Nvidia's nForce 680i SLI is the best chipset for Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad systems, but only for real enthusiasts and hardcore gamers. The performance differences between the Intel chipsets and Nvidia's high-flyer are only noticeable if you're willing to spend a lot of money on premium components for your nForce 680i SLI platform; this will allow you to exploit its amazing overclocking features and use it to its full potential.

Others can save a lot of money by going after a more economic Intel P965 solution, unless you're interested in state-of the art features. In this case, the Nvidia chipset will also be the better choice, as it comes with some benefits compared to the 975X and P965. There are two feature-rich Gigabit Ethernet ports instead of a plain single interface; better PCI Express resources (true dual x16 PCIe graphics); an UltraATA/133 channel for optical drives or older hard drives (which Intel removed from ICH8 and the 965 family); and the fancy nTune overclocking software assistant.

nForce 680i's downside is its relatively high cost - this also applies to the 975X - and increased power consumption when compared to the Intel chipsets. Gamers with a fondness for either ATI or Nvidia have to make their choice based on dual graphics support: nForce 680i SLI is incapable of supporting an ATI Crossfire dual graphics setup, which requires an Intel 975X or an ATI chipset. Conversely, those won't support Nvidia's SLI.

Our recommendation is simple: Go with the nForce 680i SLI if you want the best platform for Core 2, or stick to the P965 if price/performance is your priority.

The current Core™ Duo inside™ logo and its family comes next. You should know there are currently over a dozen variants of this logo for the various technologies Intel is deploying, such as the Intel Core Quattro™ Dual-Core Double-Header, the Intel Grounded Power Cored™ for users who want to use (Windows

) laptops for more than an hour or so, and the the Intel Post-Graduate Cored™ for people who need to have automatic backups of their theses. Thesi? Thesesi? You get the point.

Next come the "intel Deep Core™ Trio inside™" logo, destined to debut in 2007. Even though Intel is currently developing quad-core technology, Trio refers to each core, making a grand total of six (three dual) cores. This logo will be superseded by the next in only fourteen hours, though, making it a collector's item next year and an eBay-sponsored scavenger hunt item in 2015.

The next logo in the series will be the "intel Down to the Center of the Deep Core™ Hexo inside™" logo, which will announce the deployment of the new 2 x 6 = 12 core processors, each 40 centimeters on a side with a hollow space accessible from outside the computer into which the user must shove dry ice every fifteen minutes to keep the computer from exploding.

Heat dissipation will be the cause of the effective death of high-density computing until the invention of multidimensional quantum processors in 2009. In these processors, significant amounts of the computing power is shunted to other processors in other dimensions, reducing the heat output in this one.

The last logo shows the eventual effect of the Disney-Pixar deal; Steve Jobs will eventually become so influential that Intel will be forced to sign a partnership agreement with Pixar just because of some off-the-cuff remark Jobs makes at a dinner party on a cruise ship somewhere off the coast of Bakersfield in the year 2020. The "From infinity™ and beyond ("From infinity and beyond" (c) Pixar Animation Studios 2010 and used with permission) Infinity™ (c) 2009 Intel Corporation and used with impunity Really Really Deep Core™ Googol inside™ the newly discovered dimensionless strings inside™ of quarks™" processor sports no less than seven fonts, five trademarks, two copyrights, one registered symbol, and represents a label so large it will cover a significant fraction of whatever display it is attached to - if it were not for the fact that the display will be holographic and float in front of the logo.

Computers using this processor, if fully present in the 3-dimensional universe, would be 70' tall and require an iceberg to melt per day to keep cool. Thanks to new multidimensional technology, however, they'll fit inside the size of a thumbnail-sized sticker that is affixed to your thumbnail. The logo will be the largest part of the device.

And it will have a built-in iPod.