Which Core 2 Duo ?

[kevpuk]

Which Core 2 Duo ? 6300/6400/6600 ??

Probably been asked before, but my useless searching skills didn't give me anything conclusive......

Although briefly flirting with going to AM2, I have now decided to go Intel after many loyal AMD years.....

So, what's the low-down on which Core 2 Duo to go for.....should I just go for the 6300 and clock-a-roony, or is the 6600 a considerably better starting point with extra cache and all. TBH, for £100 more, I can stretch if it is likely to be worthwhile.....

Looking at the ASUS P5WDH, and the spangly RAM in This Week Only......

Please help me decide before clicking Checkout

 

[kevpuk]

Pretty much what I thought....although is the 6600 really worth the extra ton ?

The ASUS seems a little dear here.......can I say that ??

 

[kevpuk]

If you want higher clocks, then yes. But I've got 3.3 out of my E6300 and saved a packet.

I'm really wondering whether the extra cache is also a boon.....I guess I want the shift from my current (see sig) PC to be really noticeable (helps me justify the expense.....)

 

[kevpuk]

So the consensus is the 6300/6400......so is the extra multiplier on the 6400 worth going for ? Seems OC only have oem ones....so what heatsink (sorry, been on AMD so long.....)

 

[kevpuk]

DOH ! Was all set for the 6300....and now the 6600 is back in my mind.....

 

[kevpuk]

Set a budget and stick with it.

Wise words....methinks I will go with the 6300 after all......

 

[kevpuk]

If you go for a 2mb cache chip (6300/6400) then don't get the P5W DH. Those chips clock much better in 965 chipsets, and the best one at the moment is the Asus P5B.

DOH (again !) ! Another potential complication......kinda liked the look of the P5W DH......set on the 6300 now (unless the 6400 forces its way into my basket ).....

 

[kevpuk]

Wellllllll......Just ordered from OcUK.....went for the 6300 (Retail - fancied a nice cardboard box ) and the Geil 2x1GB RAM kit......wanted the P5WDH too, but - having spoken to a guy on the phone - they won't budge/pricematch and it is over £20 more here..... ....in fact, I believe it has even gone up onsite today by a tiny amount....

 

[kevpuk]

Wellllllll......Just ordered from OcUK.....went for the 6300 (Retail - fancied a nice cardboard box ) and the Geil 2x1GB RAM kit......wanted the P5WDH too, but - having spoken to a guy on the phone - they won't budge/pricematch and it is over £20 more here..... ....in fact, I believe it has even gone up onsite today by a tiny amount....

....And the P5W DH is now also en route (and stumbled across a Ninja for under £30!)....should all arrive tomorrow.....busy weekend ahead, methinks !!

Is there a decent thread dedicated to first steps in OC'ing these CPUs ? Long time on AMD and not sure where to start......although no doubt will find out.....just looking for pointers

 

[kevpuk]

This review answered a lot of my questions have a look its an excellent read. http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2800&p=1

Yeah, good read.......thanks

Well, now got my shiny 6300, Geil 2*1GB pc6400 (thank-you This Week Only ) and P5WDH......put it all together and installed into my existing PC, removing X2, K8NXP-SLI and RAM and copious amounts of driver uninstalls from Windows.......and......BSOD - DOH ! Still, a boot from CD and repair seemed to fix it all nicely and my system is all back up and running with the new bits !

So, updated P5WDH BIOS from shipped 0701 to 0801 and manually set the RAM to pc6400 4-4-4-12, raising voltage to 2.1v as sticker on RAM says (is this necessary ????) and all seems fine ! ASUS remote not currently working except for turning PC on .....but otherwise fully functional PC - time to let the CPU overclock commence......will the stock hsf noticeably impact OC - i.e., should I put the Scythe Ninja on/keep the Gigabyte big blue thing I had on the X2/leave it with stock hsf ??? Thoughts, guys, please ?