From the results, if you can get 2.6GHz+ from one it should scale wonderfully, however given the problems AMD seems to be having with scaling its retail CPUs means it looks like getting a good chip is very much luck of the draw. And it could turn out to be an expensive mistake if you consider that every Intel Core 2-based CPU we've ever used has easily achieved 3GHz.

We'd love to have some solid competition and choice again, especially for us enthusiasts but it unfortunately just doesn't look to be the case. What we risk is the current price difference between Q6600 and Q6700 - more than double for an extra 266MHz. That's only because the Phenom 9600 loosely relates to the performance of the Core 2 Quad Q6600 and Intel wants to be super-competitive.

With Penryn CPUs literally just weeks away - more specifically, the new dual core Wolfdales, which should be positively bursting with potential, a wise investment for your hard earned cash would be to still overclock an Intel processor.