E6700 Vs. E6600 - Why the pricing Diff?

[RafterManFMJ]

Hello all!

I'm going to build a new system in Nov; two in fact. My savings by then should coincide with reduced prices for components. So my nephew and I will be building the same machine.

My question is, I'm looking at Newegg at two Intel Parts. I'd decided on the Intel Core Duo E6700; yet right now it is priced at $600 dollars vs. $370 for the E6600; the only diff I see is a piddling .26 diff in Mhz...2.66 vs. 2.4.

So you pay a 62% premium for 10% more speed? Seems beyond stupid to me; during the Pentium days I remember the rule of thumb was: "A MHz diff. of X usually equaled .5X improvement in actual system performance" If true then, and now, you'd be looking at 5% performance bought at a 62% premium.

Is there another difference I'm overlooking? And I'm not interested in bragging rights - I mean a better overclockability or some such ephemeral thing I'm not getting?

Thanks for your responses!

 

[306maxi]

Hello all!

I'm going to build a new system in Nov; two in fact. My savings by then should coincide with reduced prices for components. So my nephew and I will be building the same machine.

My question is, I'm looking at Newegg at two Intel Parts. I'd decided on the Intel Core Duo E6700; yet right now it is priced at $600 dollars vs. $370 for the E6600; the only diff I see is a piddling .26 diff in Mhz...2.66 vs. 2.4.

So you pay a 62% premium for 10% more speed? Seems beyond stupid to me; during the Pentium days I remember the rule of thumb was: "A MHz diff. of X usually equaled .5X improvement in actual system performance" If true then, and now, you'd be looking at 5% performance bought at a 62% premium.

Is there another difference I'm overlooking? And I'm not interested in bragging rights - I mean a better overclockability or some such ephemeral thing I'm not getting?

Thanks for your responses!

Because they can.

High performance stuff will always be a lot more expensive.

Compare the price of a base model Porsche 911 to a GT2 or a 911 Turbo or a GT3 and you'll see what I mean. Performance doesn't always scale with cost in a linear fashion.

 

[jaguarskx]

As you pointed out, the difference is (over @ Newegg.com) is $230 for 260MHz, or $0.8846 for each additional MHz. If you ever followed CPU prices then you should know that there is always a large price difference between the fastest and the second fastest CPU; excluding the extreme series.

 

[towely]

To the OP: Welcome to the wonderful world of technology pricing! We hope you enjoy your stay.

 

[techgeek]

This happens because of speed binning. The ones that can't become X6800s become E6700s, of those that can't be E6700s they become E6600s. Since you get lower yields on the higher end parts from a wafer, you end up with a lot of parts at the middle, and even more at the lower end. Since the E6600 is the lowest end part with 4MB or cache, there is more of these than any others. It only makes sense that these will be priced lower.

Every once in a while the consumer gets lucky and there is a lower yield of the low end parts needed to meet demand. In these cases the manufacturer will sometimes package higher perfomance parts as their lower performance counterparts. These turn up as excellent overclockers. This can happen for two reasons, the most obvious, really high demand. The less obvious is as the process matures, the yield of high end parts increases, leaving less parts in the low end speed bins.

 

[RafterManFMJ]

Great answer and thanks! I forgot about chips being the same, just the higher they clock the more likely yield would decline / parts would fail. Looks like the E6600 will be the way to go tho; hopefully by November prices will decline significantly.

 

[StevieD]

This happens because of speed binning. The ones that can't become X6800s become E6700s, of those that can't be E6700s they become E6600s. Since you get lower yields on the higher end parts from a wafer, you end up with a lot of parts at the middle, and even more at the lower end. Since the E6600 is the lowest end part with 4MB or cache, there is more of these than any others. It only makes sense that these will be priced lower.

Every once in a while the consumer gets lucky and there is a lower yield of the low end parts needed to meet demand. In these cases the manufacturer will sometimes package higher perfomance parts as their lower performance counterparts. These turn up as excellent overclockers. This can happen for two reasons, the most obvious, really high demand. The less obvious is as the process matures, the yield of high end parts increases, leaving less parts in the low end speed bins.

A great answer that explains "things" to us "non technical" type of people.

 

[turkishdrummer]

Because they can and because were stupid enough to buy so early on.

 

[stingz]

i dont believe im stupid but i just spent 2,700 on components for my new e6700. i believe in making a great company even more sucessful and keeps me happy having the best now and i wont need anything for quite some time (im guessing 5-7 years) so its like you buy cheap you will be throwing it out soon bc its so outdated. if you invest in the best the longer you will be keeping it.

 

[RafterManFMJ]

i dont believe im stupid but i just spent 2,700 on components for my new e6700. i believe in making a great company even more sucessful and keeps me happy having the best now and i wont need anything for quite some time (im guessing 5-7 years) so its like you buy cheap you will be throwing it out soon bc its so outdated. if you invest in the best the longer you will be keeping it.

Good points - this is why I'm building my own (first time) so I have no problem upgrading - not locked into Dell or HP's upgrade path. Am planning on doing teh Dual GC SLI, 74 GB Raptor, that sort of thing so it should be good for several years as well, as well as being upgradeable easily and inexpensively.

