Intel was dieing with the NetBurst Microarchitecture where AMD was starting to steal Intel's thunder with its Athlon 64 processors. Every so often when Intel and AMD would put out a newer and faster processor it would top its rival by a small margin. Well out of nowhere comes the beast that is the CORE 2 DUO. I would guess that there has never been a stomping like Intel is giving AMD in computing history. With performance increases on the average of 30% NOTHING AMD has can stand up to the Core 2 Duo series. So now that you know that there is a computing monster here I will try and shed a little light on how the E6600 stands up to the rest.

The E6600 you will find it in the middle of the Core 2 Doe lineup. The E6300 and E6400 both sport a 2MB shared L2 Cache where the E6600 is the intro processor to the 4M shared L2 Cache, matched with its 2.4GHz speed takes it a large step up from its little brothers. Its bigger brothers have a higher clock speed and higher multipliers or with the X6800 its unlocked, but that doesn't lower the E6600 stock at all. In reality because of that its make the E6600 the best choice for a Core 2 Duo processor. The E6700 is an entire $200 more for a slightly higher clock speed and multiplier and the X6800 is about $650 more with its higher speed and unlocked multiplier. Ok so what makes the E6600 the best? Its price vs. performance it what put the E6600 on top. What I haven't mentioned yet is the ability to overclocke the E6600 to much higher speeds. With my E6600, an after market cooler, DDR2 800 RAM, and a P965 express motherboard I was able to hit 3.7GHz with it. I easily hit 3.4GHz with everything set to Auto, so no need to worry about playing with voltages. When the E6600 is overclocked it can overtake a stock X6800 almost always giving you a $300 processor performing better then a $1000 processor. You cant go wrong.

Lets say you are going to be building a new computer and are either going with an AMD AM2 setup or an Intel Core 2 Duo setup. You might think you will save money and go the AMD AM2 route because of the extra cost of the Intel processor and motherboard over the AMD. Well the reason the AMD is so much cheaper is because of the performance increase that ALL Core 2 Duo processors have over the AMD competitors. AMD was forced to drastically reduce its prices to be able to still compete with Intel. You are getting a much inferior product with the AMD. The way I see it, if you are spending any where from $1000+ for a new computer why on earth would you settle for an inferior product. An area that one might overlook is the cost per watt to run your PC. AMD processors in the past where much more friendly on your electric bill due to the power then needed and their efficiency. But the Core 2 Duo have even surpassed AMD in that area as well, so in the long run it even cost less to own a E6600 over anything AMD has.

To Sum it up, the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 with its price vs. performance, and overclocking potential has put this as questionably the BEST processor that you can own.