Is the Core 2 Duo E6600 still decent?

K-Hype · May 3, 2015

I was wondering if the Core 2 Duo can run a few modern games like Saint Rows 4, Dead Space 3, or Skyrim. I know I can just look at the system requirements but it isn't all that accurate. I remember running a few demanding games like Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 on Intel HD Graphics .

PC Specs:
Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHZ
ASUS P5N-D LGA 775
Corsair DDR2 RAM
Seagate 320 GB HDD
EVGA GTX 480 Graphics card
Antec 850 Watt PSU

mrmez · May 3, 2015

Great in their day, but it will struggle.
Best you can do is OC the hell out of it. Fortunately, these were known for good overclocks.

K-Hype · May 3, 2015

How far do you think I can overclock this CPU, I have the ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro. Should I just buy a Core 2 Quad since so many games need more cores these days.

jazzy663 · May 3, 2015

Not really. If that were my computer, I'd yank the E6600 and throw a C2Q Q9650 in there... maybe upgrade the graphics a bit.

Or you could, as mentioned, overclock. Not a horrible idea. Just don't overclock on the stock cooler.

K-Hype · May 3, 2015

Yeah I know it is best not to overclock with a stock cooler since it gets quite hot. With the ARCTIC Cooler I think it should be good enough no need for some liquid cooling. Also everywhere I looked I can't seem to find a Core 2 Quad Q9650 that is cheap. Most of them were over $100

jazzy663 · May 3, 2015

K-Hype :

If you're set on upgrading, look for a Q9550 instead. It's the same chip just slightly lower clocked. You can find them for roughly $70. Old chip but holds its own pretty well in today's games.

Though I can't in good faith recommend upgrading a 6+ year old rig, unless it's your only option. I would only do it for the novelty of it.

Overclocking is an option, but aside from telling you not to do it on the stock cooler, I can't advise you in that field. Overclocking isn't my thing.

jazzy663 · May 3, 2015

K-Hype :

If you're set on upgrading, look for a Q9550 instead. It's the same chip just slightly lower clocked. You can find them for roughly $70. Old chip but holds its own pretty well in today's games.

Though I can't in good faith recommend upgrading a 6+ year old rig, unless it's your only option. I would only do it for the novelty of it.

Overclocking is an option, but aside from telling you not to do it on the stock cooler, I can't advise you in that field. Overclocking isn't my thing.

jazzy663 · May 3, 2015

Woah, double post. How did that happen?

K-Hype · May 3, 2015

I seem to be in a tight spot right now on whether to upgrade this PC or not. I forgot to mention that this is my secondary rig I built a long time ago and never really used it much besides playing Dead Space 1 all day. I am using my Core i5 build right now and it is running perfectly. But you are probably wondering why am I still asking this question if i already have a modern rig. Well this is my back up PC just in case if my current one dies and probably some people might say just abandon it. If my current PC does die I still have a decent gaming machine I can still use for games and research papers.

jazzy663 · May 3, 2015

Holy crap. I didn't realize how cheap that chip was. That would be a good way to go.

K-Hype · May 3, 2015

Is the CPU you are talking about this one?
http://tekrevival.com/intel-core-2-duo-processor-e6600-4mb-2400-mhz-1066-mhz-sl9zl-cpu-fsb-socket-775.html?gclid=CNCN2siHp8UCFUU8gQoddb8AyQ
Should i buy it from here?

K-Hype · May 3, 2015

The link you gave me seems to be the real deal the one I found could be a fake maybe? Core 2 Quad Q660 8MB but the link I found had 4MB.

Gman450 · May 3, 2015

With your current setup, wouldn't your CPU be bottlenecking that 480 at stock speeds?

Games you mentioned should run okay. I had a E7500 (stock speeds) and a GTS450, and I could run Dead Space 3 and Skyrim at high settings at 720p.

mrmez · May 3, 2015

I just upgraded from a Q6600 (2.4Ghz B3).
The 'G0' chips OC'd far better, but mine had a sweet spot at ~3.0Ghz and managed so with a voltage reduction.

Unfortunately even that was too slow for current games and current GFX cards.

If you can get a second hand CPU, make sure it's a significant upgrade, and make sure it's cheap.
Not much point in sinking $$$ into an ancient system.

K-Hype · May 4, 2015

Should I just build myself a brand new secondary PC. I was wondering if the pentium G3258 would be a good choice

Gman450 · May 5, 2015

K-Hype :

That is a really nice budget CPU and it overclocks well. If you're really tight and need one right away, it's a good choice.

K-Hype · May 16, 2015

So I bought it and installed it to my machine and everything runs fine. I instantly notice a large improvement in certain games like Battlefield 3 and 4. It went from Unplayable to playable. Some games like Crysis 1 and 2, Dead Space I don't seem to notice much improvement even when upgraded to the core 2 quad until I overclocked it to around 2.8 GHZ.

jazzy663 · May 16, 2015

K-Hype :

Crysis 1 wouldn't see much of an improvment because the Core 2 Duos and Quads were built to play that game. Crysis 2 I don't know about, but Dead Space 3 is one of the most optimized games on the planet so that wouldn't get much of a benefit. But yeah, Battlefield games are written to take advantage of more cores, so that's where your big improvement is going to be.

At any rate, that C2Q should hold you over long enough to save for a new rig, if that's what you're planning. Despite how old those chips are, they're still pretty good. Say what you want about the prices of Intel products, but their high-end chips have good longevity.

K-Hype · May 20, 2015

Well technically I already built a new PC a year ago but I just wanted to upgrade this secondary PC so I can use it as a backup with all my files in it. Crysis 2 as well did improve but it wasn't enough to have a smooth performance all the time, since the game is able to only utilize 2 - 3 cores the Core 2 Quad was only marginally better than my Core 2 Duo. Also I did play Dead Space 3 and it didn't really improve much but I didn't really like the game, I was talking about Dead Space 1 and 2. These games only utilize 2 cores which wasn't really an improvement from my Core 2 Duo to a Core 2 Quad. Games like The Witcher 2 and Crysis 3 had the most massive boost in performance since these games all heavily multi-threaded. However it wasn't enough to say it was playable especially the second level in Crysis 3 Welcome to the Jungle. Even my Core i5 Desktop had a hard time keeping up with my GTX 760 at that level.

Is the Core 2 Duo E6600 still decent?

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