Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe Dual-Core 2.33 GHz LGA 775 65W BX80557E6550 Processor

Pros: Extremely fast, this thing will pretty much run everything you throw at it. I over clock mine to 3.28 Ghz using a zerotherm cooler and it's rock stable, run orthos for a whole day and no error at all

Cons: the fan heat sink thing is a pain to install (lucky the zerotherm I have is a lot easier to install)the x7 multiplier really limited your ability to OC without better mobo.

Overall Review: I have a D3SL gigabyte mobo, and crucial 6400 ram runing at 940 mhz and 4-4-4-12 timing. The temp. never get above 55 under full load @ 3.38 GHZ

Pros: Overclock heaven. Overclocks easily to 3.5 ghz @ 1.5 volts ( 7 x 505) but it runs hot at 66C. I'm currently running 3.0 ghz (7 x 429) WHILE UNDERVOLTING IT @ 1.1volts, very very stabily at a cool 34C idle, 43 C full load. I had to turn off the fan settings so that the stock fan would run @ 100% speed. The performance is like 5 times better than older single cores. Multi-tasking. Opening 2 versions of the same 3d demanding games.. photoshop, playing movies.. everything works without any lag what so ever. The stock voltage is overrated. I'm running an overclock while overvolting. The Nero conversion of AVI's to burn to playable DVD's used to take 1 hour 30 mins to 2 hours. Now it takes 20 to 25 minutes. The 4 mb cache really makes a difference (coming from a hardcore AMD fan and I hope AMD starts putting bigger caches and is able to compete once again) All around good buy, best price to performance ratio.

Cons: 1. The stock voltage is overkill so try to undervolt or it gets a little hot especially if you try to leave the stock heatsink on SMART mode. Instead turn that off so the heatsink fan runs on 100% all the time. (its still silent and does 1985 rpm) 2. Not a quad core, but imho you don't really need it. 3. While its super stable in XP, Vista doesn't seem to like any overclocks and it restarts.. but I think that's Vista's problem.

Overall Review: Paired the E6550 with a GA P35 DS3L motherboard, 4 gb DDR2 800 gskill ram, and an 8800GT in an antec sonata III case w/ 500 watt power supply. You won't regret it.

Pros: Amazing CPU for the price. Reached 3Ghz without a single voltage change. I could go higher, but why? Runs very cool - haven't even reach ed 40C under load.

Cons: It wasn't free?

Overall Review: The 7x multiplier is sort of a downer for overclockers, but I was still able to hit 3ghz with no voltage change.

Pros: Well it has the intel name, great frequencies on the cores, 1333 fsb, not to mention the price which is cheaper than the e6420!! Temps were around ~25 idle on stock cooling, and it's a dream to overclock. There is no reason not to buy this processor, none.

Cons: It doesn't walk my dogs...

Overall Review: Honestly, I've never been more pleased with a component as I am with this one and have been continually reccomending this one to friends, family and even the company I work for. Great job Intel.

Pros: The CPU runs very well and is very stable. It was packaged well to avoid damage, and was very easy to install on my MSI P6N SLI Platinum. 4MB Shared L2 is nice and causes XP (because vista isn't worth the time or effort) to run extremely well.

Cons: I have a feeling the guys at Intel thought they were making an easy to install heat sink design with the LGA 775, but they weren't. It required a sickening amount of force (my entire 190 pounds on top of a screw driver) to get the four locking pins to go into their slots, and then the last one popped the other three out. I ended up having to remove the case and figure out how the thing worked so I could get it on with two screw drivers and a pair of needle nose, and even then it still felt like it could have been tighter.

Overall Review: If you can get over the heat sink bracket design this is a great chip. Even though it's risky, I would highly recommend installing the cpu and heatsink with your board out of the case, just use a static bracelet and you should be fine. Trust me, it will save you half an hour and a lot of grief and stress over whether you've busted your mobo or not.

Pros: It runs extremely cool even at 35% overclock (3.15Ghz). Everything runs a lot faster as compared to my 2Ghz Sempron. Overclocking was a breeze, and I haven't even pushed it yet.

Cons: Some people complain that the 7x multiplier is too low to allow for great overclocking. The stock fan was somewhat tough to get all the way into the MB.

Overall Review: I've never had a better processor--regarding speed, temperature, and overclockability. This thing is a beast. Works like a charm with the Gigabyte P35-DS3L running at FSB 450.

Pros: At 2.33Ghz, 1333 FSB, and 4Mb cache at a rediculously low price, this processor is dang near perfect. Even under extreme loads, multitasking for this processor is a breeze.

Cons: Had a few random crashes on startup a few times but that could be attributed to something else like the HDD or RAM. Works perfectly now. Don't really know why...OEM fan installation was a little scary. You basically "pop" these rivet-like things into the motherboard. I thought I had broken the fan a few times but I didn't. Conclusion, read up on installation first so you don't have any surprises. I tend to have some kind of a mouse lag when I put this baby under a heavy load of installs and application processing.

Overall Review: This is my first experience with Intel and I have to say that it's been an enjoyable one. Everything is faster and smoother than with my previous AMD 3200 64 single-core. Although I'm not sold on the Quad-lasers quite yet, I'm sure that Intel will dominate the market from here on out.

Pros: I took this cpu from 2.33ghz at 1333FSB to 3ghz at 1400FSb without a hiccup. Antec 900 case gives me plenty of airfolw. CPU idles at 32-C!--Zalman heatsink. GPU idles at 40-C.

Cons: none

Overall Review: 11,000 3Dmark score running 2.8ghz at 1400FSB on a P5B deluxe with an 8800gts 640 o/c. 2GB Corsair XMS PRO. Western Digital Raptor 10,000pm drive.