Extreme Performance & Overclocking

Having played around with the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 processor and knowing that our retail Core 2 Duo E6300 can actually be overclocked from the standard 1.86GHz to 2.80GHz, we got a bit more excited about the Core 2 Extreme series. As you might know the Extreme versions have a special feature, which Intel is listing as multiplier unlocking feature. But what does that mean? It means that the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 normally runs at a multiplier of 10x, and it isn't locked down to that. So you can also go down or up with this. This not possible with the standard processors which only allow to go down with the selected multiplier value.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 - 2.93GHz

So with the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 coming at 2.66GHz as default clock speed, that means with a bus speed of 266MHz you need a multiplier of 10x to reach that value. If we want to start overclocking then normally we have only one item we can play with and that is the bus speed. So by increasing the bus speed this would end up in overclocking the CPU as the multiplier is fixed. With the ability on the Core 2 Extreme version to set a different multiplier we can actually leave the bus speed at 266MHz but increase the multiplier. In essence that means when we go for a multiplier of 11x, we would get 2.93GHz and that would mean ending up with a Core 2 Extreme QX6800 processor. Yeah, that is exactly what we have done, and this at the same default core voltage of 1.35V, auto selected by the BIOS of the mainboard.

SiSoftware Sandra 2007

SiSoftware Sandra (the System Analyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information and diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software. Since our Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is now overclocked using a higher multiplier it will represent if we draw the Intel line further as a Core 2 Extreme X6800 running at 2.93GHz. So let's have a look on what that means in terms of performance and raw power processing.

Arithmetic Benchmark

Wow, what a significant boost compared to the Core 2 Extreme X6800 dual core processor which is running at the exact same settings as our overclocked Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad core. Yeah you are right this is twice as much performance at 2.93GHz for the quad core processor. When looking back at the initial results of the QX6700 we notice a decent increase. So yes indeed the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 has a bit more up its sleeves then you would initially think. We can only guess that Intel has already somehow in their mind a faster version which could well be a Core 2 Extreme QX6800 processor if there is some market for it.

Multimedia Benchmark

On the same line we can judge the multimedia performance which is showing similar increase in performance with the overclocked Core 2 Extreme QX6700 at 2.93GHz. Once again our QX6700 is doubling easily the results of the Core 2 Extreme X6800 dual core. Comparing to the initial performance figures we see as well a nice boost in the performance delivered between stock 2.66GHz and the overclocked 2.93GHz. With the Core 2 Extreme versions, Intel has introduced a feature they disabled a long time ago, namely the locked multiplier. Only these Extreme versions will have this so called special unlocked multiplier and that shows to be quite an added value.