E6300 for overclocking....or something else?

[Icebreaker]

Hi all.

I´m going to get a new workstation (3d design, video editing, photo editing etc) for my wife and since we are on a budget I´m thinking of buying a low end conroe and overclock it.

I´m looking at the range from E6300, E6400 and up to E6600 and I´m thinking if the more expensive ones will be able to go much higher than the E6300/E6400?

My other option would be AMD X2 3800 for 155 euros.

So, what is the best performance for the peso, with the cost of the mobos etc taken into account?

 

[burningrave101]

The E6300 will probably give you the most bang for the buck if they are priced somewhat close to MSRP. It should easily best the X2 3800+, especially when overclocked. The E6600 will likely overclock higher but its just a matter of how much performance you really think she needs. I dont think she would notice much of a difference though.

 

[ScreamingBroccoli]

Well, I was going to get an E6600, I was pretty much dead set on it, until I saw some of the E6300 benches. Reasons I'm getting it:

1. Best Mhz per buck ratio
2. Can almost buy 2 E6300's for the price of 1 E6600
3. The E6300 is clocked stock at 1.8 ghz, anandtech has OCed it to a stable 2.9 on AIR
4. The difference between the 2mb cache and 4mb cache is not too severe, it only gives about 3% performance increase on average.
5. It trounces the similarly priced X2 3800+ at stock speeds and has the ability to oc like mad

Those are my basic reasons for getting an E6300, it's a great deal! It's the same as the more expensive CPUs, only clocked lower and has less cache, but tests have shown that these factors do not cripple it, and it is well worth the money. Just my 2 cents

 

[LostInRehab2]

Xbitlabs has a review of an E6300 at stock speeds and overclocked to 2.94 GHz.
http://xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2duo-e6300.html

 

[Lich]

The 6300 is the best deal hands down. I'm going to get a 6600 just because this sucker's going to last me a long while.

 

[spectrumbx]

The 6300 is the best deal hands down. I'm going to get a 6600 just because this sucker's going to last me a long while.

That's what we all say and then upgrade again after only a few months.

 

[Lich]

That's what we all say and then upgrade again after only a few months.

look @ my sig: I only upgraded to that 2 years ago because my 600mhz celeron died

But for once in my life I have the cash to build a good rig off the bat, so i'm doing it

 

[spectrumbx]

look @ my sig: I only upgraded to that 2 years ago because my 600mhz celeron died

But for once in my life I have the cash to build a good rig off the bat, so i'm doing it

Good for you.
I am also making the point of not upgrading the systems in my rigs.
I am hoping to keep them for at least another year and then possibly upgrade to quad-core.

Actually, the laptop needs upgrading now. I need a HT cpu or a dual core in it.

 

[kirbyrj]

Personally, I think the lower end Conroe's have too low of a multiplier to take full advantage of in OCing. Then again, I'm ok spending $350 for a E6600, so it's not really as big of a deal for me as it was when I was in college or just out of it.

 

[DeFex]

although it might not show in benchmarks , if you are doing 3d editing especially, i think the cache will make a bigger difference than 3%. especially if you are running lots of polys and/or plugins. i am aiming for 6600, it is the lowest one with 4 meg cache. and also appears to be a nice overclocker.

 

[StealthyFish]

if you wanted an allendale core processor (2mb L2 cache instead of 4), you should probably check out the E4200 if you can wait till next year Q1. I heard it's got a high multiplier since it's 800Mhz Bus. Should be something like the new PD805 of it's time. But an any C2D will be good and worth it =).