Overclocking Value Choice: E4300, E6300, E6400, or E6600 ?

[Zim]

Which of these CPUs: E4300, E6300, E6400, E6600 would be the best value overclocking choice for me. I have Corsair TWIN2X2048-5400c4 memory and a Big Typhoon HSF. I'm not looking to work on the edge of stability, but just want a nice healthy overclock. I mostly do DivX encoding and .NET development.

I have been reading results of OCing the E4300 and they don't seem to be as good as people first thought they might be. I doubt if the E6600 is worth the premium to me so I guess I'm down to the E6300 or E6400. I'm guessing my memory might prevent me from getting the best from the E6300, so that leads me to the E6400. How is my logic?

 

[Shimmishim]

I think your logic is sound.

However, if you're going to get the 6400, why not the 4300?

If anything, the 4300 will be easier for you to overclock on since it has the 9x multiplier.

6400 has 8x mult and assuming your ram for some reason maxes out at ddr2-667 or 333 mhz fsb, you'd have a higher overclock on the 4300.

Oh, and yes, they have the same amount of L2 cache.

But, if you're willing to wait a bit, they are releasing the 6320 and 6420 chips that have the full 4M L2 cache.

 

[Lonyo]

E4300 I would say, when paired with PC2-5400, depending on how much you want to push, and whether you want 1:1 mem or you don't mind using a divider, otherwise probably the E6400.

What's a "healthy" overclock to you?

 

[tcG]

E6400

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
E4300 I would say, when paired with PC2-5400, depending on how much you want to push, and whether you want 1:1 mem or you don't mind using a divider, otherwise probably the E6400.

What's a "healthy" overclock to you?

2.8+ GHz

The e6320 and e6420 look like nice chips, but they are at least 2 months away.

 

[RichUK]

your best bet is either the E4300 or the E6400.

The E4300 does lack a few on-die features over the E6400, VT for example. This shouldn't affect many people, however.

EDIT: Spelling.

 

[Markfw]

Probably the 4300. I have them all, but don't have a good motherboard for my 4300 yet, so I can;t say how they OC. I can say that the 6300 really needs PC8000 or better to get a decent OC, and the 6400 needs PC 7200 or better to get a good OC.

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: RichUK
You're best bet is either the E4300 or the E6400.

The E4300 does lack a few on-die features over the E6400, VT for example. This shouldn't affect many people, however

Good point. I may have use for VT. I'm assuming that you can run any virtual machine software without it?

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: Zim

Originally posted by: RichUK
You're best bet is either the E4300 or the E6400.

The E4300 does lack a few on-die features over the E6400, VT for example. This shouldn't affect many people, however

Good point. I may have use for VT. I'm assuming that you can run any virtual machine software without it?

You can, but with the use of VT it does speed up the operation of you Virtual Machine.

Although most virtual machines thrive on available physical RAM, the VT technology does allow for better CPU resource management.

I?ve used a few VM?s on a VT enabled chip, and have noticed the difference. You?ll always notice more difference from larger amounts of RAM on the host, however.

It?s handy if you?re going to use it, but it?s meaningless if you don?t.

From a budget and overclocking perspective, the E4300 is probably the best choice.

 

[n7]

Assuming you don't need VT support, then the E4300.
I'm not sure where you're seeing it doesn't OC all that well.

Thus far, it appears to OC just as well as the average E6300/E6400, which is ~ 3.2-3.5 GHz (unless you use extreme cooling or have extremely good luck).

Intel is also apparently coming out with 4 MB E6320/E6420 SKUs in Q2.

 

[Bitek]

I have this Ram, which I beleive is the same as yours, and I was able to run it @800 mhz (1:1) 5-5-5-15 @ 2.0V on my S3.

With the E6400 I bought, this gave me 3.2ghz (stock voltage.) Very fast and stable. May do more, but I'm not looking to wring everything out of it. I'm happy with my results.

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: n7
Assuming you don't need VT support, then the E4300.
I'm not sure where you're seeing it doesn't OC all that well.

I've been reading reports from a lot of people who say it has difficulty getting over 3GHz and needs a lot of volts to do so.

 

[tcG]

I've been seeing below par overclocking results for the E4300...

