Buying a socket 754 cpu

[jae1227]

I am getting a sff (small form factor) computer with 754. What is the best cpu for it. I know the 3700+ is the best for that socket but they have gone up in price and i was looking at the venice 3000+ but please comment about this. Now I belive the 3700+ ,clawhammer, would be better than a 3000+ venice. The Clawhammer has 1 MB L2 but the Venice has SSE3 and the cheapest i have found the clawhammer for is $215 an dthe 3000+ is $120. I've read that the Clawhammers are hotter and i want a SFF so heat can be a problum but i don't really overclock. I want to use it as a gaming machine and right now i have a p4 3.0 GHz w/ a 5700LE PCI (not pci-e, this is dell 3000) and it works fine but i want better preformance than what i have now.