According to some internal information Barcelona / Phenom X4 Quad core can hit 3.24 GHz. This is the top speed of the B2 revision of the core.

We already reported that AMD can hit 3.0 GHz at 1.38V and a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a still acceptable 120W.

Well, the good news is that this is not the final stop. If necessary AMD can clock this CPU even higher and 3.24GHz is currently the fastest speed that AMD can hit and probably wrap in its warranty.

Clock per clock, the 3 GHz Barcelona / Phenom X4 should beat a Core 2 Quad at 3 GHZ, so this would mean that 3.24 GHz from AMD should be enough to fight Penryn at 3.33 GHz, at least in theory.