Strengths: Price, speed, overclocking potential

Weaknesses: HSF can be tough to install

Summary: This CPU is really the best deal you can get for this price range. It's fast, stable, cool (around 31C for me with stock HSF) and easy to overclock (altough I havn't try it yet).I'm a former AMD fan, upgrading from a 3400+ and it was definitly worth the upgrade, especially with newer games supporting dual core.

Strengths: Efficient CPU, fast CPU, easy to install CPU (no pins), clear instructions, much higher bang for the buck than an AMD processor

Weaknesses: Weak and inefficient HSF, hard to install HSF

Summary: I'm sure all of you have already read about the performance of the Core 2 Duo series. It is a dual core CPU, meaning it is good at multitasking. It has also benchmarked above many more expensive AMD processors.The HSF that is included with the retail box is terrible. It is loud and it generally keeps the CPU 15C higher than a $20 HSF like the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. A major complaint that I have with the whole setup, however, is that it is very hard to install the HSF. It involves 4 plastic pins that are supposed to be pushed in and click. Often, you can get 2 or 3 clicks but the last one does not fit right. On my first try, I ended up with a CPU temperature of 70C because it was not mounted correctly. After re-mounting, temperatures at stock speed are around 35C with the Arctic Cooling HSF at ~1600RPM.

Strengths: Super fast Processor compared to my old P4-2400 processor, all the applications just screams and the games no longer lags.

Weaknesses: None at the moment

Summary: Great cool processor, with a huge overclocking potential, can get up to E6700 or Core 2 Extreme X6800 levels. Great price compared to earlier processors and to a faster one.

Strengths: Good price, fast order processing and delivery, OCs like a champion, super smooth performance

Weaknesses: none

Summary: Upgraded to this from an A64 3700+ single core. Extremely quick performance and I'd have to say the most noticable perf boost I've ever had from a CPU upgrade. Intel is back in town!

Strengths: The fan is very quiet and the temperature is quite low.

Weaknesses: The heatsink / fan is quite hard to install into the motherboard. The thermal liquid is not silver.

Summary: The price is just right and and fast enough for most gamers. Unless you are buying this for 3d rendering and etc, this is average for it. But, be sure to have efficient of 667mhz dual channel memories.

Strengths: FASSSSTTT, stock hsf is extremely quiet for its size, games run incredible!

Weaknesses: none yet!

Summary: I have used AMD products for years now. I finally took the plunge and bought INTEL after reading many reviews on the new conroes. I have to tell you that it was the BEST decision I could have made. This thing makes my old AMD XP 2500 look like a P2. I had oc-ed my AMD all the way to 3200 speeds and the conroe still makes it look like a dog. I play alot of games. This was one of the main reasons that I needed to upgrade. My system was unable to handle some of the newer games like Obvlivion. This thing makes it seem like I am IN the game. Fluid movement is just awesome. I haven't yet tried oc-ing it becasue I don't have the Mboard or the hsf that I need.

Strengths: Can you say FAST?? This thing is a beaut. I just worked with a Pentium D 930 and this one just beats that one on everything.

Weaknesses: none

Summary: You get your moneys worth with this chip. You can multitask, tripletask with this thing. I highly recommend this for any gamer out there. However, because this chip is so new you have to do some searching for a good motherboard. Just go out and get one. You won't be sorry!

Strengths: Great at overclocking. Cooler and more energy efficient than Intel's Pentium 4 generation chips. Competitive pricing.

Weaknesses: Stock heatsink fan is not good enough if you want to overclock the chip to higher speeds.

Summary: Amazing chip. It's been a long time since a CPU has been able to overclock like the Core 2 Duo line of processors. Although the stock heatsink fan isn't the best, it's good enough for a mild overclock given a quality motherboard and fast RAM. I've swapped mine out for an aftermarket cooler so everything is quieter and cooler now. Right now is the time to invest in a dual core chip. The e6400 is definitely the sweet spot for the mid-range builder who doesn't want to go for the budget e6300 chip or spend the extra $100 for the e6600. Even if you're not overclocking, the e6400 is a great value. But if you are, the headroom to reach stock X6800 speeds is enormous. Make sure you do your research and get a motherboard and RAM combination for your chip that are compatible. Though in a few months time both will be mature enough to just pick any LGA775 motherboard and a few sticks of DDR2 RAM to build a killer system.

Strengths: Extremely fast, runs cool, great for multi-tasking.

Weaknesses: In my opinion, none.

