that statement is completely untrue. intel has NEVER EVER pretened that P4's with HT can stand up to dual cores, not even Pentium D's with half the speed.
also a 3.0 P4 doesnt blow, its actually pretty good. people just have really high standards. consider your self lucky to have that. im writing this on a 2.66ghz celeron, 256mb ram, with 64mb of it turbocached for onboard graphics!
although my gaming mahcine rocks!