E4600 or E7200?

[Maccer101]

Which of these would be the better choice for a budget system?

E4600 2.4ghz 65nm 2mb 12x multiplier
E7200 2.53ghz 45nm 3mb 9.5x multiplier

They are both the same-ish price at around £75.

On the face of it would think the Wolfdale E7200 to be better but there must be some reason why the price is so similar (does the E4600 have better clocking potential?)

PC would be for my Dad, I may want to add a mild/stable overclock (2.8ghz-ish) but nothing too much as he will not be able to play around with BIOS settings and I am not there to tweak it for him.

Thanks

[DDY]

You should go for the E7200, it's based on the new 45nm Wolfdale core where the E4600 is based on the older 65nm Allendale core.

I had my E7200 overclocked to 3.2GHz using stock volts simply by changing the FSB to 333MHz.

[Salazaar]

If you're planning to overclock it I'd go for the E4600, the high multiplier will help a lot.

[vrfx]

E7200 according to some fast research:

(I am too new to be allowed to post links so you will have to complete them yourself: h..p=http and 3w=www)

h..p://3w.mrnet.pl/images/news/e7200.pdf (comparison chart)
h..p://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/t292831.html (overclocking forum)
h..p://3w.intel.com/products/processor/core2duo/specifications.htm?iid=prod_core2duo+tab_spec (CPU specs)

Apparently both work good overclocked (stable up to 3.0) and since you don't plan to go extreme overclocking with the CPU then a non-advised opinion would be go for E7200

[Zhaoman]

The price is similar because the E7200 is the 45nm replacement of the E4600. E7200 is the better buy.

[looney]

E7200 easily.

[this_is_gav]

Depends on how high your board will go if you're intending to overclock. The E4600 will be the easier to get to a decent speed, but the E7200 will overclock higher, though your board will need to be able to get to a higher FSB. I suspect it will be the limiting factor rather than the CPU.

For such a simple overclock you might as well stick with the E4600.

[Zhaoman]

I would've said the E7200 for a simple overclock lol. Most modern mobos that support the E7200 can handle 400Mhz easily so the 9.5 multi should be plenty. As DDY said, bumping the FSB to 333Mhz gets a 3.2Ghz chip. It couldn't possibly get any easier than that.

[SSK]

e7200 imo...as DDY said its really simple to jsut bump up the fsb and you are done...plus its based on the newer 45nm core

[Maccer101]

Looks like the Vote is in favour of the E7200.

I think my Dad would like a Q6600 but to be honest I don't think he needs it, might as well have a cheaper rig and buy a better Screen since he loves his Digital Photography.

My Q6600 is just bored in my PC and I do more intensive stuff than he does.

[CrazyMonkey]

E7200 - Case Closed.