answered as the Duron moves to the .13 micron process later in the year. This move will more than likely be alluded to by the Athlon moving to the 333MHz bus. The recent introduction of a 266MHz DDR value chipset from VIA foreshadows the change to 266MHz as have recently leaked roadmaps. With the Duron now approaching the multiplier ceiling a change to a higher bus speed will allow for much more headroom.