While I agree with Ronnie and Greg on different parts of this subject, I will say properly CNC'd heads with proper cam has netted us 545 on a Mustang dyno which is closer to 600 on a Dynojet. Flat torque curve and off idle torque. I've learned much from you both and tweaked accordingly to benefit out trucks and my customers. Although a Gen3 there are still so many untried combos on the trucks where we are 2000-2500 lbs heavier. We need torque from idle to 5600-6000 whereas lighter cars will do nothing but toast tires with the same setup.
Torque curve is important for both but in much different ways. Now add a QC auto tranny to the variables. Same cam in a RC that's beast will make the QC a slouch under 2000 rpm, therefore a nice stall converter to get you in that rpm range for a bigger cammed auto but it'll still be horrible on mileage and city driving.
Greg has been doing heads for the LS world and Viper world since I can remember back in late 90s with awesone results.
Ronnie you know for one flow numbers of a head aren't the end all be all. Like you said, quality is important! An efficient combustion chamber design comes I to play as well. Greg pays attention to these areas as well as I shrouding the valve. While I agree Strikers (were) a great head, they were madly overpriced, service sucked, and thet weren't proven to be any better than a great set of CNC program heads or hand ported heads.
If not mistaken, last I spoke with Greg, he does not CNC, rather hand Ports everything! That's a lot to be said for attention to cylinder head porting.
Now will he take longer than a CNC setup, yes, but guarantee his are better than CNC and I use more CNCd heads than his only due to time constraints.
I'll tell you why his are better and I've seen this firsthand.
CNC programs have to ability to account for core shift in the molds these heads/intakes come from therefore badging thousands of sets of CNCd heads off one set you programmed for will never be accurate repetively on other sets afterwards. Greg's are 100% on every time.
As far as Intakes ported I agree with the 25hp increase but the torque is what increases moreso. It's helped my big beast achieve it's records for sure as part of the combo. All said and done, cost to power ratio I'd do Greg's heads or our CNCd heads over Gen4 or striker if they were even available. The gen4 setup is purty, but factor in headers, intake, valve covers, camshaft swap, it's not cheap nor does it reflect the gains power wise for the investment made. One would more wise to go FI for same price and more power
....but this is about NA power