Intel has been making processors for as long as desktops have been around. Enjoying a huge market share for the large majority of those years, it was only within the last couple that the stiff collars at Intel had to be turned up, flared back, and soaked with motivation. With the launch of 5 all new processors in September of 2006, Intel has kicked AMD squarely in their Eddie Bauer Mountain Climbing shorts and garnered the world's attention, including that of the enthusiasts' market. No small feat for a company that seemed to be sitting on its laurels, sucking the wattage through your wall socket at an ever increasing rate, and clinging tight to a dated Netburst architecture that put more focus on the GHz war than it did on besting the competition.

The first two of the Fab 5 are based on the Allendale core architecture.

The next three are all on Conroe. Capturing the attention of the enthusiasts, the E6600 has been the best bang for your buck processor since September. Weighing in with 4MB of shared L2 cache, the E6600 has a stock clock of 2400Mhz and while not an Extreme labeled processor, the enthusiasts have shown it to be just that. We won't detract from the E6400/6300 crowd; they too have a processor that's definitely worth the money spent. However, the 4MB of L2 cache make the E6600 stand apart like a Porsche with a Flat-6 compared to a Turbo-charged version of that same engine. With the low end Core 2 Duo's starting at under $200 and the high-end X6800 at a cool grand, we are delighted to see the E6600 come in at a tad over $300. This places our CPU squarely in the hands of everyone looking for a high performance part that isn't willing to pony up the $500 bones for the E6700. The E6600 is rather unassuming in looks; closely resembling the Pentium Ds that it shares the LGA 775 socket with.

This is where appearances can fool you.

The E6600 comes boxed with a copper cored, silvery-finned HSF assembly. The stock cooler has a mirror finish to the contact surface and for all intended purposes, does its job extremely well for the standard user. It's quiet, unassuming looks belie its cooling power. Operating from a BIOS indicated 1000-2500RPM, there's nothing wrong with using the stock cooler.

So naturally, we tossed it in favor our CNPS9500, a product we've previously reviewed, also running an E6600 for a testbed.

The E6600 runs far cooler compared to its bigger, hotter siblings in the Pentium class. It has a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of just 65W, 10W below that of the X6800, a Thermal Spec of 60.1C, and a core voltage range of 0.850V – 1.3525V. To place this into perspective, a Pentium-D 960 (3.6 GHz) processor has a TDP of 130W! The E6600 comes with 64-bit support, SSSE3, XD-Bit, Power Management (C1E/EIST), Virtualization, PECI enabled, Enhanced Intel Speed Step Technology, on-die thermal diode and the list of features and marketing bullets goes on.

Intel has finally figured out how to get both cores talking to the same cache, each core being able to utilize as little or as much of the L2 as it requires. If one core is only using 35%, the other core can dynamically address the remaining 65%. No longer being limited to its own dedicated cache that is either being used by one core or not at all, Intel has yet to incorporate an on-die memory controller. However, this obviously hasn't kept the new architecture from being crowned the new performance king. You can bet on two things at this point. Intel is looking for a way to incorporate a memory controller on their die and AMD is taking Ambien at night worrying about it.

How about some benchmarks?

Over-Volted

Max overclock was 3.6GHz at 1.455V and a 1600 fsb (frontside bus). Temps were 44C at ide, and 59C during load, as indicated by Intel's TAT at 100% (not used for tested).

Max overclock was 3.373GHz at 1.350V and a 1500FSB. Temps were 40C at idle, 48C during load (used for testing).

2.4Ghz was at 1.2v and 1066 fsb. Temps were 34C idle, and 40C during load.

Sisoft Sandra CPU Arithmetic
SiSoft Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) 2007 Professional Edition is a 32 and 64-bit Windows system analyser that includes benchmarking, testing and listing modules. For testing processors we use Sandra's CPU Arithmetic benchmark.

