Upgrade Advice ~ E6600, E6750, or E6850

[kyosuke]

I am wanting to upgrade my E6400 to either the E6600, the E6750, or the E6850.

One thing I can't seem to figure out is why the E6750 is actually cheaper than the E6600.

It's been about a year now since I've paid much attention to the processors, so I don't exactly understand why the E6750 would be cheaper when it's got got faster Bus speed as well as clock speed.

Some enlightenment/advice would be great. Also should I consider the Q6600 and do the whole quad-core thing?

I am a gamer and also do other things while playing games, so a bit of an upgrade is necesary as the newer games require a bit more resource wise.

 

[Dragos]

Yes, Q6760 is cheaper than 6600 but BETTER.
I'd suggest you the E6850 if you are a gamer, because E6850 beats Q6600 at games!
So go for 6850

 

[Grimmy]

One thing to remember, Intel is phasing out the E6300/6400/6600. So you may run into prices that maybe higher since the supply is low. The newer faster (E6550/6750/6850) are their replacements, and perhaps is being pushed to get most people on the rated 1333 FSB.

Right now I'm on an E4400, which is rated 800FSB, but OC to 3ghz @ 1200 FSB.

I'm basically on the same boat, but would consider a Quad later on, when the prices are better, and if software makers provide better support on everyday things.

I would go for the Q6600 myself, just to have a system ready for future software, but then I would OC it as well. Not sure what your preference would be on that.

 

[seabreeze]

If you can afford the E6850 and are not over clocking, go with that.

The E6750 runs at 2.6GHz while the E6850 runs at 3.0GHz, but the E6750 can run that speed as well.

So, if you're going to over clock a little and are happy with speeds around 3.0GHz, save some money and buy the E6750.

Cross the E6600 and E6700 off your list.

If you're going to play Crysis while doing a anti-virus full drive scan and ripping CDs at the same time, yes, buy a quad.

Buy the E6850 if your budget allows, otherwise buy the E6750. It has to be one of the best valueerformance CPUs out there.

 

[someguy7]

If you comfortable/mobo alllows itj ust OC your current 6400. I dont see the need to burn money on a new cpu. Only if you dont OC at all it would make sense to get a 6850 at 3ghz i suppose. It doesnt make sense to buy a 6750 and OC it when you can just OC your current cpu as well.

Also the mobo you got when the 6400 was new probally doesnt officially support 1333FSB. You will end up overlclocking the FSB just to get it up **50 deafualt fsb. Which in that case just raise the fsb up on 6400

 

[MikosNZ]

Seems like a very small upgrade to be making. E6400 is still a solid CPU and easily overclockable up to and over 3ghz so unless you are planning on OCing one of the newer CPU's to even more extreme speeds then I dont think its worth it. My opinion would be to wait for at least the next generation mid range chips and then upgrade to them.

 

[nhobo]

O/C the 6400. Replacing it with a marginally faster CPU is a waste of $. If you want to upgrade for gaming, get an 8800GT.

 

[zenmaster]

Why do you want to upgrade?
What are you doing that is slow?
WHat speed is your E6400 running at?

 

[Noya]

As others have said, upgrading from an e6400 to anything less than a Q6600 is not smart. I'm suprised you don't already have it overlocked to 3.0ghz+...

SO, overlock your 6400, sell your 7900gs and buy an 8800GT 512mb.

 

[jimmysmitty]

All I can say is that if you end up going for the E6850 you might as well get a Q6600 as they are the same price but you can then OC the Q6600 to E6850+ speeds on air.

But then again I am crazy.

 

[aevm]

Either overclock the CPU you have, or get a Q6600. If you do lots of things at the same time then the Q6600 would help.

Your hard disk will bottleneck the CPU very often. You could keep the current CPU, overclock it a bit, then use the cash to buy a fast hard disk with perpendicular recording. For example you can get a WD7500AAKS for the same price as a E6750, and I think it would improve your gaming more.

How about RAM? If you do several things at the same time you would benefit from more RAM. If you don't have 4 GB already buy more.

Edit: another much better use for $200 or $300 is to replace the 7900gs with a HD 3850 512MB or HD 3870 or 8800GT. Your games are limited by the 7900gs before the E6400 reaches 100% usage. What kind of power supply do you have?

 

[winkgood]

I'm in the same boat as you. I own an E6400 and am considering an upgrade this January. I'm currently overclocked to 3.2 Ghz with a Zalman HSF. My upgrade will either be to one of the new 45nm Penryn dual cores (aka wolfdale I think) or the Q6600. I was likely going to get one of the new quads until Intel decided to delay them until who knows when. Which one I get really depends on how much I can overclock. If the new Core2's will go 4Ghz or so on air then I'll likely take one of those over the quad core. The increased cache and increased clockspeed thanks to a good overclock would make the new core2's worthwhile IMO. Quad core can be worthwhile if you get one of the G0 steppings, overclock it, and use the right applications with it. Then again, this might be overkill for you. I do a LOT of high definition video encoding so the extra juice I get from an overclock is worth it for me.

I do agree with what others have said that the money would better be spent on a new video card. I am also planning on getting either an 8800 GT OC or an 8800 GTS preferably by eVGA so I can step it up in a couple months when the 9800's come out.

 

[kyosuke]

Thanks for the advice thus far.

