E7400 vs E8600, which one is the best

[Earth]

Guys, Which one out of this is the best bang for the buck. Is it intel core 2 duo E7400 or intel core 2 duo E8600 processor. I am going to build up a normal pc for gaming, so needed your opinion. Thank you

[Frenzy]

Both CPU's seem pretty much on par in some tests, yet in some the E8600 outshines its little brother. Maybe if we look at different users it might be easier:

The casual PC user : is it worth to cash out big time for the E8600 ? Absolutely not. Get the cheaper alternative and don't mind the remarks from your PC minded neighbours, that you only bought an E7400. Just tell him you made the smarter choice as the little performance gain is hardly worth the extra cash. If he doesn't digg that, just give him my cellphone number!

The Gamer : I frequently visit LANs and get pretty aroused by seeing high end hardware in some game rigs. Yet you got 2 different classes here; the show offs ( Me! Me! Me! ) and the budget minded gamer. If maximum gaming performance is what you are after and you cannot live with the fact that the person next to you might have a few frames per second more than you, than buy the E8600. If you rather put that money in some brewskis, grab an E7400.

The Overclocker : World record beaters will not even think one second about grabbing an E7400. Every extra feature could mean the difference between establishing a new level or just being one of them wannabees. I've got a nice E7400 in my possession and it clocks really great, though heat output above 4.2Ghz is hardly controllable by my Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme cooler. Also looking at several forum users with the same lower end CPU's overclocking varies a lot. 3.6Ghz-3.8Ghz seems pretty common between the E7XX users, for the "let's call them real wolfdales" 4Ghz is average. I mentioned the heat output before and I think this is due to the fact that the IHS (Internal Heat Spreader) is not soldered on the E7XX series, but glued.

More here.

[ApPy10]

one of my friend e5200 and its good for games so the e7400 will be great no doubt at $120 its a great deal.

[T.J.]

1. Bang for the buck, E7400. The E8600 charges a extra premium for more stock clock speed, virtualization support.

2. Depends on how far you can push your FSB. The E7400 has a lower FSB and a much higher multiplier, which will help quite a bit in OCing. I'm not too sure how far you can push the FSB on the XFX 680i. Might have more luck with the E7400. It also depends on the stepping.

3. At similar clocks you'll see a 5-10% improvement with E8600 over an E7400.

4. Considering the E8600 is about more costly than an E7400 I'd recommend the E7400 for now. Also might want to look at some of the quads. You can probably get a Q8200 to 3GHz at the least and you do get 4 cores.