Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800

"The performance crown continues to undeniably belong to Intel, the QX6800 simply gives you the option of having four cores at the performance leading clock speed. The price is obviously quite steep, and those who are not opposed to overclocking would be better off buying a Q6600 and simply overclocking it to QX6800 speeds. It would make even more sense to wait until the end of April and buy a Q6600 for $530 and then overclock it, if you truly want four cores at close to 3.0GHz. Other than the price however, there's nothing wrong with the QX6800 - it's got four cores that we all know and love, and it's fast."

"Intel pumps out a glory SKU in order to ratchet up the pain on AMD. But most users should steer clear and pay less money for either the QX6700 (if you need quad-core), or one of the mainstream Core 2 Duo CPUs."

"The £600+ asking price will give you class-leading performance, sure, but only if you can fully exploit the 4 execution cores by routinely engaging in heavy multitasking. If that sounds like you and you have the requisite money burning a hole in your pocket, there's nothing better right now."

"Aside from its exorbitant $1200 price tag, which is high even for top-of-the-line Extreme Edition processors, the Core 2 Extreme X6800 is a no compromise solution. Its thermal profile and power consumption were in-line and its overall performance was superb. If you're a PC enthusiast looking for nothing less than the highest performing desktop processor, look no further - the Core 2 Extreme QX6800 is it."

"This thing is an absolute wonder of Moore's Law. Having said that, I can't exactly recommend purchasing one of these to have as your own. The thing costs twelve hundred dollars, for crying out loud. And this time around, unlike many others, the new Extreme edition processor doesn't supplant its precursor. The Core 2 Extreme QX6700 lives on at $999, with an unlocked multiplier just like the QX6800. All you're really getting for the additional $200 is a slight bump in guaranteed clock speed. Both of 'em will probably hit at least 3.2GHz just fine, if our overclocking experience is anything to go by."