Everest Ultimate Edition 2006
EVEREST Ultimate Edition is system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for enthusiasts PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology. During system optimizations and tweaking it provides essential system and overclock information, advanced hardware monitoring and diagnostics capabilities to check the effects of the applied settings. For testing processors we use Everest's CPU Photoworxx benchmark.

Cinebench 2003
The tool is set to deliver accurate benchmarks by testing not only a computer's raw processing speed but also all other areas that affect system performance such as OpenGL, multithreading, multiprocessors and Intel's new HT Technology.CINEBENCH includes render tasks that test the performance of up to 16 multiprocessors on the same computer as well as software-only shading tests and OpenGL shading tests on huge numbers of animated polygons that will push any computer to its limits.

Sisoft Sandra Memory Bandwidth
SiSoft Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant)is a 32 and 64-bit Windows system analyser that includes benchmarking, testing and listing modules. For testing memory we use Sandra's Memory Bandwidth benchmark.

Super Pi Mod v1.4
Super Pi is a program used by enthusiasts to benchmark system performance. Owned and maintained by XtremeSystems.org, Super Pi is as much a competition as it is a benchmark, with many forums cataloging users times in the 1M and 32M calculations. For testing memory we use the 1M claculation.

Far Cry
The HardwareOC FarCry Benchmark is an easy-to-use tool, that makes Far Cry video card benchmarking fast and easy.
In 2004 Far Cry earned the "Best Game of the Year" award because of its awesome graphics and gameplay. It was the first game with Pixel Shader 3 support, which later became a standard in many other games.
While the user interface is simple, you can actually change more details than you think. With its one-of-a-kind screenshot feature, you can make snaps from the same frame from different views. You can also use OpenGL instead of Direct3D, or turn on HRD and Geometry instancing.

F.E.A.R
F.E.A.R has been said to be a "Graphical Masterpiece". It's use of High-Dynamic-Range-Lighting (HDR), and shadows pushes visual effects to an entirely new level. F.E.A.R is sure to push any hardware to the limits.

Our Recommendation

INTEL has not only blown the doors off what we've come to expect from their processors, but they've got AMD assuming the unfavorable position of yesterday's news. The E6600 has thoroughly impressed us here in the Lab with significant inroads into all areas of the computer performance arena - gaming, encoding, multi-tasking, low temps, high overclocks, and just about everything you've loved about AMD during the last three years. Our E6600 processor has been running in the Lab throughout testing, and for the last week, at 3.375Ghz. That surpasses the X6800 by almost 500Mhz for $700 less! A lower multiplier can result in a higher fsb, but we don't see the point in taking the chances required to push past this due to the greater than .20 voltage increase over max this demanded.

Maybe that's because we did this all on air. Pushing this CPU on a watercooled rig would certainly allow for higher voltages while remaining within thermal spec. We will over-volt, at least within limits, but we won't over-temp our processors.

Now, if only INTEL would get the memory controller in the right place, there wouldn't be a single thing to gripe about...

Update:

This E6600 CPU has now been running at 3.375Ghz for well over a month. Stable as a rock, loaded temps being just 46 degrees C with an ambient temp of 72 degrees F, this CPU surpasses all others at this price point in performance, over clocking and stability. The E6300/6400 crowd have their bragging rights, that's for sure, but the E6600 with it's 4MB cache, overclocked to 3.375Ghz simply outperforms the overclocked 6300/6400's even though they are actually getting higher overclocks out of their processors.

At this point, I see no reason to go with an E6700 CPU. This E6600, overclocked, performs above and beyond a stock clocked Extreme CPU. The Extreme versions enjoy their overclocks though, so if you have the $900+ dollars to spend on an extreme version, have at it. For me, I'll stick with this E6600 for some time to come.

Other Reviews of Note

Its always nice to have more than one opinion on a component before you spend your hard earned money. For one, We may see something others missed, or vice versa. As with all reviews published at HardwareLogic, we'll not only give you our recommendation, but also point out some reviews from some other great sites around the web.
Neoseeker
TBreak
Trusted Reviews
NTCompatible