...no VT tech, and you get a multiplier than you'll never use. Honestly, the only people who are actually using a multiplier above 8 are those with either bad RAM, or a bad motherboard.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Zim

Originally posted by: n7
Assuming you don't need VT support, then the E4300.
I'm not sure where you're seeing it doesn't OC all that well.

I've been reading reports from a lot of people who say it has difficulty getting over 3GHz and needs a lot of volts to do so.

Where?

I've seen zero reports of that from knowledgeable overclockers.

 

[gOJDO]

Get E4300. It is the "best bang for the buck" of all x86 CPUs if you consider overclocking. It has higher multiplier than E6300 and E6400 and it doesn't require expensive mainboard and RAM to achieve high frequencies.

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: Zim

Originally posted by: n7
Assuming you don't need VT support, then the E4300.
I'm not sure where you're seeing it doesn't OC all that well.

I've been reading reports from a lot of people who say it has difficulty getting over 3GHz and needs a lot of volts to do so.

Where? I've seen zero reports of that from knowledgeable overclockers.

There are quite a few reports from people, even in this forum.

 

[TheJQ]

I bought 3 E4300's from Fry's combo deal last week. I used Asus P5B-deluxe with Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM (1Gx2). Only ONE can reach 3GHz (333x9) with 1.4V in BIOS. The other 2 requires 1.475V to be stable in XP. To reach 3.15 GHz (350x9), the BEST one needs 1.475V, and for 3.24 GHz (360x9), it needs 1.5V+. That's where I stopped because of fear of demaging the chip. In short I'm very disappointed (maybe my expectation was too high).

Today I got in on another Fry's combo special with E6400+ECS PT890T-A for $230. I was able to OC to 3.2G (400x8) at stock 1.325v and 3.6G (450x8) at 1.4v. I don't think I want to push it too far on it's first day. I don't think I want to operate it at higher than 1.4v anyway.

Needless to say the E4300's are going back and the E6400 is to stay.

 

[MartinM210]

Probably depends how much you want to volt and deal with heat. My E6600 was probably the easiest OC I've done. I was able to run up the chip from the stock 2400mhz to 3150 at 1.35 volts (MB) 1.31 actual. I'm now at 3300 with 1.41v (MB) 1.38V actual and it's great. I got to 3400, but I was having volt past 1.47 which was really adding to the heat.

Stability takes priority for me, and I'm very happy with the E6600 at 3.3, runs like it's stock. I figured by the time you put the $ down on the rest of the system, it would be worth it to get the full 4MB cache. Faster than the x6800 at stock 2.93, not to bad for a $300 processor.

E6600 gets my vote.

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: Hafen
I have this Ram, which I beleive is the same as yours, and I was able to run it @800 mhz (1:1) 5-5-5-15 @ 2.0V on my S3.

With the E6400 I bought, this gave me 3.2ghz (stock voltage.) Very fast and stable. May do more, but I'm not looking to wring everything out of it. I'm happy with my results.

I'm with you. I ended up ordering an E6400 and a DS3 mobo. I read too many stories of people having trouble OCing their e4300 so decided to get the next step up.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i don't see any point in buying anything but the 4300 or 6600 personally
no need to pay more for a few mhz and a lower clock mult
but paying more for the extra cache might be worth it if you got the money to blow that's why i listed the 6600

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
i don't see any point in buying anything but the 4300 or 6600 personally
no need to pay more for a few mhz and a lower clock mult

On paper the E4300 looks like the one to get, but in practice it simply just does not overclock as well as the Conroe chips. If you read around the forums you'll see that this is what many E4300 owners are reporting.

 

[GamingDaemon]

OK, it is March 1st (well it will be in a few hours) and I am spec'ing out my new Vista rig with a nVidia 8800GTX vide card. I will be doing gaming, development (yes some virtual machine stuff so I do like the VT support) and some moderate OC'ing. By moderate, I mean, stock voltage and air cooled.

So, with the upcoming price drops in Q2, should I buy a E6400 now, or wait (no, I can't wait any longer ) and get the e6600 for what the e6400 costs now?

And will the price drops occur on April 1? Or will it be a bit longer?

I am an impatient man

TIA