intel core 2 duo E6550 vs E6600

Tallwhiteboy501

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I am building my first computer and am new to many things about it. I am basing my computer from my roomates. However...he has an E6600 and I found an E6550 and didn't see much of a difference except for the FSB and the operating frequency. Would I still be good with the E6550????
 

zenmaster

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Yes.
The E6550 is a very good Chip.
It's a little tough to OC due to the High FSB and low default clock.
The E6750 is a bit easier to OC.

Instead of basing the build on your roommates, why don't you give us a budget and what you want to do with it?
 

Tallwhiteboy501

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Thank you very much for your advice. I can give you a list of what I plan on getting.


-EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

-OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply

-CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4

-Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

- Pioneer 18X DVD±R DVD Burner Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model DVR-112D

- EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card (I plan on getting two and utlizing the SLI)
 

JuiceJones

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Assuming you're buying these new, two 7600GTs in SLI is a horrible choice. They perform about on par with a 7900GT or X1950Pro which can be had for less than the two 7600s, with lower power consumption, less hassle, less driver issues, etc. and so on. The argument for single higher-end over 2x lower-end is extensive and can be found in many other threads.

In your situation, the 150+ to be spent on the 7600GTs could be better spent on a X1950pro, or better yet, (by far in my opinion) you could save 100 bucks on the SLI mobo and go for a ~$100 P35 board and stick in a single 8800GT, which destroys any 7series cards in SLI.

 

johnyeah

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To be honest, I would not recommend getting SLI on two low end 7600GT cards. Not worth your time nor the money. Instead, I would recommend getting a cheaper mobo (i.e. a Intel P35 Chipset) and just get a single good graphics card like a 8800 GT (like the guy above mentioned).

The last person I know who had gotten an SLI solution has regretted doing so (my single 8800 GT 512mb gives me better fps at a higher resolution than his 2 8800 GTS 320mb running SLI, while my cpu is e6550 and his is e6850 with both CPU's running stock speeds).

The SLI option is really for people who already have the best highend graphics card and the only way they can get higher FPS is from buying two of them.

A 700W power supply is also an overkill, unless you're planning to run SLI on the geforce 8800 or radeon 2900 and overclocking your system (which in your case you're not). People might say for future proofing get a higher wattage power supply, but this would not be the case since the new consumer electronics are only going to consume less power due to more energy efficient designs and smaller die sizes of the processing units.

You should check out my system build out. It's a budget gaming system at < $1000 (plus shipping and tax, since I'm in CA >_<"), not including the monitor, of course. It took a month of research and many budget decisions to finally build. It should help you out a little.

Oh, if you check out the CPU benchmark tests on Tom's Hardware, the E6550 out performs the E6600 in most if not all the tests (plus it is cheaper). If you plan on pitching in a couple extra dollars, the e6750 is perhaps your best option (it's not that much more expensive than the e6550 and overlocks a lot better than it, unless you plan on waiting for the new peryn chips to come out).

Sorry for the long post, hopefully it didn't deter you from finish reading this.

Here's some math for you (if you're planning to order from Newegg):
2 of the EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB = 89.99 + 74.99 + 5.84*2 = 176.66 (Since you can only get rebate for one card at a time, plus shipping for two cards)

1 EVGA 512-P3-N801-A1 Geforce 8800GT 512MB = 269.99 + 5.84 = 275.83

For less than $100 difference the performance difference between 8800GT and 2*7600GT is at least 4 fold, 8800GT > 2*7600GT, numbers support my conclusion (check out the VGA charts).

If you get a Intel P35 chipset, let's say the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L = 93.99 + 6.61 = 100.40 instead of EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 (I couldn't find the NF67-A1 on newegg) = 239.99 + 7.52 = 247.51. The price difference alone between the motherboards would get you an 8800GT instead of the two 7600GT, which is a definitely a better deal.
 

Tallwhiteboy501

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I am definately considering the 8800GT over the 2 7600GTs. The GIGABYTE motherboard was alos a very good suggestion to make up the price difference. I do plan on doing some video editing as well and unfortunately this motherboard does not have a firewire port.
 

johnyeah

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Just an FYI, there are many other budget P35 boards out there asides the DS3L that supports firewire. Take your time to check out Newegg or other websites.
 

SliZor

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Just my 2c worth but if you are planning on doing video editing you might want to consider getting a bigger hard drive. 500Gb drives hit the price per Gb sweet spot at the moment, bigger drives also perform better due to more Gb being packed on the same platter.