E7400, e7500, e8400

So i have been doing a lot of research lately with these cores; reading reviews and look at benchmarks. Although i still cant come to a good conclusion. I was wondering if you guys can help me

So, im building a new computer; its for gaming (L4D, COD) and normal use like homework, internet; etc..

Anyways, the stuff i have picked up are

Gigabyte EP45-UD3R (i know UD3P has more funtions, but i dont need any of that cross fire or dobey sound)

G.SKILL PI Black Series DDR2 800MHz (PC2-6400) 4GB (2x2GB) Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B)

BFG 9600 GT 512 MB

btw, if theres anything wrong, or anything that can be better with the above, pls tell me!

So, i am on a limited budget, anything over $800 (computer only) is a bit too much. I do want to OC my cpu though (4ghz+) and was wondering if CPU (E7400, e7500 or 8400) would be the best

I have read multiple reviews and posts. Some say that e7500 is pointless and that e7400 is the best for the e7XXX series. But then i again. it does have a higher multi which would OC better right?

However, some say e8400 is simply better quality and better at OC to 4ghz+

So im asking you guys, anyone who has experience with OC or one of those 3 cores, which one is better? Or can you suggest a cpu even better but around the same price?

well i live in Canada and the Q9550 seems to be $240+ everywhere. The closest quad i can get within the price in the Q8200.

Anyways, if the e8400 is better, would it not be even better to get the Phenom II x3 Black Edition for $168 compared to the e8400 @ $193?

Um... just in case you don't know, you can't get a phenom on a p45 chipset, if that is what you were considering. I see you said u already bought the p45 motherboard. Outside of that, i would probably get the e7400, assuming it is reasonably cheaper than the e8400 (i dont know those canadian prices, but i do know its quite cheaper in the US) and just overclock it. The only difference is the 3mb of cache, which will not make that big a difference.

sorry if i didnt make clear, i havent bought anything yet

yeah, i thought of that too; lets ignore the $800 budget i said I have decided to spend a bit more on my CPU; enough for a e8400

So now, should i get a X3 BE 720 or e8400 when im planning to OC both of them?

I havent got to see any benchmarks of a OC X3 720 vs a OC e8400

The E8400 is easy to overclock to 4GHz. For most games (not all, most) a higher CPU speed means more than more cores. Just keep in mind you will need a decent aftermarket cooler because you will need to increase voltage which cranks the heat out exponentially. I got mine up to 4.6GHz for short term testing, but having it rock stable at 4.4GHz.

You can see the benefits of that in Tom's test of an E8600, which is the same chip just clocked higher at 3.3GHz stock:

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 316-6.html