Corporate pride can mean boom or bust for a company, as employees either become comfortable with the status quo or forge ahead to maintain leadership. Intel knows both sides of this particular scenario. Having lost much of its market share in a period of hubris it called "Netburst Architecture", pride eventually lead the company to its face-saving Core 2 series. Intel's epiphany, that users demanded performance and efficiency rather than raw clock speed, compels the company to continue putting distance between its own products and those of its rival.

The latest incarnation of Intel's Core 2 Duo, its E8000 series, promises increased performance per clock and reduced power consumption. We tested the highest speed E8500 model against our overclocking-champion Core 2 Duo E6750 to see if it can keep those promises, but another question remains: how does its value stand up.