Core 2 Duo 6600 or Pentium D 940?

[rayzor]

Which one should I get? To be used mainly for a recording studio rig. Price is somewhat of an issue but if there's not a significant difference...

 

[dasickninja]

What exactly is your price range? I'm tempted to tell you to get the E6600 but I need to find out what you have to work with..

 

[exit2dos]

For budget reasons, you may want to go with a E6400, which still beats the 940, or even go with a cheaper E6300 and overclock it.

Check out the CPU charts:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=433&model2=438&chart=178

 

[rayzor]

I have a 1300 dollar budget. I could go for the 6600, but might have to leave out a hd or get some cheaper RAM. Does the performance difference between the 940 and the 6600 justify these cuts?

 

[dasickninja]

Go for the E6400 instead and don't skimp on the RAM.

 

[vanka]

I have a 1300 dollar budget. I could go for the 6600, but might have to leave out a hd or get some cheaper RAM. Does the performance difference between the 940 and the 6600 justify these cuts?

You can get a 6600 and get another hard drive a little later, don't get crappy RAM if you're going for max performance. Or you could get a 6400 and overclock the sucker. I personally would get the 6600, overclock it, then get a another hard drive in a month or so.

 

[dasickninja]

Take a look at how even the E6400 wipes the floor and cleans house with the 940D in Audio Encoding:
Both are highlighted in Red

Advantage: Core 2 Duo E6400 Allendale

Advantage: Core 2 Duo E6400 Allendale

Advantage: Core 2 Duo E6400 Allendale

 

[exit2dos]

If you were doing video editing, I would go with the 6600. But for audio, I would do as DaSickNinja says:

Go for the E6400 instead and don't skimp on the RAM.