Testbed and Methods

It is evident that Core 2 Extreme QX6850 has no direct competitors at this time. We have already seen that quad-core Kentsfield processors can deliver the highest performance during our AMD Quad FX platform tests. Quad-core Intel processors outperform the alternative dual-socket AMD solution, and the same working frequencies as those of dual-core processors on Core micro-architecture make them superior to all Intel’s solutions. Therefore, our today’s test session is more of a nominal nature.

Nevertheless, in order to estimate the advantage the new three-gigahertz quad-core CPU from Intel can provide, we compared its performance against that of other contemporary dual-core and quad-core CPUs, including Quad FX platform. Moreover, to ensure we get an objective look at the overall picture, we have also included the results of the dual-core Intel processors with 1333MHz bus. Thanks to the increased variety of testing participants we managed to put together all performance data for the CPUs above $160.

Our test platforms were built using the following hardware components:

• CPUs:
  • AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 (Socket 1207, 3.0GHz, 2x1MB L2);
  • AMD Athlon 64 FX-72 (Socket 1207, 2.8GHz, 2x1MB L2);
  • AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (Socket AM2, 3.0GHz, 2x1024KB L2, Windsor);
  • Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 (LGA775, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 8MB L2, Kentsfield);
  • Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 (LGA775, 2.93GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 8MB L2, Kentsfield);
  • Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 (LGA775, 2.66GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 8MB L2, Kentsfield);
  • Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (LGA775, 2.4GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 8MB L2, Kentsfield);
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (LGA775, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB L2, Conroe);
  • Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (LGA775, 2.93GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 4MB L2, Conroe);
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (LGA775, 2.66GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB L2, Conroe);
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (LGA775, 2.66GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 4MB L2, Conroe);
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (LGA775, 2.4GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 4MB L2, Conroe);
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 (LGA775, 2.33GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB L2, Conroe).
• Mainboards:
  • ASUS L1N64-SLI WS (Dual Socket 1207, NVIDIA nForce 680a SLI);
  • ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe (Socket AM2, NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI);
  • ASUS P5K Deluxe (LGA775, Intel P35).
• Memory:
  • 2048MB DDR2-800 SDRAM (Mushkin XP2-6400PRO, 2 x 1024 MB, DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12);
  • 2048MB DDR2-800 SDRAM (Mushkin XP2-6400PRO, 4 x 512 MB, DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12).
• Graphics card: OCZ GeForce 8800GTX.
• HDD: Western Digital WD1500AHFD.
• PSU: SilverStone SST-ST85ZF (850 W).
• OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate x86.

We ran the tests with the mainboards BIOS Setup adjusted for maximum performance.