Is it worth getting the E6600 over the E6400?

[Stubzz]

I plan to overclock either CPU for the best performance so the mhz of them doesn't bother me, it's the E6600's extra 2mb of cache that I'm not sure about. I can afford the E6600 but it would involve streatching my budget a little. Will it make any noticeable difference?

[ExceededGoku]

I would say yes, but you have to get the right motherboard to get the most out of this CPU as the DQ6 doesn't work very well with them atm, which is supposed to be fixed in a bios update but the lower CPUs seem to clock well. Remember you need a higher FSB for the lower CPUs as well which means pushing your ram that little bit higher

[Stubzz]

That all makes sense, motherboard wise I'm getting the ASUS P5B Delux which should be more capable of some decent speeds (I hope).

[Clunk]

yep, what you save on the cpu, youll end up spending on the ram, unless you get some spectacular cheap ram.

[nvening]

I though the allendales were clocking better than the conroes? Or am i insane?

[Clunk]

I though the allendales were clocking better than the conroes? Or am i insane?

the allendales have a 7x multiplier so need higher speed ram to acheive the same overclock as the conroe, thats all.

[BUFF]

6400 has x8 multi

[Clunk]

sorry, yeah

[Steve B]

he's still insane though

[chuckskull]

The higher multi will make overclocking a little easier (not that it's overly hard on a C2D) and the cache is probably worth a few FPS.

More importantly having a 6600 and not a 6400 will make your e-penis larger

[ExceededGoku]

The higher multi will make overclocking a little easier (not that it's overly hard on a C2D) and the cache is probably worth a few FPS.

More importantly having a 6600 and not a 6400 will make your e-penis larger

alot larger

[Psychotic Emu]

With a p5b dlx I would say go for the 6400. I recon you'll get very similar max Mhz and from what I've heard the cache doesn't make all that much difference. Then, that is just my impression. I did read a thread about some recent week 6600s that were very good at running with low voltages tho, don't know if your interested in all that tho

[Stubzz]

More importantly having a 6600 and not a 6400 will make your e-penis larger

Thats not something I'm worried about so no problems there.

It's looking like the difference is only 2/3% so I'm gonna go down the E6400 route which leads me to:

Is the E6400 worth getting over the E6300.

Since I'm just gonna overclock, the E6300 should be the best bet since it's cheaper and overclocks the same as the E6400. Am I thinking right?

[chuckskull]

Is that extra mutli worth £35? Probably not.

[Nox]

The higher multi will make overclocking a little easier (not that it's overly hard on a C2D) and the cache is probably worth a few FPS.

I actually found the opposite, it looks like my board boots at x9, then down clocks to whatever i've set the multiplier to be. And it won't post over 420x9 where I want to be running somewhere in the region of 450x7/8 ish

Nox

[shaithis]

I though the allendales were clocking better than the conroes? Or am i insane?

No, the problem is that the Allendales normally reach higher FSBs due to an oddity in the 965 and 975 chipsets.

Reducing the CPU multiplier, overclocks the north bridge.