After some disappointments with an E6600 and E6420 L644G and only mild success with an E6420 L651B I decided to buy an E6600 L629F from Tankguys. First thing I noticed is the VID is 1.2375 instead of 1.325 or 1.350. I got to 3.3GHz before I had to bump the vcore for stability (relative as I only run orthos small ffts for 1 hour initially). Idle temps for the L629F are 28C whereas the idle temsp for the G and A chips at this vcore was around 22C. I finally got to 3.6GHz at 1.475vcore but the problem is now heat as these chips run siginficantly hotter than the A or G chips. This chip acts very much like my old Xeon 3060 in that it tracks well but has heat issues and to remedy that on the Xeon I had to lap the IHS as it was quite concave. Initial impressions are that this chip is less of a pain in the ass to OC to high FSB than the current chip available so I believe it is worth the extra $$$ for less headache in this area. I will lap this puppy and then put it under water to see just how well it performs.

I also have an L629B coming Monday, from Tankguys, so I will get some initial impressions from that chip and share how it works. As of right now I highly recommend the L629F if you can get one but be ready to lap it and if you put it under good cooling I am confident you will be pleased with the results.