Core 2 Duo E6600 Processor Power compared to Pentium 4

Question

Hi,

I am looking at buying an XPS 410 system with the E6600 Core 2 Duo processor. I want to play games on it. The game says that I need a Pentium 4 3.5 GHz compatible processor. Is the E6600 Core 2 Duo comparable to the P4 3.5 GHz? Or will it be too weak a processor to play the game? The specific game in question is Rainbow Six Vegas. I know the RAM and Video card options I selected will work. Just not sure about the go-go juice horsepower of the E6600 Core 2 Duo I selected.

Thanks.

tphillips63 · Answer

The e6600 is more powerful than all Pentium's ever released and more than any AMD Atlhon 64 made up to at least the FX 62 and FX 70.

Timdrouilard · Answer

The E6600 should run the game just fine. I just bought a XPS 410 with the E6600 to replace my previous main system at how that has a 3.2Ghz P4 w/2gig of ram.

The E6600 is noticebly faster than the 3.2Ghz P4. Couple the E6600 with a good video card like the 8800GTS, 2gig of ram, and you should be fine.

If you feel the need for more overall performance than that, you might want to start looking at a XPS 7XX seies system that you can get equipped with either the E6700 or E6800 and a single or dual 8800GTX.

Aivas47a · Answer

You can use these charts to compare processors.  The E6600 is a fantastic processor and will handle anything you want to do with ease.   http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

Toronto699 · Answer

stick with the dell ram why waste your hard earned $$$.. dell ram is fine

udns_eric · Answer

Thanks for the responses everybody! I have opted to couple my XPS 410 system with 4 GB RAM option and the 1GB nVidia 7900GX2 video card. One last question, which is regarding the Dell OEM RAM: Am I better off purchasing the Dell OEM RAM or getting a default 1GB Dell OEM RAM and then replacing it with something like the Crucial Ballistix RAM, which is supposed to make a difference for hardcore gamers? Truthfully, the only two games I play are the RS6 series and Ghost Recon series, and I am looking forward to Ubi Soft releasing GRAW2 for PC next year.

Thanks again for your input!

udns_eric · Answer

Good enough for me. Eric

Toronto699 · Answer

if u have some $$ to spend and want some WOW .. save up and buy the Logitech Z-5500 digital speakers .. WOW  they are awsome. u bought a wonderfull PC .

Morpheus Phreak · Answer

Also Eric you'd be better off getting the 8800 series of cards.   They are DX10 based cards so they are future-proof for the new games coming out this year.   The 7900 series is only DX9 and while it will play current games, for future games you can count it out for the new effects.

Timdrouilard · Answer

The 8800 series are Nvidia cards. Unfortunatly right now neither the 8800GTS or the 8800GTX is a factory option for the 410.   The 8800GTS drops right into a 410 and runs just fine with the stock power supply, and is a perfect card for a 410.   The 8800GTS ususally sells for around $400-$450 at your local computer store. and comes with 640meg of DDR3 ram.   ATI's new video card that will compete with the 8800 will be out possibly in March.

udns_eric · Answer

Actually, I just checked the specs possible for the XPS 410 system, and the 1GB nVidia 7950 GX2 is the best graphics card available for me to purchase with it. How can I get the GeForce 8800 instead?

udns_eric · Answer

Is that an ATI or nVidia card?

Toronto699 · Answer

8800 is a nvidia  card

Timdrouilard · Answer

The only real option is to buy your 410 with the cheapest video card possible, then buy and install the 8800GTS yourself.

Timdrouilard · Answer

That may very well be Dells official stand on the issue.   Note: there are two version of the 8800 Card. GTS and GTX.   The GTS normally sells for $400 to $450, while the GTX goes for closer to $599   The more powerful GTX would be more appropriate for the 710 series and as a matter of fact just recently became Dell options for thos systems up to and includeing dual 8800GTX's in the high-end 710HTC.   The GTS will run nicely in a 410, but the GTX would be extreme overkill for a 410's processors and may indeed need a bigger PS than what comes in a 410.   It could simply be that Dell feels that users that are interested in the higher performance of an 8800 series card would be better steered to a 700 or 710 because if the user wants that level of video, he's gonna want a higher performance CPU and more drives than normally would fit in a 410.

Toronto699 · Answer

at a retail store... or online .. www.newegg.com   www.tigerdirect.com

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Core 2 Duo E6600 Processor Power compared to Pentium 4

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