Summary: I upgraded from an Intel Core2 Duo E6600 CPU once the recent price-drops kicked in. What an unbelievable price for a quad-core CPU!! Bravo, Intel, on making quad core CPU available to the masses at under $300 (pretty much a 50% price cut). While I obviously don't notice any performance differences for web-surfing, email, etc. I do notice a difference while using both Adobe Photoshop Elements & Premiere Elements. They open quicker, and the tool responds to my commands quicker. I'm not a gamer, so can't comment on that. I use the stock CPU heatsink/fan, and have not had any issues. I'm not over-clocking, so the stock cooler is fine. The only problem I had was in performing the upgrade. I mistakenly believed my motherboard supported the Q6600, as it already supported the E6600. So, after replacing the CPU, my computer wouldn't boot! Doh! I read up on some forums and realized I should have upgraded the motherboard BIOS. I had to replace the CPU with my old E6600 (good thing I didn't sell it already!), update the BIOS, then put the Q6600 back in. It worked!

Summary: This is a wonderful processor for those who are looking for some serious power. Most games will take advantage of only 2 of the 4 cores, so the only places the quad core processor will give more are in OSs and apps written to take advantage of 4 cores. My main use for quad-core power is video encoding, which gets a great boost from the two extra cores. Future games and applications will definitely use more cores, so this should be a good investment. I recommend it!

Summary: The Q6600 is an AWESOME processor and a great value for the money. If you were considering a 2.4 Dual Core, don't bother... with the recent price drop the Q6600 quad core is only about $50.00 more expensive, and has much more potential with future applications

I bought the Q6600 for my new gaming rig, and I've been very impressed with the performance. I've been especially happy with its ability to multi-task... I can run TONS of windows/applications without a dip in performance.

The processor will run slightly warmer than the equivalent dual core, so make sure you are utilizing a good heat-sink (the one included with the CPU is useless). Being that the quad core is slightly larger than the dual core some CPU fans may have trouble fitting with mother board... be sure that you buy a fan that actually screws into the MB (it will make your life much easier).