My Dilema E6600 vs E6400. Please Help

[ncage]

Hi guys i am a serious delima. I keep going back and forth and i need everyones help to make a final decision. Its keep going E6400 no e6600 no e6400 and this has been an endless cycle for me. I can not make up my friggn mind and its actually making me mad. I am definitly going to overclock this as far as it will go and want the more performance i can squeeze out of this. I am gradually building this system and i have bought great parts so i won't have any problems overclocking
OCZ GameXTream 700W PSU
2GB (1GBx2) of OCZ Platinum XTC V1 DDR2 (PC-6200)
250sata1 GB HD (Already had this)
Scythe Ninja Cooler.

I am now ready to purchase my MB/CPU and i keep going back and forth. I will forsure be getting a Gigabyte DS3 for my MB.

Now here is the thing ont he CPU. Most people seem to be getting at least 3.2ghz with the e6400. Now with the e6600 this is where im confused. I have seen at least a few people only get 3.2ghz when they had good parts but then i have seen others that get up to 4ghz. I will be upset if i buy a e6600 and im only about to get 3.2ghz out of it because i don't want to pay $100 extra just for the extra cache now if i can get it anywhere from 3.6ghz to 4ghz then i will be happy. I guess im just afraid im going to spend $100 extra on this processor and really not be able to oc it beyond what i would a e6400. Please help guys make my decision. Id love to get 3.6-4ghz but im not wanting to be disappointed.

thanks,
ncage

 

[aggressor]

The amount of people reaching above 3.4ghz is extremely low. Most consider 3.6ghz (9x400) a great accomplishment, but it definitely isn't the norm.
Stick with the E6400 and pump the hell out of it Heck, I have the E6400 and wish I would have gotten the E6300 since these motherboards can go higher than the CPUs unless you are using extreme cooling.

The only way I'd recommend a e6600 is if you were set on a 975 board because of SLI\Crossfire support. They can't push as high a FSB as these P965 boards, so the higher the multi the better.

 

[MikeR397]

I have an E6600 with p5w deluxe and corsair ram and can only get 3.2 out of it at reasonable voltages. The reviews you are seeing about people with a 4.0ghz overclock on E6600 are from people with Engineering Samples of this chip (usually stepping 5) not the retail version currently available (stepping 6). Like agressor said, I am rarely finding anyone over 3.3ghz with an E6600 without goign over 1.50vCore.

This being said, it is still up to you. Keep in mind that you will HAVE to have a good motherboard capable of getting 400+ fsb stable (like the Asus or DS3) in order to get those 3.2 speeds (400x8) out of a E6400. However, at the same speed, 3.2ghz, it is shown that the E6600 typically has about 6-10% performance increase due to it's larger L2 cache and therefore less relying on memory and memory timings (timings are much less inportant in C2D chips than Athlon anyway).

Ok, to the point. if you have the money, get the E6600. It is a better processor and the L2 cache will help in many instances. If the 100 bucks is better off saved in your case, get the E6400 and overclock like mad. This assumes you are not goign to be upset in 5 months that all the new chips have 4mb L2 and your's has 2, lol! I personally like the rationalization that my E6600 was "better out of the box than the current best Athlon chip." And i've always been an Athlon person.

 

[Madellga]

I tried both E6600 and E6400. Same mobo, ram, everything.

I could reach 3.2GHz with low VCore (1.38V) with the E6400 (8x400) - 16 hours Prime95 stable and counting...

I could reach 3.0GHz with low VCore (1.40V) with the E6600 (8x375) - also Prime95 stable.

For the said 5-10% advantage on the E6600, I guess the extra 200MHz made the E6400 close the gap.

And it was 100$ cheaper. In my case the E6400 was a Win-Win situation: cheaper and good performer.

The E6600 is long gone....

 

[Conky]

I initially wanted the E6600 but ended up buying an E6400.

The parts are in transit so I can't give an opinion but I did the research and the E6400 seems to be the overclockers favorite.

Even un-overclocked it still smokes almost all AMD chips so it's not that big of a decision. ( I do feel sorry for all the dudes that paid megabucks for their 4x00 X2's before the pricebreak... they got raped but that is the computer hardware business... it's brutal).

I should have mine up and running next wednesday night. I am looking forward to this upgrade. My P4 w/ HT has served me well but it's an old freakin horse for a guy like me. :laugh:

 

[markymoo]

you did right. well done

 

[zizo]

Originally posted by: aggressor

I have the E6400 and wish I would have gotten the E6300 since these motherboards can go higher than the CPUs unless you are using extreme cooling.

Same here . I could've saved 160$, but at least I saved 100$.

 

[n7]

E6400.

 

[neuralnut]

I originally ordered the 6600, but it was delayed by a couple of weeks so I bought a 6400 in the interim with the intention of selling it on Ebay once the 6600 arrived.

I was so impressed at being able to overclock the 6400 stably to 3.2 GHz with very little effort I have cancelled the 6600 order. The 6400 is a gem of a chip, overclocks easily with relatively low voltages and low temperatures.

 

[Kango2020]

If you want a Conroe, buy the E6600 (the E6300/E6400 are Allendale).

If you want to beat ALL AMD processors at stock speeds, hands down, buy the E6600.

If you want really big OC FSB numbers that stresses the he11 out of you MB, buy an Allendale.

It all depends on what you want to do with it.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Kango2020
If you want a Conroe, buy the E6600 (the E6300/E6400 are Allendale).

If you want to beat ALL AMD processors at stock speeds, hands down, buy the E6600.

If you want really big OC FSB numbers that stresses the he11 out of you MB, buy an Allendale.

It all depends on what you want to do with it.

Yep

I personally prefer the extra cache and slightly lower total clock speed to an Allendale running a bit faster, on a faster FSB. To each their own. Really depends on the type of work you're doing with it as well.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

If gaming is a big deal, get the E6300/E6400 and spend the leftovers on a better video card or put it towards G80/R600. The GPU will be the bottleneck at 1280x1024 and over in new games. You won't see any improvement in real world gaming by getting the E6600.

 

[Pythias]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
If gaming is a big deal, get the E6300/E6400 and spend the leftovers on a better video card or put it towards G80/R600. The GPU will be the bottleneck at 1280x1024 and over in new games. You won't see any improvement in real world gaming by getting the E6600.

? Its not your wording, I just had a long night. If my monitor only supports 1280x1024, which is more important cpu or gpu?

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Pythias
? Its not your wording, I just had a long night. If my monitor only supports 1280x1024, which is more important cpu or gpu?

GPU. After 10x7 resolution you become primarily GPU-limited, and that ratio increases as the resolution scales higher.

 

[Pythias]

GPU. After 10x7 resolution you become primarily GPU-limited, and that ratio increases as the resolution scales higher.

Thanks. appreciate the heads up