Highest, Easiest and Cheapest: Overclocking an E6600 vs. E6400 vs. E4300

[dez93]

Hi all. I've been reading up and planning to buy a full new rig and was pretty secure in my choices from the top down (CPU > Mobo > RAM > etc) but recent chat (Anandtech E4300 Forum Thread) suggests that maybe the E6600 isn't the best choice for great speeds and good price when overclocking.
I'd like to crank it up to a stable 3.6Ghz on air, as I think I've read people achieve here. The best stable OCs seem to be coming around 3.2Ghz for the E4300s, but I hear vague talk that the 6400 will crunch the same as the 6600 when properly OC'd? If this is true i it only costs 73% of the price of a 6600, the remaining 27% of which i could spend on beer

Can anyone throw any light onto this for me? I get the feeling from the link above that high overclocks on the 4300s take work and skills, is the same true for the 6400, which is only £5 ($8?) difference? For my extra cash, will i get easier, more stable and higher OCs on the 6600 than the 6400?

A thousand thank yous!
Dez

RIGPLAN:
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Rev2
RAM: Team xTreem PC2-6400
Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120
PSU: Corsair 520w
GPU: Weighing up options: current card AGP, won't work with the DS3, would like to wait for x8600 coming in Q3 but i can't wait that long so maybe something on eBay or in the bargain bin...

 

[Elfear]

From my experience, it seemed like when the C2D's first came out the Allendales (E6300 and E6400) were getting higher overclocks than the Conroes. Now it seems like the tables have turned and the Conroes, specifically the E6600s, oc just as well if not better than the Allendales. The E4300s seem to be subpar when it comes to overclocking. Not that 3.2GHz is bad when talking about overclocking in general, but compared to what the other C2D chips can do they seem to fall short.

The E6600 will be a little faster than an E6400 at the same clock speed because of its larger cache. It's also generally easier to hit 3.6Ghz with a 9x multi unless you have a pretty good motherboard (DS3 would probably do it from what I've heard).

It's up to you what you get but that's been my experience and observations.

 

[nyker96]

I think right now if you got a decent mb and ram then 6300 probably get ya the most oc/dollar. 4300 is close but since it cost the same right now and most people clock it slightly less than 6300 (4300 like you said is about 3.2) i have to say it need a price drop to make it a good deal compare to 6300/6400. of course a 6400/6600 will probably make it more likely to go up to 3.6 provided to get yourself a nice hsf.

 

[trOver]

my 6600 is at 3ghz, AND im undervolting it. im sure it would do ATLEAST 3.6 without a hitch.