Intel's Core 2 Duo desktop family, formerly known as "Conroe", has taken the industry by storm. And while many buyers wait in frustration for general market distribution of retail parts, a few early adopters have found the scarce OEM tray versions needed to get them ahead of the pack.

Today, we'll be examining the Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, running at 1.86GHz. Much has already been written about "Conroe" -- what we're waiting for are some performance numbers! Of course, we (as well as our early-adopting friends) also need a motherboard...

Nearly all the available desktop platforms use Intel's new P965 chipset, designed with Core 2 in mind, as previous motherboards must be modified to support the new processors. Foxconn's version comes in both basic and deluxe flavors, with its P9657AA-8KS2H representing the more economical part.

Now, for the big questions: How does Core 2 Duo performance stack up to previous-generation technology. And how does Foxconn fare in delivering value in supporting an (at this stage) early-adopter CPU?