Conclusions
Like any solution with four CPU cores, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700's effectiveness depends on what you feed it. Give it a nicely parallelizable task with four or more threads, and it will utterly embarrass former top dogs like the Core 2 Extreme X6800 and the Athlon 64 FX-62. For applications like video encoding, 3D rendering, image processing, and scientific computing, the QX6700 trumps all other desktop processors—and, I suspect, a great many dual-socket Opteron workstations. 3DMark06's multithreaded CPU test gives us a glimpse of how multithreaded gaming might look, and the QX6700 performs very well there, too.

Feed it a simple app with only one or two threads, though, and this quad-core monster begins to look an awful lot like a Core 2 Duo E6700 with higher power consumption and a much steeper price tag. Of course, even that isn't a horrible place to be. In single- and dual-threaded applications, the QX6700 still wallops the Athlon 64 FX-62 nearly across the board, with similar power requirements and heat output. That fact simply underscores how good the Core 2 lineup truly is.

Still, this is very much an Extreme processor in every sense. As I've said in various ways over the years, I happen to think forking over a grand for a CPU is sheer insanity. If you do write that check, though, be prepared to write another one for a good water cooling system. Most air coolers that could keep this thing cool would simply be too loud for my taste, and you won't want to attempt much overclocking with air cooling.

This quad-core CPU puts Intel in the same tricky position that the GPU guys have had to endure from time to time: the hardware is now well ahead of software development, particularly in mainstream consumer applications and games. Many owners of this beast may be stuck waiting for new applications to arrive that use it to its fullest ability. Like I said, though, I'm confident the applications will come, and when they do, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 may well be the best option for running them.

Soon, the QX6700 should get some competition in the form of AMD's so-called 4x4 platform. Can AMD unseat the QX6700 using dual-socket motherboards? Interesting question. I have my doubts, but I suppose we'll soon find out.