 

[mbwoods]

My question is, I'm looking at Newegg at two Intel Parts. I'd decided on the Intel Core Duo E6700; yet right now it is priced at $600 dollars vs. $370 for the E6600; the only diff I see is a piddling .26 diff in Mhz...2.66 vs. 2.4.

so thats $230 difference, so having a look at all 4 core2 chips the cheepest at newegg is $220, then $260, then a big jump to $370 and finally $600, according to the currency rates it comes to £120, £140, £195 and £320, while in the uk prices are £140, then £180, then £260 and finally £385(dont forget it includes 17.5% tax)

oh, and the extreme edition is $1150(£610 conversion rate) at newegg, and £710 in the uk

 

[stingz]

i dont believe im stupid but i just spent 2,700 on components for my new e6700. i believe in making a great company even more sucessful and keeps me happy having the best now and i wont need anything for quite some time (im guessing 5-7 years) so its like you buy cheap you will be throwing it out soon bc its so outdated. if you invest in the best the longer you will be keeping it.

Good points - this is why I'm building my own (first time) so I have no problem upgrading - not locked into Dell or HP's upgrade path. Am planning on doing teh Dual GC SLI, 74 GB Raptor, that sort of thing so it should be good for several years as well, as well as being upgradeable easily and inexpensively.


Kickass! i got the p5n32-sli delux, msi nx7950 Gx2 1g ddr3, (2) 74 Gb raptors for Raid 0, creative X-Fi, antec case and few other things im still waiting to get my 4gb of 800mhz ddr2, and my e6700 conroe that was out of stock... so far everything cost me just under 2 grand

 

[mpjesse]

Hello all!

I'm going to build a new system in Nov; two in fact. My savings by then should coincide with reduced prices for components. So my nephew and I will be building the same machine.

My question is, I'm looking at Newegg at two Intel Parts. I'd decided on the Intel Core Duo E6700; yet right now it is priced at $600 dollars vs. $370 for the E6600; the only diff I see is a piddling .26 diff in Mhz...2.66 vs. 2.4.

So you pay a 62% premium for 10% more speed? Seems beyond stupid to me; during the Pentium days I remember the rule of thumb was: "A MHz diff. of X usually equaled .5X improvement in actual system performance" If true then, and now, you'd be looking at 5% performance bought at a 62% premium.

Is there another difference I'm overlooking? And I'm not interested in bragging rights - I mean a better overclockability or some such ephemeral thing I'm not getting?

Thanks for your responses!

Why the difference? The same reason why the x6800 costs over $1000 compared to the E6700 which costs $600 when there's only a 300mhz difference. To make money.

 

[RafterManFMJ]

i dont believe im stupid but i just spent 2,700 on components for my new e6700. i believe in making a great company even more sucessful and keeps me happy having the best now and i wont need anything for quite some time (im guessing 5-7 years) so its like you buy cheap you will be throwing it out soon bc its so outdated. if you invest in the best the longer you will be keeping it.

Good points - this is why I'm building my own (first time) so I have no problem upgrading - not locked into Dell or HP's upgrade path. Am planning on doing teh Dual GC SLI, 74 GB Raptor, that sort of thing so it should be good for several years as well, as well as being upgradeable easily and inexpensively.


Kickass! i got the p5n32-sli delux, msi nx7950 Gx2 1g ddr3, (2) 74 Gb raptors for Raid 0, creative X-Fi, antec case and few other things im still waiting to get my 4gb of 800mhz ddr2, and my e6700 conroe that was out of stock... so far everything cost me just under 2 grand

Sweet! I'll have to look you up if I have any questions...not looking for MBs now as I assume there will be more SLI / Conroe options by Nov., but some components I am decided on...

 

[zornundo]

Hello all!

I'm going to build a new system in Nov; two in fact. My savings by then should coincide with reduced prices for components. So my nephew and I will be building the same machine.

My question is, I'm looking at Newegg at two Intel Parts. I'd decided on the Intel Core Duo E6700; yet right now it is priced at $600 dollars vs. $370 for the E6600; the only diff I see is a piddling .26 diff in Mhz...2.66 vs. 2.4.

So you pay a 62% premium for 10% more speed? Seems beyond stupid to me; during the Pentium days I remember the rule of thumb was: "A MHz diff. of X usually equaled .5X improvement in actual system performance" If true then, and now, you'd be looking at 5% performance bought at a 62% premium.

Is there another difference I'm overlooking? And I'm not interested in bragging rights - I mean a better overclockability or some such ephemeral thing I'm not getting?

Thanks for your responses!

Why the difference? The same reason why the x6800 costs over $1000 compared to the E6700 which costs $600 when there's only a 300mhz difference. To make money.

Reminds me of downtown condo pricing. I was reading about some new buildings going up in downtown Nasvhille and most units were priced, say, in the $300k range and a few more luxurious ones priced at the $1mil range. Why? Beats the shiz out of me. They are probably a little bit bigger, a little nicer shiz inside, and probably on the upper floors. Does all that extra stuff warrant upwards of a $700k increase? Probably not, but people will buy it and people DO buy those units.