E6600 and E6700 - whats the diff. other than clock speed

[AKJ]

Does anyone know what the underlying differences are between the E6600 and the E6700? OK, so we all know the clock speeds are different.

Could it be the same darn chip, but with the E6700 using 266 * 10 settings VS E6600 using 266 * 9 settings?

Im a noob, so be nice plz

 

[losergamer04]

You are right. The only difference with the X6800 is the multiplier can be changed up from the stock 11. This allows you to overclock with out raising the FSB, but it still voids the warranty.
Another thing to know is that they decide what to make the processor after they do a burn in and test the chip. When they mass produce the chips, some naturally preform better and can reach higher clock speeds. Those are your higher, faster chips. If they are using the same die in a server processor, they will take the best and use the chips for those as well.
As a note, the E6300 and E6400 have a 2MB cache and the E6600, E6700, and X6800 have 4MB cache.

 

[AKJ]

True, but what if its actually the same CPU, just clocked differently. We'd never really know hey..

Coz im thinking its cheaper for Intel to mass produce one chip, then clock them differently and give them different names.

Makes you wonder, doesnt it?

 

[13thmonkey]

True, but what if its actually the same CPU, just clocked differently. We'd never really know hey..

Coz im thinking its cheaper for Intel to mass produce one chip, then clock them differently and give them different names.

Makes you wonder, doesnt it?

Thats what he said, they are the same chip.

But... when they are tested they are divided into categories based on performance (they are all slightly different, usig more or less power than each other, and potentially having all or some of the cache working) these categories become the products. You'll find that E6700's typically have a slightly lower voltage than an E6600 and so would run cooler at the higher clocks.

The previous poster also added that the X6800's are multiplier unlocked, this would be a modification to the standard component, and so the X6800's are essentially the same as an E6600 or E6700.

 

[gOJDO]

Does anyone know what the underlying differences are between the E6600 and the E6700? OK, so we all know the clock speeds are different.

Could it be the same darn chip, but with the E6700 using 266 * 10 settings VS E6600 using 266 * 9 settings?

Im a noob, so be nice plz

Both models are identical except the clock speed(so, the multiplier).
The E6600 has much higher performance/price factor than the E6700. If you have to decide between them, chose the E6600 and spend the difference in money for other parts(RAM capacity, better mainboard, faster or larger HD, graphics card, etc) that can improve the performance of your system.

 

[djgandy]

I'd assume the general idea in manufacturing is to strive to produce as many high end products as possible.

Of course as mentioned in the thread not all produced cpu's will make the grade. The lowest quality ones will be sold off as E6300's and 2meg cache knocked off, the best as X6800's.
By the looks of the amount of overclock we are getting from core2duo's a lot of cpu's could easily be sold as higher grade products. Intel's factory ratings on them are low in consideration to the performance we have seen.
That's all to do with marketing though

 

[AKJ]

Does that mean that i can clock my E6600 to the same speeds as a E6700 using stock cooling? And without damaging my CPU over time?

If so, should i use the E6700's 266*10 settings or a custom setting of 333 * 8?

I dont wana damage my PC...

 

[13thmonkey]

You won't have access to x10 or x8 (I think that one mobo with a certain bios allows downclocking of the multi)

But yes it should work fine at 2.7Ghz, but the question is, will the rest of your system, you'd need to hit 295 FSB, for which you'd ideally want DDR2-600 (800 in actuality). Although you could run it not 1:1.

BUT 295 is probably quite low for an OC even on stock cooling.

BUT2 you may have to disable EIST and some of the features that make it cooler.

 

[AKJ]

What does EIST do?
AI Booster allows one to configure the Multiplier and FSB settings, so maybe ill try using that. Does anyone have like a brief summary on all of Asus' accronyms and abreviations etc? lol

 

[13thmonkey]

There is a guide to overclocking in the overlcocking/cpu section as a sticky. Read it, it will be useful.

EIST is intel speak for speedstep, i.e. it slows down under no load.

Unless you go water there will be a price to pay in terms of heat and therefore noise. But some very high OC's 3.2-3.4Ghz (although I have no examples to hand) are reached under air and under stock cooling, just make sure you have decent temps first.

It is recommended to do OCing in bios and not using AI booster etc. Read the guide and then see what you think.

 

[AKJ]

OK, will check that out..

So will it be better to just turn EIST off even if you dont plan to OC? My cpu runs very cool CoreTemp registers temps @40 - 43 degrees celcius on a load.
What other feature do you recommend i turn off?

