Indeed, the Core 2 Duo E8500 was comparable in performance to lower clocked quad-core chips, proving the viability of the Wolfdale architecture. The chip is likely to retail at the +$300 mark and that seems to be the only drawback—it is a little on the steep side. Regardless, the Hot Hardware fellows were still willing to give the Core 2 Duo E8500 the highly coveted "Recommended" badge, and if their test results ring true, we would not disagree. Hit the link to check out the extensive testing [Hot Hardware]