Game Over? Core 2 Duo Knocks Out Athlon 64

[pschmid]

Hardly anything about Intel\'s new processor remains secret: Core 2 beats Athlon 64, period. Our in-depth analysis focuses on scaling, temperature, overclocking and power consumption.

 

[custommadename]

Well, I bought an Opteron 148 so I could easily take it up to 2.8GHz to beat the FX57. Unfortunately, it seems, my PC has been overtaken. I bought some DDR600 ram (2.5-4-4-8 at 2.7V) to see if I could take the CPU up any more and get more bandwidth, but evidently the Core 2 Duo's 1066MHz FSB is quite notable and will perhaps provide a lot of bandwidth.

I'm very taken aback by this immense processor battle. I think it's the toughest it's been in years. However, I'd still like to go with AMD because I think those CPUs overclock better.

For example, I once ran the CPU at a 4x multiplier to see my max FSB, and I got tired at a perfectly BIOS-stable 345 and decided to go back to an everyday speed, boot up, and surf the web.

 

[Action_Man]

No temps for the overclocked EE? I'm glad you included temps because I don't see them in any other review. 45c is quite impressive on stock cooling, looks like theres plenty of room to move.

Impressive overall.

 

[plonk420]

i really appreciate Tom's including XviD encodes. i use it for MPEG-4 encodes in a commercial environment (simple profile options) as we already own the ability to use and distribute MPEG-4 (to a limited degree) thru the underwhelmingly mediocre Quicktime (license).

it's good to see both DivX and XviD as well as WMV9. thanks!

edit: also glad to see competition finally ...altho the response takes at least a half-year+ sometimes...

 

[drcroubie]

If the signal isn't there, systems with a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme will not boot! This is also the reason why it turned out that you will need to replace even a 975X motherboard, although technically it could have supported Core 2 Duo.

Core 2 Duo Platforms

You can chose between Intel's 975X and P965 chipsets and Nvidia's upcoming nForce 590 SLI.

*confused* (but at least i wasn't stupid enough to buy a mobo before now and hope for compatibility)


anyway, nice to see intel has finally brought out something worth buying. like a lot of people, i've been waiting for this ever since Asus' CT479 showed netburst was as useless as a toaster (and as hot too). i just hope this is enough to make amd work extra-hard to make k8l kick butt. in the end, the consumer (and their power bills) will be the real winner...

 

[ChaoticLusts]

Not to nitpick or anything but what's up with the UT2004 minimum frame rate charts? I'm guessing it's an error of some form that the X6800's score suddenly doubles then goes back to normal when it was overclocked?

 

[JPack]

Are the x-axis labels missing on the "architecture scaling" graphs?

 

[drcroubie]

Are the x-axis labels missing on the "architecture scaling" graphs?

i'd assume they're just arbitrary, ie per model number. but it'd be nice if they corresponded to something like power consumpton or price (also, some of the 'FPS' labels on the y-axes should be 'time', but i'm sure everyone's smart enough to work that out).

 

[ewart]

nicely written review. looks like conroe has some excellent performance.

I'm wondering whether I can/should safely do which of the following:

a) take an E6600 2.4 Ghz and overclock it to E6700 speed (or faster?)

b) take an E6700 2.66 Ghz and overclock it to X6800 speed, eg 2.93 Ghz

c) just fork out $$$ for a faster model and not bother overclocking.

This would be great for readers to have some insight on.. anyone seen the answer to this anywhere on the web?

cheers

 

[Acer99]

Dont understand why they didnt include Oblivin in their game tests as its the most hardware hungry game right now.

 

[vtrain]

[snip]
a) take an E6600 2.4 Ghz and overclock it to E6700 speed (or faster?)

b) take an E6700 2.66 Ghz and overclock it to X6800 speed, eg 2.93 Ghz

c) just fork out $$$ for a faster model and not bother overclocking.

[snip]

I think that only the X6800 Extreeme can be overclocked. At least is what I read on Toms.

Vtrain

 

[i_am_not_god]

so let me get this straight, if i was to buy the e6600, then i cant change the multiplier at all, not even go down 1?

