Originally Posted by thepizzaman

ok so a true intel quad is how much?????? and what took them so long....... i forgot the core 2 quad is just to dual cores :P

$20.00 whole dollars more than the Phenom; that's how "much". Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Recall that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so let's not forget the Phenom's really big flaw: a single memory controller. That alone renders superfluous that whole "true quad core" nonsense posted earlier.

About same price difference in England too, the i7 920 is about £30 more than the 920 Phenom II, but the same price as a Phenom II 940.

Even if the old Core 2 Quads were just two dual core dies stuck together, they still out performed Phenoms

If you're talking about the i7, take a look at the level 3 cache - 8mb.

Intel have used the same socket since Pentiums...you'll also find AMD are changing socket with their next processors to AM3 later this year.

I doubt two Athlon x2 6000s could out perform Core 2 quads. Even the lower end Core 2 Duos could out perform most Athlons x2s. I used to use Athlon x2s myself, had an Athlon x2 3800, and then a 5200 and I'm happy I switched to an E8200 Intel.

Core i7 highest benchmark is around 5.6GHz or something, but Core 2 Quads were OCing to 5.8-6.0Ghz mostly, so it's nothing new from AMD, but what home user is going to ramp up their CPU to 6GHz to run daily?

The ones that are out now won't work in AM3 either.

The only good thing about AM3 CPUs are it's going to be able to be used on AM2+ motherboards for DDR2 memory. For DDR3, you need the AM3 socket.

I haven't seen anywhere that says the next Phenoms will have 12MB, only the two high end Phenom IIs will have 8MB and the lower end ones will have a couple of MB lower, but the higher end Core 2 Quads have 12MB cache already, which is level 2 (faster than level 3), so it's nothing new really.