I read in a maximum PC magazine article that they built a "next gen gaming system" for around 1500 usd. They put in a E6300 with stock cooling at OCed it to 3.06GHz....stock is around 1.86 I think... Anyway, would that mean that it is now faster than the E6700/or 6800? I though the 6700 runs @ 2.66??how could they take the cheapest CPU and OC that much on stock????It said they went from about 1.0 to 1.8 on the FSB....that's what they did, didn't mess with voltages or anything.A guy at worked showed me the article and I was a litle skeptical as to whether or not this could be achieved....Why do people even buy a better CPU if you can just OC a lower priced one?

Yes it is very easy to overclock a E6300 beyond a stock e6700. (and this really means it will run faster than the more expensive chip). However you could also overclock the e6700 to achieve even greater performance. The E6300 can actually reach 3.5GHz if you can manage 500Mhz FSB.

wow amazing! Why do most people here recommend getting the E6600 at least for FSX? That's what I've been telling people cause that's all I knew....jeeese I think I'd go with the 6300 and buy a better cooler and OC it a lot, free power lol

The problem with the the E6300 is the ridiculously high bus speed you need to use to get it over 3GHz. The E6400 and E6600 are much better in this regard, as keeping the bus at a stable 400MHz for most motherboards means either a 3.2GHz or 3.6GHz overclock respectively. Overall, the E6600 is the best all rounder, as it is relatively cheap, comes with an extra 2M cache over the E6400 and E6300 and won't disappoint you too much if it doesn't overclock very high for you.Having said that, I am very happy with my E6400 which is right now running at 3.5GHz on a low cost motherboard that together cost a few dollars more than an E6600 CPU alone cost at the time :-hah. It's all still a crap shoot, but you can definately tilt the odds in your favour with a little research on the web.Gary