I certainly would agree with the Q6600 being a decent chip for average use even in the future. I still have one myself as well as two Q9550s which overclock very nice on water. I also have i7 920 systems on water for benching but all my main systems including the one I am typing this on is a Q9550 on water at 3850 and is more then enough for any software I am using, they are great chips.