Core 2 E4300 vs. E6300 Overclocking Battle

That’s it! Pretty much the only important difference between the E4300 and the E6300 is the clock multiplier. The E4300 is a real budget overclocker because it allows users to stick with DDR2-800 memory even when operating at 3.47GHz. Furthermore, because a lower FSB is used most motherboards will be able to push this processor quite far. Obviously this means you will not need an ultra expensive LGA775 board to enjoy the overclocking potential of the E4300. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the article and we will keep them coming

kitty500cat are you sure about that? I was under the impression that the E4300 is based on the same core as the rest of the Core 2 Duo line up, meaning it uses the 65 nm design process.

Hmm, the E4300 uses the Allendale core. Physically, it has 2 MB L2 cache.
The E6300, has the 4MB Conroe core, but the extra 2MB are disabled.

[-Steve- said:

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kitty500cat are you sure about that? I was under the impression that the E4300 is based on the same core as the rest of the Core 2 Duo line up, meaning it uses the 65 nm design process.

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that's what I was asking. It seems, by what wolfram said, that it might; but I'm not sure.

Yes that is true but its really just more of a revision change. I was quoting this comment "Is it gonna have a smaller die size so that less heat is produced, making it better for OCing". Just letting you know kitty500cat that this is not the case. Anyway thanks for the great feedback guys!

Great read!

Good info and great comparison; however, I think a point that is being overlooked here is the difference in price for those who have yet to make the move to C2D. The price difference between the E4300 and E6300 is nominal at best. The real difference is in the cost relationship between mobo's that support older technologies, and those that don't...and ultimately, all the extra hardware that goes along with it.

The system specs used in this test are a perfect example of what I'm talking about. The mobo chosen, Gigabyte 965P-DS3P (Intel 965P, has the ability to run the fsb at 1066/800MHz which allows you to run either the E4300 or E6300...but that is as far as its backwards compatability goes. Those with PC3200 memory sticks/AGP4x-8x cannot find a decent mobo that will support a 1066 fsb while also supporting this older hardware. It was stated in the article that "There appears to be quite a demand for the E4300 at the moment and we are not quite sure why."

Well, this is why:

Inexpensive upgrade (C2D E4300

Major Upgrade (C2D E6300

In the first example, imagine a tight budgeting gamer with a good 8X AGP card and a gig of mixed pc 3200 memory (1x512/2x256). He can reuse every part of his system while upgrading to a new mobo and cpu...with the new stick of 512 pc3200 ram to fill the gap.

This is a difference of ~$600.00...for virtually the same results.

I thought the board had to support Core 2 Duo processors before they would work? So unless an older board has been updated how will it support Core 2 Duo processors, just because the FSB is right does not necessarily mean it will work. Ultimately running such a powerful LGA775 processor on such an old platform is pointless in my opinion.

The E6300 and E4300 are upgraders processors, the difference being the E4300 will allow users to get away with using much cheaper memory when overclocking.

the 4300 is a budget chip. It doesn't support virtualization too, which sux. Virtual Machine FTW!