Conroe has entered the building

The NDA has finally been lifted, and there are countless reviews around the web.

As much as I appreciate the performance and efficiency of these new CPUs, though, I can’t endorse forking out a cool grand (minus one) for a Core 2 Extreme X6800. These top-end CPUs are always iffy values, even if they’re insane performers. Meanwhile, the prices on the first two Core 2 Duos are very reasonable for what you get. At $316, the Core 2 Duo E6600 looks like a tremendous deal, provided you can get your hands on one. The E6700 is pricier at $530, but it’ll beat the much more expensive FX-62 at almost every turn. – Tech Report

Intel’s Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme are almost here, and they seem to be everything Intel promised and then some. The Core 2’s 4-issue core, shorter pipeline, Smart Memory Access and Advanced Smart Cache technologies make Intel the performance leader once again. It was a tough few years for Intel, as AMD’s Athlon 64, FX, and X2 processors outperformed their products almost across the board. But Intel isn’t playing second fiddle to AMD anymore. Make no mistake, the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme are very real, and their performance is undeniable. – Hot Hardware

If I had an older system and had to put my foot down and choose a system with the future in mind, I would probably lean toward the Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 platform for “future proofing” if Oblivion were any indication of future games. If you have a higher-end AMD Athlon 64 system platform right now though, there really isn’t any need to go scrambling to Intel Core 2 at this particular time for gaming. I’d wait it out and see what the future brings. – HardOCP

With both the Core 2 Extreme X6800 and the Core 2 Duo E6700 easily outperforming the AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 across the board we expect AMD to do something here in the near future. We had the chance to talk with AMD on the phone today they promised Legit Reviews that AMD will have an agressive price move come in July and went on to say that AMD will not give up the lead in price versus perfomance. – Legit Reviews

WOW! That one word describes my exhilaration at Intel coming back into the Enthusiast market with a bang. The X6800 outclasses the AMD CPUs by a wide margin in virtually every circumstance of performance measurement. The CPU also runs cool in comparison to earlier Intel CPUs and consumes less than 75W. By any standard of measurement the X6800 is an success bringing Intel back on top. – GamePyre

Compared to AMD’s Athlon 64 X2 the situation gets a lot more competitive, but AMD still doesn’t stand a chance. The Core 2 Extreme X6800, Core 2 Duo E6700 and E6600 were pretty consistently in the top 3 or 4 spots in each benchmark, with the E6600 offering better performance than AMD’s FX-62 flagship in the vast majority of benchmarks. Another way of looking at it is that Intel’s Core 2 Duo E6600 is effectively a $316 FX-62, which doesn’t sound bad at all. – AnandTech

Is the game over for AMD then? By no means. The performance race might be over for the time being, but it still can look at more attractive platforms for the enthusiast customer base (for ATI Crossfire and Nvidia SLI). In addition, AMD spokesperson Damon Muzny told us earlier this week that AMD intends to adjust its processor prices to keep delivering the best price/performance for the customer. – Toms Hardware

Other reviews/previews at Phoronix, Hardware Secrets, Legion Hardware, TweakTown, ExtremeTech and ByteSector.