The E6300 is once again the undisputed champion in gaming, with an advantage of 13% and 9% in doom 3 and F.E.A.R. respectively. This was at 2.5 GHz mind you. At 1.86 GHz, the E6300 did lag behind the AMD in both games by 9% and 8% respectvely.

Final thoughts:

From the benchmarks, there is absolutely no doubt that the E6300 is superior to the 3800+ X2. Clock for clock,i t was top dog on every single test. Even at stock the E6300 held its own and even managed to beat the overclocked X2 in some tests. We have no doubt that if the 3800+ X2 had been run at its stock frequency of 2 GHz, it would have been caned by the stock E6300 in every test. The overclocking potential of the new Intel Core Duo 2 chips is quite remarkable. On stock cooling you should be able to squeeze out another gigahertz of power for free providing you have the right system components to take it all the way. Image some watercooling or a little phase change on this chip! Considering that both CPUs cost around the £135 price range, there is absolutely no reason why you should pick a 3800+ X2 over the E6300.

Intel has really got a winner on their hands. Long gone are the days of Netburst. The new Core architecture is here to stay, and it looks like Intel have regained the performance crown for 2006/07.