Should I try to return my C2D E6300 1.86GHz for a E4300 1.8GHz?

[Shawn]

Well I didn't originally plan to overclock but after learning how easily these processors overclock I've gotten excited about overclocking again. Back in the day I had a P4 1.6GHz overclocked to 2.4GHz.

Anyway I just got my new Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz and I want to overclock. Unfortunately my motherboard supports a max bus speed of 1300 and I can only get it to post at around 1200. However it's rock solid at a 1200MHz bus (2.1GHz) and it's barely gets warm. Even after running a burn in test for an hour the hottest I saw was 49C.

Think I should try to return this processor to newegg and get the E4300? I could probably get it running with a 1066MHz bus (2.4GHz) since that's a supported bus speed on my motherboard and nothing else would be overclocked.

Anyway I took some quick benchmarks:
Stock 1.8GHz Arithmetic Test
Stock 1.8GHz Multi-Media Test

Overclocked 2.1GHz Arithmetic Test
Overclocked 2.1GHz Multi-Media Test

 

[Arkaign]

If your mobo isn't that great (2.1Ghz is pretty shabby compared to P965 results on most of them), then yeah, you'd probably get more headroom w/4300 and not much performance penalty. What ram do you have?

Edit : you can also pinmod the 4300 into a 1066 part nice ..

 

[Shawn]

I have this motherboard: http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=6&id=2095

 

[Rio Rebel]

I guess when you asked "should I" it is strictly a question of finances and convenience? Or do you want a moral answer?

 

[nyker96]

if your current mb can OC to a high FSB don't return your 6300 otherwise get that 4300 it won't need high fsb to oc.

 

[Bateluer]

I'd pick up a better motherboard myself, it probably be slightly cheaper than getting a new CPU. An E4300 runs about 160? A very nice mobo can be had for that price, which would likely support higher bus speeds.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
I'd pick up a better motherboard myself, it probably be slightly cheaper than getting a new CPU. An E4300 runs about 160? A very nice mobo can be had for that price, which would likely support higher bus speeds.

I concur.

 

[Alone]

The E4300 is supposed to be a budget chip. Swapping the E6300 for the E4300 is pretty pointless.

 

[Elfear]

The warranty on the chip is expired since you overclocked it. You can return the E6300 within 30 days if you are not satisfied with the product but you are charged a 15% fee. I'd say it's not worth it to pay the extra fee for an E4300. Just buy a better motherboard like others have suggested and sell your motherboard in the For Sale section of the forum.

 

[tallman45]

Originally posted by: Alone
The E4300 is supposed to be a budget chip. Swapping the E6300 for the E4300 is pretty pointless.

E4300 is actually a better chip

1) it is only built with 2mb L2 cache where the E6300 / E6400 have 4mb L2 cache built in but half of it is disabled (carrying along a lot of transistors for a dead end ride)

2) E4300 is a x9 multiplier processor which means it requies less FSB and cheaper ram, less volts to get to the same clock speed as the E6300/E6400

3) E6300/E6400 will be obsolete once the E6320/E6340 line comes out in a few months, they will be worth substantially less than they are today

 

[Shawn]

Well I'm not going to sell the motherboard. It has 2 ide ports which I absolutely need and it also has 4 memory banks and 8.1 surround with coaxial and optical digital out. It also has SLI and 4 SATA connections in case I upgrade my hard drives in the future. There aren't any other motherboards that had all that for anywhere near as cheap. This motherboard was $80. The next motherboard I saw with most of that was $200.

I think I will send this processor back, unless there is someone here who would like to trade their E4300 for a E6300?

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: tallman45

1) ... the E6300 / E6400 have 4mb L2 cache built in but half of it is disabled (carrying along a lot of transistors for a dead end ride)

Will you give the URL of a reliable source of this claim? In my understanding

E4300/E4400/E6300/E6400 = the Allendale core
E6600 and higher = the Conroe core

The Allendale core design is different from Conroe in that it has natively 2MB L2 cache.

 

[MooMooCow]

Originally posted by: renethx

Originally posted by: tallman45

1) ... the E6300 / E6400 have 4mb L2 cache built in but half of it is disabled (carrying along a lot of transistors for a dead end ride)

Will you give the URL of a reliable source of this claim? In my understanding

E4300/E4400/E6300/E6400 = the Allendale core
E6600 and higher = the Conroe core

The Allendale core design is different from Conroe in that it has natively 2MB L2 cache.

The 6300 and 6400 are not Allendale.

 

[Shawn]

Yeah, the 6300 is a Conroe core.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: renethx

Originally posted by: tallman45

1) ... the E6300 / E6400 have 4mb L2 cache built in but half of it is disabled (carrying along a lot of transistors for a dead end ride)

Will you give the URL of a reliable source of this claim? In my understanding

E4300/E4400/E6300/E6400 = the Allendale core
E6600 and higher = the Conroe core

The Allendale core design is different from Conroe in that it has natively 2MB L2 cache.

6300 and 6400 are Conroe cores. Allendale (4300) has 2MB cache, 800fsb and lacks VT technology.

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: MooMooCow
The 6300 and 6400 are not Allendale.

Oops! My knowledge seems to be base on very old information. I found this one:

You'll find plenty of sources that will tell you the code name for these 2MB Core 2 Duo processors is "Allendale," but Intel says otherwise. These CPUs are still code-named "Conroe," which makes sense since they're the same physical chips with half of their L2 cache disabled.

The Tech Report

Thanks for correcting my misunderstanding.

 

[Shawn]

Newegg is so awesome! They agreed to let me return the E6300 without paying a restocking fee as long as I agreed to buy another processor from them, which I did. I got the e4300.