Need some advice on a C2D CPU please

[DarkShadow]

In a little dilemma here,

I'll be ordering lots of new kit on Tuesday evening, so I need to make a final deicison.

Basically I've been reading lots on the C2D CPU's and it seems the E6600 is the cpu of choice. I have however seen people getting some fantastic overclocks out of their E6300's.

Now I'm on a fairly tight budget and the price difference is £90 between the two. To top it the E6320 will ship with 4mb cache but that's arounds 4 months away which will be difficult to hold out for!

Now I don't plan on upgrading for another 3 years after this upgrade, as I've managed to do with my Amd 64 3500+.

I do lots of gaming, along with heavy multi tasking (Dual screens). I also do graphics along with programming.

Would the extra 2mb cache benefit me? Is it worthwhile to hold out for another 3 years?

I'd really appreciate any help, cheers

 

[viking12344]

I bought a 6400 and after thinking about it wished I spent the extra hundred on the 6600. Not to complain or anything because I still got 3.3ghz out of it air cooled. But the extra cache would be nice for gaming IMO.

 

[beast]

If it's to last 3 years, why not get the 6600? even if you do get the 6300 and overclock it, you'll still be thinking "why didn't I get the 6600" because the seed of doubt is in your mind already.

 

[Margaret]

I bought a 6400 and after thinking about it wished I spent the extra hundred on the 6600. Not to complain or anything because I still got 3.3ghz out of it air cooled. But the extra cache would be nice for gaming IMO.

Eh I thought the gaming difference was tiny?

 

[viking12344]

It is tiny but it would still be nice.

 

[WJA96]

For what it's worth, all the Core2Duo processors seem to max out at between 3.2 and 3.6GHz on air cooling. For faster compiles you might see the benefit of the E6600's 4Mb cache, but it's a lot of extra money over even an E6400 let alone an E6300.

At the moment I think the value for money sweet spot is E6400+OcUK Value RAM plus Gigabyte S3 plus AC Freezer 7 Pro which is £397.10 and will hit 3.2GHz pretty much guaranteed.

The often recommended E6300 system of DS3/GeIL Ultra PC6400/E6300 OEM/AC Freezer 7 Pro will also most likely do 3.2GHz but you need to overclock the RAM too, which is odd as it costs £388.88 with the OEM processor or £402.98 with the retail processor's extra warranty.

For an E6600 system I wouldn't deviate from the above and the E6600 version of the above system is £488! which is an immense increase in price for a system that won't actually clock much better.

 

[Rob43]

I had the same choice to make a month ago,in the end i wen't for the E6300 & its now sitting @3.4Ghz prime stable & i'm more than happy,saved me about £100 at the time of purchase

[/URL][/IMG]


Rob

 

[p4radox]

For what it's worth, all the Core2Duo processors seem to max out at between 3.2 and 3.6GHz on air cooling. For faster compiles you might see the benefit of the E6600's 4Mb cache, but it's a lot of extra money over even an E6400 let alone an E6300.

At the moment I think the value for money sweet spot is E6400+OcUK Value RAM plus Gigabyte S3 plus AC Freezer 7 Pro which is £397.10 and will hit 3.2GHz pretty much guaranteed.

The often recommended E6300 system of DS3/GeIL Ultra PC6400/E6300 OEM/AC Freezer 7 Pro will also most likely do 3.2GHz but you need to overclock the RAM too, which is odd as it costs £388.88 with the OEM processor or £402.98 with the retail processor's extra warranty.

For an E6600 system I wouldn't deviate from the above and the E6600 version of the above system is £488! which is an immense increase in price for a system that won't actually clock much better.

What he said.

 

[OC_A64]

Tough call. 3.6ghz is realistic from all the Core2's as mentioned, however getting there gets harder as you go down the range.
3.6ghz from the 6300 needs 500+ fsb. That means you HAVE to get a 965 based board, and decent ram. What you save on the CPU you have to spend out on ram and time to get the system stable. If your a novice/new overclocker it's probably not worth it.
E6600 allows a bit more flexibility ram and mobo wise, 975 boards are the best bet as they'll run faster above 400 FSB than the 965's. You don't need expensive ram to hit 3.6ghz, any old 6400 will do the job just fine. The savings from cheaper ram won't really cover the extra cost of the 6600 however.
As mentioned above, 6400 is a good "middle man". 3.6 ghz comes in at 450 FSB. You're *just* about in 975 territory here although its a bit of a push so 965 board would be a better option. Most 6400 ram will hit around 450 FSB with ease so you can save a bit here too.

However and here's the killer, I'd say performane wise E6600 + 975 board + ram @ 400 fsb will certainly outperform the 6400 + 965 + ram @ 450 FSB, even if you CAN keep the same ram timings. The lost cache, and internal chipset latencies will affect overall speed. Something else to chuck into the equation to make things harder

I'd go cheaper 975 board (the DFI perhaps?), save a little on ram - cheap kit of 6400 (might get away with Cas5 stuff even, if your sticking to 400 FSB you could probably tighten the timings up a smidge) and E6600.
It'll be the easiest of the lot to overclock due to the higher multi, and you get the extra performance of 4mb cache and tighter chipset timings at 400 FSB

 

[tomanders91]

Will a E6300, 2gb of OCUK value ram, DS3 and artic pro 7 reach 2.8ghz?

 

[OC_A64]

Will a E6300, 2gb of OCUK value ram, DS3 and artic pro 7 reach 2.8ghz?

Yup shouldnt be a problem.

 

[DarkShadow]

If it's to last 3 years, why not get the 6600? even if you do get the 6300 and overclock it, you'll still be thinking "why didn't I get the 6600" because the seed of doubt is in your mind already.

I think you've hit the nail in my head

Any more thoughts?