AMD Duron 1600: NoMS's SuperPi Record at 2891 MHz

Many probably don't remember, and some might not even know, about the AMD Duron processor. This brand was in AMD's price lists long before Socket 754 and 64-bit architecture came along.

The legendary Socket A, also known as Socket 462, hosted both Athlon XP and the budget Sempron and Duron processors. The latter was a heavily stripped-down version of the Athlon, even more so than the Sempron.

For example, today's record-setting AMD Duron 1600 processor (Applebred core) had only 64 KB of L2 cache out of a possible 256 KB.

In 2019, records like these trigger a strong wave of nostalgia. It feels like just yesterday: as a young overclocker, I'd nervously try to mount massive coolers on unprotected CPU dies, trying not to chip that fragile silicon.

Thankfully, those days are over, and we don't have to worry about CPUs anymore. (No, wait. Thanks, Intel, for your thermal paste under the IHS. We still do.)

Alright, enough sentimentality. We've got a genuine record for old-school enthusiasts here:

Brazilian overclocker under the nickname NoMS took gold in the AMD Duron 1600 category (the 130 nm Applebred core, derived from Thoroughbred with partially disabled L2 cache), overclocking it to 2891.3 MHz.

The processor was cooled with a dry ice pot, while the motherboard chipset used a special tower-type heatsink with a single heat pipe.

First extreme test with modded A7N8X-X + EPOWER V. Brute force ftw! =P

— NoMS

In comments on his result, the Brazilian stated that the ASUS A7N8X-X motherboard's power delivery system had been modified. It's quite possible the enthusiast didn't stop there and chose not to disclose some other "tweaks".

Unfortunately, NoMS didn't specify the other components used in the test bench.

It's entirely possible that similar materials, but of our own making, will appear on our site in the future. After all, the "romance" of overclocking has somewhat been lost in modern hardware.

Source: HWBot result page