I believe that it’s safe to say that Intel is done playing around with AMD. And even though I am a huge AMD man myself, I too, am a little concerned that AMD may not be ready for what Intel has in store for them.

Over the past year, the hype machine has been beating the drum for Intel’s new processor architecture. Dubbed Core, the new architecture is a radical shift for a company that was once the chief proponent of ramping up CPU frequency. Core 2, the first desktop product, promises to be faster than the Pentium D series and even faster than the Athlon 64 FX-62. However, those last tests weren’t completely kosher, as the “FX-62″ was really an overclocked FX-60 running on DDR400, rather than the DDR2-based FX-62, and they were done under Intel’s supervision.

Even so, it’s been clear from all the leaks, sanctioned testing, and industry scuttlebutt that Core 2 is fast. But does it really perform in a wider array of applications than has been previously leaked or revealed? We’ll answer that question shortly. Intel Core 2 Duo: Conroe

Today, Intel finally reveals the details of their Core 2 CPUs, allowing us to present our full independent analysis. We obtained a pair of Core 2 CPUs from Intel: the Core 2 Duo E6700, which runs at 2.66GHz and will cost approximately $530, and the Core 2 Extreme X6800, which clocks at 2.93GHz and is priced at $999. (These are prices for quantities of 1,000.)

How will AMD respond to the new Intel Core 2 Duo? Think “4×4″, power, and price, executives say.

We described the Core microarchitecture back in March. Core 2 owes much of its heritage to the Intel’s mobile Pentium M processor line. The first iteration of that architecture, known as Banias, was the creation of Intel’s Israeli design team. But Core 2 isn’t just another iteration of the Pentium M. Instead, it steals a little from the old NetBurst architecture and adds enhancements of its own…. Source: ExtremeTech