Will the AMD Black Edition really be any better?

Probably.

3.1-3.5 depending on your luck and cooling.

No.

Probably a little, but your overclock will likely be lower than what you could get with a decent cooler.

No. Go into BIOS at startup (by pressing DEL or F2 or F12 or F10 - depending on the motherboard I guess) and raise the multiplier.

It depends on how high you OC it. Raising the voltage to get to higher OCs will increase the temperature significantly. Just increasing the clock speed won't heat it up as much.

Find a chipset for your other needs. One of the advantages of having an unlocked multiplier is that you don't need to raise the FSB frequency, so you can OC on cheaper motherboards. If you plan on upgrading to Deneb in December, get yourself an AM2+ board, preferably a 790GX or 790FX with a SB750 southbridge.

My final suggestion: Get the 5400+ BE on Newegg.com for $77. Get a reliable motherboard, but don't worry about spending huge dollars; try Gigabyte. Get a decent HSF that you can use in the future (since it will work with this board if you keep it for Deneb), get some Arctic Silver 5. Get 4 Gigs of DDR2-800 for $60. Pz out with a sweet rig that costs you only a finger.

you can check relative oc capability at www.ripping.org.

all X2 BE's oc very well. i believe the 5000 BE holds the amd record at
http://valid.x86-secret.com/.

that is a cool site for seeing the far reaching potential for CPU's Superhal but in reality, he may not have liquid nitrogen laying around to hit the numbers they are.
DougX you wouldnt be hurting yourself to poke around some forums and ask people who own what you are trying to buy to see what worked for them and what didn't. those are nice little CPU's though. i wouldn't gear my expectations as high as what guys are cranking out of the Intel dual cores though. your not going to achieve 4Ghz on air. i doubt you can with those with liquid cooling but don't let that deter you.

As mentioned above "get yourself an AM2+ board, preferably a 790GX or 790FX with a SB750 southbridge."

This will solve your dilemma.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Product...
It will handle any AMD cpu. It is chipset = 790GX/SB750.
That chipset enables AMD OverDrive (AOD)!!
AOD includes ACC = Advanced Clock Calibration.!!
ACC makes EZ oclox - includes automagic! and settings galore!

Look into Triple Core 8870 BLACKIE (2.4) >oclox to >3.2ish.
Search THG cpu forum for "crippled black dog..."

Like many, including, myself, you want to oclox but don't have a lot of experience at it. ACC makes it easy - there are settings available, nobody know what they do, and auto clox is easy - you can still oclok thru BIOS also, but why bother, except for fun.

Research features of AM2+ better than AM2 socket (!)

4850 video = zoom.

Re 5400Black - I think this is a Windsor core 90nm. The 5000Black is a Brisbane core 65nm.
The 8750Black Edtiion will blow them both away for just a little more money but less than a quadcore.
older article (not BE)
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/amd_phenom_x3_8...

recent article on Black Edition w SB750
http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/CPU/AMD-Phenom-8750-Bla...

Foxconn A7DA-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX: $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5800+ Brisbane 3.0GHz: $76
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
--- should work with your HSF and has the ""8"" memory divisor

The 6400 is a good buy for an amd these days...not as cheap as the 5000+ but not bad and it has more cache.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Why dont you wanna hear about Intel cpus?

Dont get me wrong, i have an amd computer too, but is there any special reason?

Maybe wanna wait for Deneb, as theyre looking pretty nice, if everything falls in place. Get the good mobo and Deneb may be your best bet

Well even though he can get a Pentium DC and a cheap mobo and OC it to 3GHz+ on air maybe he just wants AMD. I helped a friend build a new gaming machine and he just wanted AMD even though I suggested Intel. He had a $2K pice limit but wanted AMD so I went the AMD quad route with dual HD4870s. He is very happy and since he games now at 1920x1200 the CPU is less important as the GPUs are really.