Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850
What's better than two CPU cores? Four cores! The QX6850 is Intel's current leading desktop quad-core CPU and is the fastest model in the Core 2 Extreme (Kentsfield XE) range. The Kentsfield XE CPUs are the souped-up versions of the standard Kentsfield quad-core desktop CPUs and represent the leading edge in quad-core performance. Each Kentsfield-based CPU basically consists of two Core 2 Duo dies matched together with a bridge, but still fits in a single LGA775 socket. The Kentsfield XE features higher clock speeds than the standard Kentsfield and have unlocked frequency multipliers.
The QX6850 runs at 3GHz and has 4MB of L2 cache on each of its dual-core dies, for a total of 8MB. While the previous two Core 2 Extreme models (QX6700 and QX6800) ran on a Front-Side-Bus (FSB) of 1066MHz, the new QX6850 runs on a 1333MHz FSB. This would require a compatible motherboard, such as one with the P35 (Bearlake) chipset, that can support 1333MHZ FSB.
So how does the current desktop king-of-the-hill stack up? Does having four cores equate to quadruple the performance? Just like dual-core CPU's, performance depends highly on the applications you are using. Some applications are written to take advantage of two or more cores, while others simply run on only one core no matter what. We first put the QX6850 through our standard PCMark05 benchmark. The result was a stunning 9,630 points; way ahead of anything else we have tested here. Just to make sure, we ran the multi-core version of POV-Ray to establish the QX6850's capabilities with all four cylinders firing at full speed. The ray-tracer finished its benchmark with an average of 1,790 pixels per second. In comparison, the Core 2 Duo E6700 rendered at around 850 pixels per second. The single core benchmark ran at 454 pixels per second, showing that quad-core performance in this case was very nearly four times that of a single core indeed. We also ran AutoGK, compressing a 1080p HD movie clip with XVid down to about 10% filesize. In our test, it took the QX6850 9 minutes and 19 seconds to complete.
We have found that there are indeed certain needs and applications that take full advantage of the awesome power offered by quad-core CPUs like the QX6850. For users of such applications, high performance multi-core CPUs make sense indeed. But for the rest of us, dropping a few thousand ringgit for a quad-core may not make much sense at the moment. However, if you are one of those who must have the best of the best, must have the Core 2 Extreme QX6850 no matter the cost.
Core 2 Extreme QX6850
Core frequency: 3GHz
L2 cache: 2 x 4MB = 8MB
FSB: 1333MHz
Socket: LGA775
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The QX6850 runs at 3GHz and has 4MB of L2 cache on each of its dual-core dies, for a total of 8MB. While the previous two Core 2 Extreme models (QX6700 and QX6800) ran on a Front-Side-Bus (FSB) of 1066MHz, the new QX6850 runs on a 1333MHz FSB. This would require a compatible motherboard, such as one with the P35 (Bearlake) chipset, that can support 1333MHZ FSB.
So how does the current desktop king-of-the-hill stack up? Does having four cores equate to quadruple the performance? Just like dual-core CPU's, performance depends highly on the applications you are using. Some applications are written to take advantage of two or more cores, while others simply run on only one core no matter what. We first put the QX6850 through our standard PCMark05 benchmark. The result was a stunning 9,630 points; way ahead of anything else we have tested here. Just to make sure, we ran the multi-core version of POV-Ray to establish the QX6850's capabilities with all four cylinders firing at full speed. The ray-tracer finished its benchmark with an average of 1,790 pixels per second. In comparison, the Core 2 Duo E6700 rendered at around 850 pixels per second. The single core benchmark ran at 454 pixels per second, showing that quad-core performance in this case was very nearly four times that of a single core indeed. We also ran AutoGK, compressing a 1080p HD movie clip with XVid down to about 10% filesize. In our test, it took the QX6850 9 minutes and 19 seconds to complete.
We have found that there are indeed certain needs and applications that take full advantage of the awesome power offered by quad-core CPUs like the QX6850. For users of such applications, high performance multi-core CPUs make sense indeed. But for the rest of us, dropping a few thousand ringgit for a quad-core may not make much sense at the moment. However, if you are one of those who must have the best of the best, must have the Core 2 Extreme QX6850 no matter the cost.
Core 2 Extreme QX6850
Core frequency: 3GHz
L2 cache: 2 x 4MB = 8MB
FSB: 1333MHz
Socket: LGA775
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