I am not currently OCing my E6400. I've actually never ever overclocked a system, so doing this has me a bit worried of screwing something up.

 

[homerdog]

You have a solid motherboard that could easily keep that E6400 stable at 3.2GHz. I know it's intimidating at first, but in no time you'll have it under control. Check out some of the great Core2 overclocking guides around the 'net such as this one and spend you money on a new GPU.

 

[seabreeze]

kyosuke, the move from the E6400 to an E6750/6850 is not a great one, so I assumed you were not an avid over clocker, otherwise you would have said up front, "I've got at E6400 running at 3.2GHz (or whatever)".

The choices here seems to be either over clock, or over clock some more, or get a quad.

For someone who is not interested in over clocking, going from a Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz 2MB L2 CPU to a 2.66/3.0GHz 4MB L2 CPU is a legitimate step, but not huge.

As pointed out by someguy7, if your board is 1066FSB max spec and your not going to over clocking that, any of the E6x50 CPUs are not worth you buying. It becomes academic, to say the least.

So what's your board?
Can it go to 1333 (even with BIOS update)?

If you're not over clocking, and the board is limited to 1066, then your choices become E6700 or Q6600. Not much of a choice, really: go with the Q6600 if your board is 1066FSB max and your not over clocking anything.

@ aevm, "If you don't have 4 GB already buy more." Crikies!

 

[homerdog]

Excellent points seabreeze. If kyosuke isn't going to overclock then an E6750 would be a worthwhile upgrade. Hell, even if he/she was oveclocking the extra cache and better stepping would help.

Best case scenario is to buy a G0 Q6600 and overclock it to ≥E6750 speed. At least that's what I would do.

 

[kyosuke]

kyosuke, the move from the E6400 to an E6750/6850 is not a great one, so I assumed you were not an avid over clocker, otherwise you would have said up front, "I've got at E6400 running at 3.2GHz (or whatever)".

The choices here seems to be either over clock, or over clock some more, or get a quad.

For someone who is not interested in over clocking, going from a Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz 2MB L2 CPU to a 2.66/3.0GHz 4MB L2 CPU is a legitimate step, but not huge.

As pointed out by someguy7, if your board is 1066FSB max spec and your not going to over clocking that, any of the E6x50 CPUs are not worth you buying. It becomes academic, to say the least.

So what's your board?
Can it go to 1333 (even with BIOS update)?

If you're not over clocking, and the board is limited to 1066, then your choices become E6700 or Q6600. Not much of a choice, really: go with the Q6600 if your board is 1066FSB max and your not over clocking anything.

@ aevm, "If you don't have 4 GB already buy more." Crikies!

I've read several of the OCing guides. I found one that's really great and has the P5N-E here along with the E6400. I just now did a simple overclock to 1200, to make the processor 2.4ghz. According to the article I read, I could even get it up to 3.5ghz. I think I might be happy though, just moving it up to 2.66 though and then adding a new cooling fan. My temps are running just fine with the overclock from 2.13 to 2.4 on the factory cooling, but I wouldn't want to necesarily chance it anymore.

Any recommendations on a good cooler that doesn't take up and enormous amount of space? I have a decent size case, but I've heard of problems with this motherboard and larger fans before.

I suppose I really want the video upgrade before anything else. Though if I were to upgrade to the Q6600 and/or the GPU as well, I'd sell the used parts on ebay. I can atleast make half my money back on both easily still today.

 

[Angrykirill]

In a similar situation; board supports 1333MHZ and I won't overclock.. will be using the comp for gaming and can't decide whether to overpay and get the 6850 or just the 6750.. I guess the difference in games of today (Crysis, STALKER..) will be minimal and more dependant on the videocard? The construction of those 2 units is very similar so which one is more futureproof? or is the difference minimal again?

 

[homerdog]

Unfortunately most good coolers out there are pretty large. These two are about average size in comparison and are both very good for the price. I think they will fit on your motherboard.

ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm

@Angrykirill: I would still get a Q6600. The clock differences between that and the E6750/E6850 won't be as obvious to you as the extra 2 cores, especially in future games and applications. If you're interested in the world's easiest overclock, all you must do is set the motherboard to the 333MHz FSB setting that it natively supports and you're Q6600 is running at 3GHz

 

[mihirkula]

Wait for the Penryns and Nehalem.

 

[winkgood]

Nehalem? No. Penryn's? Yes. If you hold your breath for Nehalem's, you'll likely pass out.

The dual core ones will be out next month which according to web sources can go past 4 Ghz on air cooling. If you wait a couple months (Feb-March) then you could get the Yorkfield Quad Cores which will likely overclock 4Ghz and above on air cooling (The QX9650 had proven to be a worthy overclocker).

 

[kyosuke]

one more question.

I currently have 2GB of ram in there. (OCZ Plat Rev 2 4-4-4-15). It works great. I am thinking about picking up another set to upgrade to 4GB, but I've never filled all 4 sots before on a board. Will I be able to keep the same timings with 4gb in there, or will it actually have bad effects on performance?

 

[homerdog]

On lesser motherboards filling up all of the slots can be detrimental, but on a 650i as long as you aren't going for extreme timings (which you aren't) then I think you should be alright. Don't just take my word for it though; try using the Google on the internet machine.