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Review: Intel Core 2 CPU refresh - QX6850 and E6750

by James Thorburn on 16 July 2007, 05:02

Tags: Core 2 Duo E6750, Core 2 Extreme QX6850, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qajdl

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Memory tests and single-threaded performance



The increased front-side bus speed allows both the QX6850 and E6750 to pull ahead of their 1066MHz FSB counterparts.

However, in terms of raw throughput, none of the Intel CPUs comes close to competing with the Athlon 64 X2s and their integrated memory-controllers.


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While Intel's bandwidth has gone up, so has latency. But this could be down to our choice of motherboard.


The MSI P35 Platinum is a relatively new board and has been found to underperform in ScienceMark 2.0 compared to other P35 boards we have used. Hopefully MSI will be able to resolve this issue with a BIOS update.


The Core 2 Extreme QX6850 extends Intel's lead in the HEXUS.pifast test by virtue of its slightly increased clock speed.


However, PiFast doesn't seem especially responsive to the increased speed of the front-side bus - the Core 2 Duo E6750 is able to draw ahead of the identically-clocked E6700 but not by much.

The Athlon X2 6000+ is left trailing the E6700 by over six seconds, with the 5600+ and 5200+ even further adrift.