Intels E6550 vs E6600 Which Woud You Use?

[Guest]

Please folks, any advice on this one will be appraciated.

Im currently using an Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 stock speed 2.33 GHz overclocked at 2.66ghz FSB1333

Now then, Im able to get a Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4 unclocked which runs at 2.4ghz FSB1066 for the same price as id get for my E6550 so my plan was to get the E6600 and sell my old one.

From experience could anyone give any advice in which is the best cpu? I do want to overclock and would be wanting to go 3.0ghz or more as I have a watercooled rig. My intentions are to be mainly playing games and watching videos.

Thanks in advance

 

[jpdykes]

Hi pollitt,

If you are prepared to overclock the quad core (I think you mean Q6600 not E6600) to around 3GHz, where they are supposedly still very stable, then it will lay waste to a dual core clocked to 2.66GHz even though it has a faster FSB.

NB: you will need new thermal paste.

Jeremy

PS. I went for the Q6600!

 

[cjl]

It could actually be an E6600, though those are quite old. It might overclock better though, due to the lower FSB and higher mult.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Well if your gonna upgrade your better off going e5200, e7200, e7300, e8400.


e6550s came out after the e6600s so its probaly better then the e6600. I think the x50s had the better stepping if I remember right.

Jump on the 45nm bandwagon though and get the e5200 or e7300 if you want budget and big OCs.

e5200 has 12.5x multi and e7300 has 10x multi, both overclock to 4.0 on air so you will be all set aslong as you got a motherboard that supports them and ocs well like a p35/p45 x38/x48. If you have a old mobo or a nvidia chipset its time for a new mobo.

 

[Guest]

That it is, an E6600. I know its quite old but i was thinking that I might get a bit of a boost out of it compared to my E6550.

Would I notice much difference from the lower fsb? Or would I notice anything at all, hence the E6600 would be the better chip suited for me if wanted to oc for games.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info Roadrunner, I had presumed that the e6600 was newer than the e6550!

I actually have a choice of of motherboards to use, I have N650SLI-DS4L and a p35 DSR3, both from Gigabyte. I was going to use the DS4L as that has the option for SLI at a later date, although the DSR3 does have the option for DDR3 !!! Theres too many options

 

[roadrunner197069]

If you o with the 650sli dont expect easy or high overclocks. 650i boards suck for anything but stock.

Go with th p35 it will oc like a champ and buy a 4870x2 if you want two gpus.

 

[yadge]

I think you might actually want to go with the older E6600. I have the E6550, and it tops out at around 3.4Ghz, which isn't bad, but since you have watercooling I'd assume you would try to go for higher than that. And I know it isn't my ram or motherboard holding me back, I'm pretty sure it's just a FSB wall on the processor.

But I'm not sure how much higher an E6600 would go.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Last time i looked the e7xxx were cheaper then the e6xxx so if your buying go e7200 or e7300 and join the 4.0 club.

 

[yadge]

Last time i looked the e7xxx were cheaper then the e6xxx so if your buying go e7200 or e7300 and join the 4.0 club.

I think he's looking for a free upgrade, because he said he can get the e6600 for the same price that he can sell his e6550. So maybe the e7xxx would cost more and isn't an option.

 

[Guest]

Yeah this is for an upgrade with the intention to then sell my older cpu. I bought a bundle of the e6600, p35 board and an 8800gts 640mb gfx card.

I could upgrade to a better cpu if I could find a decent priced one, I could probably get £55 for the e6600 on ebay. I guess I could use that towards a new chip, its just which one to get that wont cost double + the amount I get for the other if I sold it.

I was going to try out the gf 8800gts for a while as an upgrade from my 9600gt, ive not had the chance yet though.

Which would you guys suggest I keep. I currently have an XFX 9600GT 512MB and I then have a Leadtek 8800GTS 640MB which I can use.

When I first bought it I thought the 8800gts would knock the socks off the 9600gt but the more ive been reading, the more im beginning to wonder if it was worth an upgrade!

 

[Kari]

so, you allready have a bunch of components, why don't you just try them out and see how well the different combinations perform.
Anyways I think they are all relatively close to each other performance wise...

 

[1haplo]

The EXX50 means that it has 333(1333) FBS the EXX00 have 266(1066) FBS

The E6600 has a 9 Multiplyer the E6550 has a 7 Multiplyer.

If you overclock the E6600 is better. It only takes 400 FBS to reach 3.6.
The E6550 needs 514 FBS to reach 3.6. Both will need water cooling to reach that level.

If you look at Toms CPU Chart the E6550 is faster then the E6600. The 1333 FBS helps more then the 2.4Ghz. If you want to get the E6600 and up the FBS to 333(1333) and you will have a 3.0 Ghz CPU.

If you can get the E7xxx or E8xxx they will overclock alot higher on air cooling. Plus the E8xxx has 6M Cache.

1Haplo

 

[Guest]

Hi Haplo

So effectively what your saying is that if I use the E6600 and adjust the fsb to 400 then I will get a clock speed of 3.6?

Would that be safe to do in one go, or would I be best to do it in steps, say to go for the 3.0 first? For cooling im using XSPC wastercooling and id use AC5 paste.

Im fairly new to the core duo cpu's so please excuse me if I seem to not have clue

 

[jitpublisher]

Yeah this is for an upgrade with the intention to then sell my older cpu. I bought a bundle of the e6600, p35 board and an 8800gts 640mb gfx card.

I could upgrade to a better cpu if I could find a decent priced one, I could probably get £55 for the e6600 on ebay. I guess I could use that towards a new chip, its just which one to get that wont cost double + the amount I get for the other if I sold it.

I was going to try out the gf 8800gts for a while as an upgrade from my 9600gt, ive not had the chance yet though.

Which would you guys suggest I keep. I currently have an XFX 9600GT 512MB and I then have a Leadtek 8800GTS 640MB which I can use.

When I first bought it I thought the 8800gts would knock the socks off the 9600gt but the more ive been reading, the more im beginning to wonder if it was worth an upgrade!

An 8800GTS 512 meg with the G92 core would have been an upgrade from your 9600GT. Not a huge upgrade, only 1 tier up the charts, but still better.
The 8800GTS 640 or the 9600GT? Unfortunately for you, these are about evenly matched. The 9600GT is the card I would most likely keep of the 2. It has faster memory, will overclock better, and I personally have had nothing but bad luck with anything that says Leadtek on it. That's my 2 cents.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info the gfx cards Jit.

About these cpu's, Ive just read about the different stepping between the two.

Intel Core™ 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz 4MB Conroe 65nm B2 65W 1066 F3
Intel Core™ 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz 4MB Conroe 65nm G0 65W 1333 F4

Could somebody please explain the difference between B2 and GO? Ive read up and found out that the GO produces less heat but apart from this is there really much difference between them?

 

[Guest]

Bump. Any input would be much appreciated