Phenoms now good, apparantly

According to a new PC magazine I got today, AMD's new Phenom X4 processors equal the performance of Intel's hero Core 2 Quad Q6600, for about the same price. That's great news for all computer buyers, though unfortunately Intel is just about to release the Nehalem microarchitecture that will probably tilt the balance of power back to Intel.

If AMD's Phenoms can exceed the performance of the Core 2 Quads for a lower price, and if their discrete graphics cards gain 3D support in open-source drivers, I could be looking at obsoleting my current PC. My dream would be to have a passive-cooled Sapphire card and a fast overclocked Phenom X3. I imagine that the X3s should have a bit of scope for overclocking, but ideally we'd like to see AMD get their process down to 45nm to improve power efficiency and heat production.