Help me out and tell me why I shouldn't jump up to a E6600.

[SaamS]

I currently have a DS3 and a E6400. I have the opertunity to pick up a P5B delux and a E6600. Someone please tell me why not to switch to the other setup.

 

[aggressor]

They seem to have the same overclock ceiling (when removing the FSB of the motherboard out of the equation, like with the P5B-D and DS3), and the 2mb extra cache is only a 10% boost in performance at best.

 

[Furen]

Eh? Because your system already performs within ~10% of what a new system would perform at? It's a waste of money, in my opinion, but if you have money to burn then go for it. (Or you can always OC your current setup)

 

[hennethannun]

why bother spending $500 on a brand new processor when your current system performs almost as well, is already in your possession, and can easily be overclocked to provide performance that surpasses that of the new system. the only thing you would gain from the trade-up would be 2mb of L2 cache, which increases performance from 2-10% depending on application. not really worth it.

 

[Skott]

E6600 are Expensive still, in short supply, and if you want SLI there arent any good Conroe SLI mobos.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Because you will be branded stupid if you do it.

 

[ELicious]

I thought the 6600 overclocked higher. That's what I got out of reading the articles here anyway.

 

[gobucks]

on average, the extra cache accounts for around 3-5% performance boost. i don't see any reason at all to spend an extra $200 for that, and that's assuming you could sell your e6400 and DS3 without taking a loss.

 

[MonkeyManX]

It is about a $125 price wise... The most processor intensive thing I use on my PC is audio tracking and editting with Cubase and a ton of effects running and even my 4400+ does the job. I just purchased the E6400 because the E6600 chips are harder to find and after reading through benchmarks, the E6400 seems way more than sufficient for even heavy gaming, heavy audio editting and video editting... Especially with the Overclock you can get out of it. The benchmarks at this site only had the E6400 up at 2.8Ghz and I think it was just shy of the X6800 chips performance... Now, most people around these parts are reporting 3.2Ghz out of the chip... I would think that would get you by...

 

[Aiden]

Most of the reports and forum information leads me to think that the e6400 is showing good to very good success at overclocking to x6800 levels or above. The 965 motherboards are showing good success as well, although all of them seem to be having some issues in one form or another.

You won't gain much if anything at all from getting new components at this point. If your an enthusiest and you want additional components then go for it, if you have the cash.

Better off waiting for another 3-6 months and pickup a e6600 at or below MSRP which should be alot closer to the existing price of the e6400 cpu's now.