debating

Save a little bit of cash, go with the E6300, and overclock the front side bus a little bit higher then you would with the E6400 to achieve the same performance.

Hope that helps.

the thing was i was hoping to stay away from over clocking for the time being. is it worth that little extra for the slight performance increase?

Missed that, sorry.

14.5% increase in theoretical performance (the higher speed).
20.8% increase in cost.

You probably will see a difference, but it won't be all that much. It depends on what you're using it for, and if you want to absorb the additional financial cost.

That part probably doesn't say much, but it's the best I can figure. If you have the ability to overclock, and you don't increase the voltage, your CPU likely won't suffer much at all.

for gaming, audio and video editing the e6400 would be better since you wont overclock.

If you plan to overclock later on, even a little bit, go for the E6300 which with a little overclock, it can be clocked at e6400 speeds.

what about the 4300 than compared to the 6300. now that ive been looking at the various threads i think i will mildly over clock it to start out. keeping with the stock cooling fan. which one would be better with my OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-15 . and i also down the road may over clock to more of the 3.0 area.

The E4300 is looking like a very respectable CPU. I would hold off until the price drop that's expected sometime in April for it, if you do decide to go for it.

With your choice of RAM expect to overclock it at those timings. Right now I've got (because I can't change VCore) my timings at 5-4-4-12 at 667 mhz. This rig can support 4-4-4-12 at stock voltage running 667 mhz, but it wasn't smooth running. Because you'll need to mess with it a bit, be sure to know how to reset your BIOS. You may have to start restart 3 times, or flip the CMOS jumper to clear.

And like Slim said, you could overclock later, too, if you find your system is running a little sluggish.

the way ive read it so far is that the 4300 is slightly better at mild clocks but the 6300 tends to be better around the 3.0 area? right now im leaning towards the 6300 so i dont need to worrys about all the bios to much for a mild over clock.

Clock for clock the E6300 will beat the E4300. The cost for perfomance for the E4300 is a bit better, however. Although, I think you might be right about overclocks and the E6300. If you're willing to invest in a higher end air cooler, you could easily see the 3+ ghz ranges, hypothetically. If you are shooting for that range, I might suggest the E6400 for this, or possibly the E4400 when it comes out. You might have an easier time with things with one of those two.

any one else some some insight?

it all depends on what you want it to do. If you want bang for buck, and e4300 can hit 2.6 pretty easy with stock cooling, and no mesing with v.core, if you plan on reaching for 3ghz later,id hit the e6300,or preferably the e6600 if you have the cash

I'd go with the E4300 too.

E4300.