Ok, I understand that the C2D is the fastest CPU, however the best value? I've been over clocking since my 486 DX2 50! I read toms back when the Celeron 300A was hot... mine was not so hot. I read toms back when the Celeron 1.6A was hot.. mine was good. I believe overclocking is a great way to get a little more out of your money.
Here's my issue, toms has always gotten great results. To get the results posted in this article you need to pull great memory, a solid motherboard, and a solid CPU. If any one of those three comes up short, your hosed. Ok so you buy better memory, or MB, or CPU, there goes the budget.
Which brings me to my point. In all this C2D talk, people seem to have forgotten the X2 6000+ for 160 bucks! In test the cpu was 120 bucks and the cooler 55! That's 175. So with zero effort the out of the box X2 steps in with solid performance. Tweak, even 10 - 20% which is MUCH more likely to happen and you just beat this heavily overclocked system.
Here's a little something for you all to chew on... My Celeron 1.6A, which was OC'd to 2.4G, served me well for about 3 years. The system was used in an office for about 8-10 hours a day M-F. Well, BSDs became common place. Took me a week of testing to identify the CPU failed! I replaced PSU, Memory, Video, and motherboard before I suspected the CPU. Have you ever tried to find a replacement part for an old system? Talk about tough! Moreover, talk about expensive! If you consider time and effert used/lost in the trouble shooting, I just paid for an initial high end system!
I personally like to retire my OC'd systems to lesser use. It is very bad when a retired computer fails. So, this "75% overclock" way risky. If you get the right stuff to hit the 75% mark, how long will it last. Will your budget be cut short because of the catastrophic failure and now your wife AND you need a new pc?
I am greatly saddened that all these "high end" websites consistently overlook the the AMD value. A 6000+ with a very safe 10-20% OC is a budget system with incredible performance and VERY low risk.
So how about Tom's, how about some review of a budget AMD system?
-Peter.