Intel Core 2 Duo E4300

Overclocking:

To gauge how far our Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 sample overclocked, I used Gigabyte's excellent GA-965P-DQ6 motherboard. I set CPU vCore to 1.50000V, while MCH voltage was set to +0.45V in BIOS. In addition, I used Zalman's CNPS9700 heatsink / fan combination with the fan at its default speed setting.

I managed to get the chip running up at 3150MHz (350x9.0) with a minimum amount of effort and it was stable for a few hours running a pair of Prime 95 instances. Here's a screenshot of where I got to:

Of course, we must remind you that your own mileage may vary when overclocking and we can't guarantee that the chip we've got here doesn't overclock particularly well.

Final Thoughts...

Generally, performance was quite close between the Core 2 Duo E6300, E4300 and Athlon 64 X2 4200+ - the pricing reflects this quite accurately, too. The multitasking arena is an area where the X2 4200+ really excelled itself and we were pleasantly surprised with its performance in comparison to the slower Core 2 chips that we hadn’t looked at until now.

If we only take general 2D performance into account, the E4300 is a faster processor than the X2 4200+. However, if we look at the bigger picture, the E6300 was a better performer than the X2 4200+ across the range of applications tested, with the E4300 being a very similar all round performer.

Add that to the fact that the E4300 is capable of achieving clock speeds in excess of 3.1GHz with very little effort, and it’s a more attractive buy than the X2 4200+. This brings us onto the question of whether it’s a better buy than the Core 2 Duo E6300 from an overclockers perspective. The answer to that question ultimately depends on how much you’ve got to spend on the rest of your system (or what you’ve already got in it).

Because the Core 2 Duo E6300 is such tremendous value for money, I find it hard to quantify the Core 2 Duo E4300 at the moment. In isolation, it’s a little overpriced for my liking, but then it’s worth remembering that most people don’t just buy a CPU on its own.

Although the E4300 probably won’t reach the high speeds we’ve seen achieved using an E6300, it can achieve its maximum overclock with much cheaper components. There’s no need for a motherboard capable of front side bus speeds in excess of 400MHz and there’s no need for anything more than DDR2-667 memory if you run the memory in sync with the front side bus using a 1:1 divider.

At just under £110 including VAT, I don’t believe that the Core 2 Duo E4300 is as good a buy as it could be. When the price drops to around £80 in the second quarter of this year, I suspect that it will be a damn sight more attractive than it is now – the price is just too close to the Core 2 Duo E6300 for my liking (around £115 inc VAT). Unless you’re looking to overclock on a very tight budget, the E6300 is a better buy.