High-End: Core 2 Duo E6850
At the high end, we had to choose an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, as it is still the best choice at $250 and up. Compared to the 89 W or 125 W Athlon 64 X2 6000+ processors, this 65 nm Intel product is faster, while maintaining the 65 W thermal envelope. The E6850 has 4 MB L2 cache and runs at a FSB1333 system speed and 3.0 GHz core clock speed. Even an older E6750 (2.66 GHz) was capable of running at up to 4 GHz, and we had a similarly good experience with the E6850.
