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Reviews Around The Web
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Thursday, November 2, 2006
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Intel has been cranking out impressive processors during 2006 and it looks like Intel has any intentions of bringing that to an end any time soon. The first Intel quad-core processor looks to be a winner in a number of ways, but the most important is the fact that many motherboards that have the i975 Express chipset need nothing more than a BIOS update to enable quad-core support. When it comes to applications that take advantage of four cores no other desktop processor from AMD, or even Intel for that matter, come close to the performance levels that we have recorded with quad-core.
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Anyone who runs applications like Photoshop for Photo editing or Maya 3D and CAD for modeling will see huge benefits from the QX6700 Extreme as its multithreading abilities will be taken advantage of. In another instance if you are running or planning on running a rendering house or building a rendering machine the new Quad-Core CPUs have the capability of seriously cutting back on rendering times.
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The first quad-core processor is finally out and it's from Intel. Introducing the new Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor! Join us as we take a look at this new processor and what it means for gamers and homeusers alike.
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The user that can most benefit from the QX6700 is for people that are high-end gamers and for those that use multimedia applications. As HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies move into the general PC market, the need for high power CPUs like the QX6700 will likely grow. H.264 content is very CPU dependent, bringing high-end single core CPUs to their knees. The QX6700 is expensive, but you get what you pay for. The target market for the QX6700 is for the high-end enthusiast willing to pay a grand for their CPU and for the OEMs needing a Christmas season refresh of their computers. In that respect, the QX6700 does what Intel wanted it to and is an excellent choice for those wanting the absolute best in multimedia performance. The 975XBX2 is the second iteration of Intel motherboard, designed to work with the Core2 CPUs.
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I think it is clear that quad-core is not for everyone at this moment in time, and that is exaggerated even more when you consider that the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is going to retail for somewhere north of £650 including VAT. When you consider that a Core 2 Duo E6600 is going to be more than enough for most people at around 1/3 of the price of the QX6700, it becomes even harder to recommend the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 right now.
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The very same technologies that made the Conroe so powerful are all included in the new Kentsfield architecture. In fact, there are no new additions, so it is merely a quad-core version of the Conroe, but of course this is hardly a bad thing. So how does the Quad Core QX6700 performs?
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Intel's approach does have its benefits though. For one, by having all four cores in the same package, there is only one heatsink. Any boards that currently support Core 2 Duo, will support Kentsfield as well. In saying that, we had to update the BIOS on our Gigabyte 965P motherboard, in order to get it to boot. It also makes designing a decent motherboard a lot easier, and means we can expect to see quad core hitting the MicroATX platform.
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