F.E.A.R. (1600x1200 with 4xAA and 16xAF) gives us the first indication of how the Core 2 compares to the AMD FX-62 in gaming and the results are very promising indeed. The 2.93 GHz clocked Extreme is (unsurprisingly) faster than the 2.66 GHz Duo however what we didn't expect was to see the Duo outscoring the FX-62. Considering that the E6700 Duo is actually £200 cheaper than the FX-62 this means that the Core 2 not only provides top of the line performance it also delivers very good value when compared to the AMD chips

DriverHeaven just posted the review of the latest and greatest Intel processors, the Core 2 Duo (Conroe) E6700 and Extreme E6800. Here is a taster:

The Core 2 is a truly exceptional processor and the first product in a long, long time which has completely lived up to the hype surrounding its release. In synthetic benchmarks we see performance advantages which for the most part translate to real world gains. The true real world performance with our DH Photoshop bench was outstanding, by far the best we have ever seen and the Core 2 surpassed AMD's high end processor's in every game we tested. Additional performance highlights were the multimedia tests where the Core 2 achieves some amazing scores.

In synthetic benchmarks we see performance advantages which for the most part translate to real world gains. The true real world performance with our DH Photoshop bench was outstanding, by far the best we have ever seen and the Core 2 surpassed AMD's high end processor's in every game we tested. Additional performance highlights were the multimedia tests where the Core 2 achieves some amazing scores.

Based on the access we have had to Core 2 since May its clear the platform has been ready for some time with only minor tweaks going on behind the scenes and this has translated to complete stability. The chips run cooler than previous Intel models and not once did our review system hang or fail when testing. It is also good to see that a lot of high end motherboards will support the Core 2 with a bios update which keeps end user upgrade costs to a minimum.

In other news, Techware Labs has published a review of AMD's latest offering, the AMD AM2 5000+ processing machine.