Core 2 Duo processors: shock and tremor
Date: 14.07.2006
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The testing procedure
It looks tempting, of course - to merge all the currently
topical processor types and compare their real capabilities. However,
for today we decided to confine to the most characteristic chips made
by Intel – because the top-end processor by AMD is still a
thing that you can come across for our editorial board, and we are
against running tests of platform an in offhanded way.
On the other hand, comparison of five LGA775 Intel chips for
various sectors - from the very low-end up to the very top is an
effective way to estimate the scales of the changes and imagine the
future price positioning of the previous generation processors once the
novelties have hit the retail.
Here are participants of the tests:
- Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 – Conroe, Dual Core,
65 nm, 2.93 GHz (multiplier x11, unlocked), 4 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz
FSB, TDP 75W; support for Enchanced Intel SpeedStep, Intel Virtual
Technology, Intel EM64T, Execute Disable Bit, operation with only 975X
and P965 chipsets (Q965 and S965 are not supported);
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 - Conroe, Dual Core, 65 nm, 2.66
GHz, 4 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB, TDP 65W;
- Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73 GHz –
Prescott2M, HT, 90 nm, 3.73 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB, TDP 115W;
- Intel Pentium 4 670 3.8 GHz - Prescott, 90 nm, HT, 3.8 GHz,
2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB, TDP 115W;
- Intel Pentium 4 D820 - SmithField, Dual Core, 90 nm, 2.8
GHz, 2 x 1 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB, TDP 89W;
- Intel Pentium 4 520 - Prescott, 90 nm, HT, 2.8 GHz, 1 MB L2
cache, 800 MHz FSB, TDP 84 W;
- Intel Celeron D 331 - Prescott, 90 nm, 2.66 MHz, 256K L2
cache, 800 MHz FSB (4 õ 200 MHz).
Let's take a closer look at the "new kids".
This is how the engineering sample of the most powerful chip,
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800, looks.
This is the information displayed by the CPU-Z utility.
This is the sample of Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66 GHz).
Information about Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 displayed by CPU-Z.
Don't be confused by the mysterious label SSE4
among the specifications of the processors - it is just the way the set
of capabilities added to the new version of the Core micro architecture
is recognized.
We ran the tests on a system with the following components:
- Motherboard Intel D975XBX, ATX form factor, Intel 975X
Express chipset with the most recent BIOS version (Rev. 1209);
- Memory – 2 x 512 MB Corsair XMS2 667 MHz;
- Graphic subsystem NVIDIA GeForce 7950GX2 1 GB (ForceWare
91.31);
- Graphic subsystem ATI X1900 XTX CrossFire Edition 512 MB
(Catalyst 6.5);
- Cooling system - ThermalTake Big Typhoon;
- PSU - HIPER HPU-4R580-MU;
- Operating system – Windows XP (5.1.2600), SP2,
DX9.0c.
On the screenshots with the BIOS settings, you can see that
the motherboard successfully recognized the CPU Intel Core 2 Extreme
X6800. The BIOS settings allow varying many settings within wide ranges.
We should note a few interesting points which we came across
while operating the absolutely new components. First of all –
it is the unusual 8-pin connector for additional power supply of the
Intel D975XBX motherboard, which has appeared instead of the customary
4-pin connector. Alas - our search for a PSU with the respective
connector in the Moscow retail failed. So we had to "emulate" this
connector in a rough-and-ready fashion, after which all went on wheels.
Another important point is the heat emission of the
processors. However intensive the load was, and however demanding the
benchmark was, the heat emission of both these new processors was
consistently low. Especially astounding thing was the found upon the
replacement of processors, when the reverse side of the motherboard
left slightly warm and not hot as usual.
Moreover, during one of the experiments the cooler ThermalTake
Big Typhoon left unfastened and was simply lying
on top of the Core 2 Duo E6700 at that moment fully loaded and ran not
"noticing" such a "prank". Of course, new generations of processors are
always expected to provide a more or less significant performance
boost, but it is perhaps the first time that we have seen such an
impressive superiority over the predecessors at the reduction in heat
emission.
It is now high time we estimated the performance of the
novelties. Now on to the benchmarking.
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