I have managed to oc my Q9650 to 4 ghz on air. not sure if I am just lucky, may be able to push it further.

I am just wondering, surely at that speed, it beats a i7 920 at stock?

i7 920 can also be oc to 4 ghz. I am guessing that both at 4 ghz will be very similar.

If this is the case, at this moment in time, buying the i7 is not that great? I grant u, there will be more efficient and powerful chip on i7 soon, but as of now; Q9650 oc, is very close to all the i7 oc.

hi, just had a look at some comparisons using wprime 1024m a multi thread benchmark, yes your chip at 4ghz will beat an I7 920 at stock.
However when the I7 is clocked to 4ghz then it is nearly twice as fast as your chip in the test. I7 does it in 2min 58sec your chip does it in 5min 6sec.
As many people can clock their I7s to 4ghz with the extra power it leaves the q9650 dead in the water in benchmarks.

How much difference in the real world this makes will be down to how programs are written to take advantage of the I7s.

My new i7 @ 4GHz is about 40% faster in the cpc benchmarks as my qx9650 @ 4.8GHz

There you go then