Since the release of the Core 2 Duo, I go Intel until something AMD makes blows me away. I like knowing that the CPU I'm buying isn't being pushed anywhere near its limit. I can take any Core2 CPU and overclock it to at least 3.2-3.4GHz without much trouble. A 2.4GHz Q6600 for $190-200 that will easily handle at least 3.2GHz is an easy choice for me - it's a 33% gain for free. Or, if you don't plan on overclocking, you have the piece of mind knowing your chip is cruising at the default speed instead of being pushed hard straight from the factory. AMD chips have been binned near their limit for awhile now and don't overclock at all what they used to.. the days of my AMD Opteron 140/144 being overclocking beasts are long gone.. the Phenoms are alright overclockers, but there seems to be far more variance in the chips - some will overclock well and some won't. *All* Core 2 chips I've OC'd have stayed on at least 3.2GHz (usually up from 2.4GHZ E6600/Q6600 chips) or 3.6GHz (for 3.0GHz E8400 chips).