 

[13thmonkey]

If you are not overclocking leave it on, it will just turn the multiplier down to x6 when idle, and give idle temps of low 30's according to core temp. It will virtually instananeously pick up and go back to x9 when power is needed. It will only do this if the power profile is set to laptop/portable.

You may be able to turn it back on once you have found your settings, but I think it makes the system less stable, which is normally not a problem, but is a problem when OC'd as you are much cloer to the edge, and it may puch you over.

BTW they are very very nice load temps.

 

[AKJ]

I get those temps because my CPU is running at stock frequency.
I havent OC'd it at all. My case has excellent ventilation too

1 x 120mm exhaust fan
1 x 120mm fan in the front (blows on HDDs)
1 x 80mm Side panel fan

I also mounted that extra small fan that comes bundled with the MoBo so that it blows onto the RAM.

But thanks for the advice, but ill have to admit that i dont actually like the idea of OC'ing my pc.. Im a paranoid dude

 

[13thmonkey]

all at stock too, don't see point in OC right now, no visible benefit, also I like it cool n quiet, so to speak. Also my mobo won't OC. I might push it to the E6700 values, but not beyond that. I'm 33-34 idle and 45-47 load.

 

[AKJ]

For sure, its fast enough. I mean it kills a FX 62 for crying out loud! LOL

Im very happy with my rig at the moment, but i was just trying to find out how to OC incase ill need to in the future.

My pc is a bit noisy though with all those fans

 

[djgandy]

yeah you don't have to oc. 2 years down the line you'll be able to squeeze another 30% out of your processor if you want to though

 

[Doughbuy]

If you want to OC, just check out Wusy's guide. OC'ing is up to you if you want to fiddle with your system, a small OC will net marginal improvement, but it can be done very easy... your choice.

 

[Eurasianman]

To be honest, I'm not quite sure how to get rid of the noise. I have a P180B case with 2 *120 fans for exhaust and 120mm fan intake which is blowing onto my hot ATI X1900XT and SB of my mobo. As for as overclocks go, you might want to invest in an aftermarket cooler. I must admit though, your CPU temp @ load is quite impressive seeing as mine on stock was going well over 60C. With the E6600, I've been able to push it up to 3.4 GHz (can't quite reach 3.6 though ). But at 333 * 9 = 2.99GHz, I'm satisfied. Honestly, I wish I had a X6800 just so I could compare the performance of both chips. However, I'm curious as how it would perform memory wise considering that with my CPU overclocked, I can run a 1:1 ratio and the RAM would be 67 MHz faster if I left the memory speed on a 1:1 ratio with an X6800.

Overall, there is no difference in the conroes other than multipliers. I just wish they would perform as the ES did in THG. Also, I wish they would redo the article and use TAT or CoreTemp instead of ASUS Probe seeing that it is very inaccurate!

 

[13thmonkey]

have you checked the legs of your cooler? the body might be stable but the legs provide pressure onto the ihs.

I also found that truning the back fan off on a P180B allowed the HSF to suck in cool air from outside, worth 2-3 C

 

[Eurasianman]

Yes, I've checked the legs and I'm satisfied with my cooling solution now. I got a Scythe Ninja Rev B and my idle temps with overclock are 37C and load 55C which is fine for me

Better than water cooling IMO seeing as the P180B was already thermally designed for airflow. For water cooling to work, would require modification to the case, which I didn't feel like doing.

 

[niz]

True, but what if its actually the same CPU, just clocked differently. We'd never really know hey..

Coz im thinking its cheaper for Intel to mass produce one chip, then clock them differently and give them different names.

Makes you wonder, doesnt it?

I don't wonder because I used to develop the software for the test systems that Intel use for binning.

They do performance tests on each chip and bin them according to their actual results.

 

[13thmonkey]

glad you are happy with temps, didn't read post well enough thought you were still greater than 60C

 

[Eurasianman]

all at stock too, don't see point in OC right now, no visible benefit, also I like it cool n quiet, so to speak. Also my mobo won't OC. I might push it to the E6700 values, but not beyond that. I'm 33-34 idle and 45-47 load.

What do you mean by the sentence in bold?

 

[13thmonkey]

all at stock too, don't see point in OC right now, no visible benefit, also I like it cool n quiet, so to speak. Also my mobo won't OC. I might push it to the E6700 values, but not beyond that. I'm 33-34 idle and 45-47 load.

What do you mean by the sentence in bold?

At anything above 285FSB it fails prime. So not worth trying. But it has lots of other benefits. DDR & AGP

 

[Eurasianman]

Not be mean or anything, but wouldn't DDR and AGP be a huge bottleneck in performance?!