Summary: I recently upgraded from an Athlon 64 3400+ system, and all I have to say is... wow. Excellent performance from this processor whether you're running design programs, browsing the web, burning CD/DVDs, playing games - even at the same time! I didn't think my last system was a slouch, but this system is really making reconsider that opinion. Add the strong overclocking potential (haven't crossed this bridge myself yet) to an already great performer and you have a winning combination that deserves serious consideration if you are building a new system. I'm currently running this processor on a Gigabyte DS3 motherboard with 2GB of Patriot RAM and I have been nothing but impressed with its performance.

Strengths: Super Performance + Super Low Price = Super Bang for the Buck!

Weaknesses: Weak performing and loud stock HSF

Summary: I love this CPU, it runs nice and cool, the dual cores allow me to multitask to my heart's content.Only thing I didn't like was the retail HSF is rather weak performing and loud if you don't control it with your motherboard. It seems like Intel hasn't changed their HSF design as the HSF is sold with the old retail P4 CPU packages.

Strengths: Awesome bang for the buck

Weaknesses: Limited and expensive lot of motherboards to choose from

Summary: Super Fast CPU and at bests anything AMD has to offer at the $200-$300 price range. Pair it with a good, albeit expensive motherboard and you can overclock it to get more bang for the buck.

Strengths: Extreamly fast. Runs Adobe photoshop CS2 great

Weaknesses: It crashes when playing many of my video games like Need For Speed 2, or Doom 3

Summary: I ended up with a cheap gigabyte motherboard. This may explain the crashes though I cant say for sure. I have 2 GB of 533 DDR2 kingston value ram, a 250GB WD HD, and a EVGA 7900GT KO video card. It runs the benchmarks great, beating out the AMD2 4800 with no trouble. I just wished I could figure out why it crashes in my video games. Jeri

Strengths: everything including price

Weaknesses: zero

Summary: Easily the fastest processor ive ever used intel has really redeemed themselves with this cpu we all should thank intel for pricing the core 2 so reasonably just a couple of months ago amd would charge you over $600 for this type of performance if you can appreciate a fast machine buy it you wont be disappointed.

Strengths: Great performer; good install documentation; 3-year warranty

Weaknesses: Same cheap stock-fan

Summary: I am building two new systems, one budget (the e6300) and one and middle-of the road on the other (the e6400). The price difference was substantial, as the e6300 was more heavily discounted upon inital release. However, the next jump to the e6600 was really significant, so I stuck with the e6400.This went into an ASUS P5WDH Deluxe motherboard with PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM, and it worked great from the get-go. I did have to make sure that I had the latest BIOS installed (not thanks to ASUS, but thanks to user groups), as the previous versions had limited (or no) Core2 Duo support. I'm not an overclocker, so cannot comment on how fast you can get it. The biggest difference between this and my previous Dual-Core was power consumption!! My previous D830 ran idle in the high 50's, and peaked in the low 70's! The e6400 idles at 32, and peaks at 39 (MP3 ripping). Just about everything else was a bit zippier. Thanks, Intel, for getting the power thing down finally.I never did try the stock intel fan, as it has historically been bad. Noisy, ineffective, applies poor contact to CPU. I went with a Zalman CNPS9500LED, and love it. Not the quietest, but it runs cool.I liked the documentation that came with the retail kit. Good instructions, and a 3-year warranty...though not sure how I would ever claim it!

Strengths: Nice streamlined architecture; overclocking headroom; Cool operation

Weaknesses: Price; Motherboard logic and chipsets are immature to unlock full potential; no major software besides OS to supports dual core

Summary: As a tech person, I always liked to buy products that have significant change, not merely revisions. Therfore, when Intel announced the dual core Core 2 architecture, it enable me to justify making the leap from my most recent Intel adventure, a Northwood Pentium 4. Even though I prefer AMD products, I don't blindly adhere to a company when its product are lagging.The performance has been quite good. The dual cores operate at a low temperature and most importantly, stable. I'm sad to realize that dual cores have not fully saturated the marketplace. Therefore, there is no major software that I use everyday that fully takes advantage of its performance. Even gaming, there is nothing out there. Hopefully, in three years time, dual core software would be more prevalent besides just the OS.Of course, right now, you pay a premium price for this technology. Everything is immature for dual core technology from memory, to chipsets, to peripherals/software. Those that can wait should wait, at least until the next big OS from Microsoft hits. I don't regret buying it, but I don't have anything to demonstrate why dual core is more efficient in real world tasks. Besides the cachet that comes with getting the latest, I wouldn't purchase it again but I love how Intel is going with their new architecture, hence the 4 stars. On buying worthy as of today, it would be 2 stars.