While the Duron 1.1 GHz does use an enhanced core, overclocking follows along the same familiar path. Our particular CPU was of the unlocked variety, and since the higher-end Athlon models ship this way (due to chip yield issues with locked bridges) there is no reason to suspect that the Duron will be any different. Even if you do get a locked processor, the old "pencil trick" should be just what the doctor ordered.

A far more pressing question is exactly how our Duron 1.1 GHz performed in overclock testing. So far our Duron overclocking tests (using standard air-cooled devices) have shown a willingness to hit upwards of 1.15 GHz, but then encounters serious trouble going any higher. It is important to remember that even though the Duron Morgan is an enhancement over the previous Duron Spitfire core, both processors still use the 0.18-micron process. So in some ways it is not surprising that a Duron using either the Spitfire or Morgan cores offer approximately the same overclocking headroom. This was the case with both the Duron 950 and Duron 1 GHz, but can the new Duron 1.1 GHz change this?

Sadly, at least in the case of our particular reference CPU, we must say no. Once again, we easily attained the 1.15 GHz speed without issue, but when 1.2 GHz was attempted the problems really started cropping up. Booting up at the default 1.75V setting resulted in a hard lock, and the same scenario unfolded when using 1.8V. Increasing this to 1.825V and 1.85V did nothing to clear up the problem, though we did last a bit longer in Win 98SE as a result. At this point, we decided not to risk any further increases, as we were approaching some serious voltage and heat levels.

In the end, the Duron 1.1 GHz, while a very fast value processor, was a bit of disappointment in the overclocking area. In fact, this processor exhibited slightly worse stability at 1.2 GHz than did our previous Duron 1 GHz reference CPU. We attribute this anomaly to slight differences in core quality. But even with only a test base of 2 processors, we are starting to see a trend emerging, and AMD will probably need to be extremely picking about the chip yield if we ever want to see a retail Duron at 1.2 GHz or higher.

Note: As with all CPU overclocking, you pay your money and you take your chances, and the above overclocking results should not be taken as indicative of any other CPU that the one reviewed and tested herein.

As with the Duron 1 GHz, the newer 1.1 GHz model also runs at a core voltage of 1.75V. This is the same voltage as required by the AMD Athlon, while being significantly higher than the 1.6V of the Duron processors (up to 950 MHz) using the older Spitfire core. This is a bit surprising when coupled with the fact that the new AMD core was supposed to actually lower the core voltage requirements. It went this way for the Mobile Athlon 4, which needs only 1.4V of power.

In our previous Duron 1 GHz review, we did a bit of testing and discovered that our reference CPU would run at up to 1.1 GHz using a default core voltage of 1.6V. This is in line with the Duron 950, which could be overclocked to 1 GHz or above using its default 1.6V voltage setting. In testing our Duron 1.1 GHz, we found that not only would it run happily at 1.1 GHz using a 1.6V core voltage, but would also hit 1.15 GHz with no problem. In fact, after the benchmark testing was completed, we lowered the core voltage to 1.6V and ran through all the same tests without a hitch.

Since we have now received two Duron processors that not only did not require 1.75V to run, but would operate perfectly at 1.6V, there seems to be mounting evidence that AMD may want to take the Duron line quite a bit higher in core speed. If speeds of 1.2 GHz or more are the end goal, then setting the default voltage at 1.75V allows motherboard vendors to easily support the new processor and without any worry about future changes in voltage specifications. Intel was famous for this with their FC-PGA processors, and usually required a slightly higher core voltage at various speed intervals. This is actually a smart move for AMD, though users who upgrade to the newer Duron 1 - 1.1 GHz processors might want to try lowering the core voltage and perhaps lower the potential CPU heat.