 

[badge]

Hardly anything about Intel\'s new processor remains secret: Core 2 beats Athlon 64, period. Our in-depth analysis focuses on scaling, temperature, overclocking and power consumption.

It was amazing to read your article and realize just how far and away this put other mainstream processors in the wind as 'antiques' as you described. Makes me want to have one, but I'll wait and see how others do with their new purchases. I was surprised the 6800 was unstable a 3.7 mhz. So, were not at the 4.0 mhz. plateau when common processing speeds are spoken about. I guss it's all in the technique of how you build a processor. I just wonder how long the technology will be king. Probably not as long as AMD64. But who knows. Tanks a bunch.

 

[Giraffe]

no e6400 and e6300 benchmarks?

thats what i wanted to see

it would have been good to see some older single core cpu's included to compare upgrading from an older system

 

[1Tanker]

[snip]
a) take an E6600 2.4 Ghz and overclock it to E6700 speed (or faster?)

b) take an E6700 2.66 Ghz and overclock it to X6800 speed, eg 2.93 Ghz

c) just fork out $$$ for a faster model and not bother overclocking.

[snip]

I think that only the X6800 Extreeme can be overclocked. At least is what I read on Toms.

VtrainAll the Conroe's can be overclocked. It's just that the X6800 has an unlocked multiplier, so you can change the multi either way and play around with FSB speeds. The non-Extreme chips have to be overclocked strictly by raising the FSB.

 

[vtrain]

All the Conroe's can be overclocked. It's just that the X6800 has an unlocked multiplier, so you can change the multi either way and play around with FSB speeds. The non-Extreme chips have to be overclocked strictly by raising the FSB.

Thanks.

And the memory has to support those faster FSB?

Vtrain

 

[m0rk]

And their are more, much more

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/intel_core_2_performance/

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=272

http://www.techreport.com/onearticle.x/10351

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/07/14/intel_core_2_duo_processors/1.html

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6184

http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=845&cid=1


"Hush little Sharikou dont you cry, dady intel is gonna sing you a lulaby"

/Mork

btw: Grettings from Sweden all

 

[darkwhyt]

Somone needs to show me the cheapest way to build one of these suckers :lol:

I wanna spend about 900 dollars and make it beat a FX-62. Possible???

 

[1Tanker]

All the Conroe's can be overclocked. It's just that the X6800 has an unlocked multiplier, so you can change the multi either way and play around with FSB speeds. The non-Extreme chips have to be overclocked strictly by raising the FSB.

Thanks.

And the memory has to support those faster FSB?

VtrainYou can run the RAM synchronously(1:1) without much performance deficit, and don't forget, you need high-end RAM with AM2 as well. But the higher latency's don't negatively affect Conroe as much as AM2.

 

[1Tanker]

And the memory has to support those faster FSB?

You can spend $999 on the X6800 and ~$200 on RAM, or $316 on a E6600 and ~$250 on RAM. Which sounds like the better deal?

 

[m0rk]

Somone needs to show me the cheapest way to build one of these suckers :lol:

I wanna spend about 900 dollars and make it beat a FX-62. Possible???

Not really familiar with taxes and all where you live. But my bet would be:

Core 2 Duo E6600 (possibly E6300)

GigaByte GA-965P-DS3 or ABIT AB9 PRO

Sapphire X1900XT

and

Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2 2x1024MB

That would probly be in your reach

 

[vtrain]

You can spend $999 on the X6800 and ~$200 on RAM, or $316 on a E6600 and ~$250 on RAM. Which sounds like the better deal?

you made your point. I will go shopping after summer it seems ;-)

Vtrain

 

[gOJDO]

the HORDE hooligans in the background are crying.

 

[AliveTomato]

Hey Guys, i just wanted to note that I really liked the new format of the articles. This is a little out of place, but I thought that It was important to give feedback to the site. The bulleted conclusions, pictures, and the pros and cons on previous articles are really improving the readability of this site. Thanks for the continued indepth analysis as usual.

 

[chuckshissle]

AMD can lower the price to even it out? or can they?