The fastest Pentium dual-core Wolfdale 45nm core that you can buy today is the Pentium E6500 and in early Q1 2010, this guy should get a successor that will run a tad faster.

Intel's Pentium E6500 is currently available for $84 and it is clocked to 2.93GHz with a 1066MHz FSB, 2MB of cache and a 65W TDP.

The successor, appropriately called Pentium E6600, will be the first Pentium-based Wolfdale 45nm CPU to surpass the 3GHz barrier and operate by default at 3.06GHz. The rest of the specifications are identical to the E6500, so expect a 1066MHz FSB as well as 2MB of cache and 65W TDP.

The launch date for the Intel Pentium E6600 is Sunday, January 17, 2010, and it should begin selling for $84. At the same time, Pentium E6500 prices are expected to retreat down to $74.

Overall, the Pentium E6600 and E6500 do offer a lot of performance at an affordable price and we believe they will be a good source of income for Intel in 2010. The socket LGA 775 platform will remain quite strong in whole 2010, especially in the lower market segment.