E6420 or E6600?

[MeatLoaf]

Both have 4Mb cache and the price difference isnt huge.

Id prefer the higher stock speed and higher multi on the 6600 tbh

 

[Will_3rd]

if you've got the cash the 6600 might be worth it

 

[MeatLoaf]

Actually you know im not sure

I doubt i will decide till i walk in the shop lol

 

[titaniumx3]

I'm in the same situation too. My problem is that if I get a 6420 it is more likely that I can get 3.2ghz from it using PC2-6400 800mhz ram but with a 6600 there is less chance of getting 3.6ghz which means I'd have run the ram at lower speed (if that makes any sense?).

Does running ram at lower speed affect performance? Are there any performance issues running a ram divider on intel chipsets?

 

[adslegend]

I'm in the same situation too. My problem is that if I get a 6420 it is more likely that I can get 3.2ghz from it using PC2-6400 800mhz ram but with a 6600 there is less chance of getting 3.6ghz which means I'd have run the ram at lower speed (if that makes any sense?).

Does running ram at lower speed affect performance? Are there any performance issues running a ram divider on intel chipsets?

E6420 will be better value for money. Mine does 8x400 on stock vcore and more I'm sure but my board has trouble above 400 FSB so maybe a Vfsb mod can sort this out.

On to my next point therefore, the E6600 has a 9x multi so even if your mobo topped out at 400 FSB you would have a respectable 3.6 GHz.

I wouldn't worry about memory speed too much. Just get some Crucial Ballistix PC5300 and you'll be ok if you know anything about memory overclocking.