A few of us were discussing in t3h IRCz, and figured we should put some of the info we're thinking in here rather than lost forever in the intertubes.

So the new 9950 Black starts at a 2.6GHz clock for $235, which is a very fair price - the 2.4GHz Q6600 we all know and love is going for $209 on Newegg at the moment, so they're mostly on par. Since the price points are roughly inconsequential, we have to look at power and overclockability, which in my eyes has Intel still winning, but the gap getting closer. The 9950 has a 140W TDP, while the Q66 stock has a 105W TDP. As we overclock, that'll change, but as a starting point, the 9950 will use more power and generate more heat right off the bat. Now Hot Hardware took a 9950 and a stock heatsink and got it stable up to around 3.1GHz ("easily," however that's determined), and that was at 58 degrees C. If we assume a good HS can drop 15-20 degrees off that chip, they can probably squeeze another 3-600MHz or more out of it, putting it up in the 3.4-3.7GHz range.

Now my G0 Q66 is running 3.6GHz on air (loaded) at around 55-58 degrees, but the best I've seen out of a B3 is probably Leo's 3.5, so it might be possible for the 9950 to be a better overclocker than the current-batch Q66s. I'd at least be interested to see what they could do with a good HS and some more time to test it out (and, of course, time for the supporting tech - mobo and BIOSes, etc - to stabilize), but at least for right NOW, I think both the price and the power differences are going to outweigh the extra couple hundred MHz you might get out of a 9950.

Bring on the tests!