What's your budget? AMD just released their budget dual-core for around $300 USD. It's the Athlon X2 3800+ , which is basically like 2x 3200+ cores together.
I don't know enough about computers to OC, and if I did I doubt I'd be able to cool my pc well enough. I'd probably end up damaging something and having to pay to replace it.
Alright, yeah I'm scared to O.C. a lot also. I think you should just go with the 3500+ then. Without O.C.ing it. I've used two computers with it, and it's just woah.
Uhm... not sure, someone that likes AMD will probably tell you that, but I do know that the venice is newer than the clawhammer, so my guess is that Venice is better, but not 100% sure, and o.c.ing has to do with which core is better too probably.