Intel next-generation CPU architecture, code-named Nehalem, and now known as Core i7, will be officially launched in Q4 of this year, most likely in November.

However, arriving in San Francisco a couple of days and, rudely, finding a Nehalem-based sytem at the Moscone Center - IDF's home - where the test systems were being built, HEXUS managed to secretly grab some time with a Nehalem box.

We managed to benchmark the single-socket, quad-core, eight-threaded, 2.93GHz monster and compare it against Intel's very own Core 2 Extreme QX9770, QX6800, and AMD's Phenom 9950 Black Edition.

That's... That's impressive. I mean, I'd like to see some power consumption numbers, and I'm curious to find out why the gaming scores were so bad, and they are really bad, but otherwise, people who have been saying this whole time, "I'm waiting for Nehalem," well, you might have made a great decision.

If you're feeling sorry for AMD, let this be your salve: the benchmarks were done with ATI hardware, and SLI via nForce 200 is optional with regards to X58, and also, triple-channel DDR3 is going to cost a whole freakin' lot. Intel might be pricing themselves out of the real market, even if the processors are going to be pretty cheap.