The initial reviews of the conroe have been that it will indeed take the performance crown by a good margin. At this point I believe that to be true. I am actually very interested to see how it does in real world applications in an every day system. However, I don't believe this will cause "trouble" for rest of the year for AMD, only fuel competition and price drops. The only initial problems I have heard of are those regarding some RAID features. This is said to be the result of a slapped on ATA adapter. Originally Intel figured that we would have SATA connections on everything including Blue Ray/HD DVD but that isn't the case yet. I would assume these problems will have been corrected by launch.

The main thing that I would have to bring up is the manufacturing technology. While moving away from Netburst technology amounts to a decent portion of the performance increase, the progression to 65nm technology provides a natural performance increase as well. The main problem with the AM2 platform at the moment is it is still on 90nm tech. We won't see it's true potential till late Q3 maybe early Q4 when their 65nm cores then 4x4platform are introduced.

Intel's desktop division will definitely receive a boost from the performance crown. However, their laptop division will recieve a greater boost where battery life will be extreme due to the lower volts/watts required by 65nm cores. Like someone else said, AMD is lacking in the laptop area but they are getting there. I agree AMD needs to look more into revolution than evolution; socketA =>754 as opposed to 754=>939=>AM2(which is really a 939 with a diff mem controller)

For the people looking to upgrade, if your comp is on the verge of death or really just making you mad you may want to look more into the conroe. However most computers from the last 2-3 years should run Windows Vista well(provided you have 1-2gb of ram. Yet if you're like me with a 939platform or a decent LGA775 you can wait a bit unless you have to have the bleeding edge. I would wait till late '07 - mid '08 where Vista, DX10, PCIe2, SATAIII, DDRIII, and the new, NEW AMD/Intel platforms become established. Most of us should be able to get there without a COMPLETE overhaul.

by tonybaloney187 (See profile) - July 22, 2006 5:53 PM PDT

From what I have read about Intel's Conroe, I think AMD will be having a very rough year ahead of them. The prices range from $200-$500 for Conroe's processors. Low prices, high performance = Intel>AMD, until next year maybe.

by napsterlover2375 (See profile) - July 16, 2006 6:10 PM PDT

The other reviews I see of the new chips say that they are as good as AMD, but they don’t go as far as the rave review you give them.

It reminds me when i worked for a company 15 years ago, and intel asked the then CNET CEO Halsey(?) to introduce our company, IFusion, at Comdex. He whined and moaned, and then was instructed by Intel exactly what to do. His introduction of our company at Comdex was spectacular!

I assume Intel still pays the bills?

by spiked_three (See profile) - July 15, 2006 8:12 PM PDT

Not the war between AMD and Intel will heat up, causing more powerful processors to be released at a faster rate than before. I can't wait to get a X6800 equipped rig.

by REM333 (See profile) - July 15, 2006 7:01 PM PDT