Is it OK for newbies (been lifting for about 4 months now) to follow a Max-OT type of routine described in the Bulking guide sticky where each muscle group is hit once a week with 3 different types of exercises? Or would it be better to do a full-body workout 3x/week or even an upper/lower body split?

I tried starting a Max-OT type of workout and felt like I could easily overtrain with this method. After doing the benchpress, Dips, cable flies, and tricep pulldowns, my arms felt very weak and rubbery and I have some major DOMS in my pecs. Is this how it should be? Is this the kind of muscle beatdown necessary to justify a whole week before targeting the same muscle again?

Or as someone who isn't even close to having an impressive physique yet, would I be better off sticking to the higher frequency routines like SS, Westside for Skinny B's or Waterbury TBT?

It depends.

Many (most?) beginners aren't going to have the work capacity within individual muscle groups or the overall recovery ability if using a 4-5 day strength training template for a routine like MAX-OT to make sense.

I generally subscribe to the idea that people are better off with the least complicated split necessary to make steady progress. So something like:

1. Total body (with a handful of core lifts, not 28 different exercises)
2. Total body push/pull (squat variations with upper body push, deadlift variations with upper body pull)
3. Upper body / Lower body
4. Body part splits per muscle group

As a beginner, the standard clause of just about anything will work always applies; it's just that some things will work a little better/quicker than others. As long as you're focussed on the end result, obsessing over the means by which you get there isn't necessarily all that important.

Thanks for the input goonie. I definitely do think too much about what kind of routine I should follow. I think it's time I settled on one and stopped questioning whether or not I should change it.

Your total body push/pull suggestion sounds interesting... I think I'll give that one a shot.