Extreme Overclocking & Performance

Taking it to the extreme levels? Well you might have already figured it out yourself that we always go further then somehow expected. And the same counts for the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad core processor we have at hand. It is listed as Extreme so let's just do something extreme. So we raised the multiplier a bit further, meaning 13x and that applied on the 266MHz bus speed. Once set we noticed that the system wasn't stable at all, so for the first time we raised the voltage for our processor. We set the core to 1.4V which did the trick and the system started fine showing a Core 2 Extreme QX6700 running at 3.47GHz. Of course to make sure it was really stable we ran some benchmarks and stress testing tools.

The Core 2 Extreme just does it all, and this QX6700 quad core did work just fine at 3.47GHz and running Prime95 which has become extremely popular among PC enthusiasts and overclockers as a stability testing utility. For a quad core you actually need to run four instances to fully stress all cores available and if for some reason a failure happens an entry is shown. On top of that we also used the RC5-72 decryption client program, which loads keys from a central key storage and starts decrypting these by using all cores available. During this advanced stress testing the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 clocked at 3.47GHz just kept on doing what was requested, without any hitch nor stability issues. Thank you Intel!

Final Thoughts

Impressed? Just an honest question... We at least have to admit that Intel and their first quad core processor did leave quite an impression. The Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad core did show that multi-processing is changing from using multiple processors to multiple cores on a single processor. Although it is their first attempt, meaning that Intel used two Core 2 Duo chips and put these together as a single chip it does beat the competition by far. In a second phase we can image that Intel will actually produce and release a true single quad core chip. Looking from such angle, the eight core might be the next logical step and certainly Intel seems to be ready for it.

Like any solution with four CPU cores, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700's quad core effectiveness depends on what you feed it. With four processing cores the quad core Intel Core 2 Extreme processor is a multitasking monster delivering twice the performance on highly threaded applications taking your desktop PC experience into a completely new realm of mega power. For applications like video encoding, 3D rendering, image processing, and scientific computing, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 trumps all other desktop processors. The new Core 2 Extreme QX6700 processor has the power for incredible visual experiences, amazingly complex HD games and applications which result in incredible performance.

Looking for a high performance processor and stuck between choosing a Core 2 Extreme X6800 or QX6700? We would obviously opt for the latter. Both give you incredible performance, although the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is a bit more future proof. The logic behind is that you can always overclock the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 but you can't add more cores to the X6800. Looking towards the future, gaming will be going multi-core to optimally make sure of the available cores. Many PC games will ship with quad thread support, and an increasing amount of CPU intensive applications will be rolling out further threaded versions of their applications in the coming months.

For the more experienced souls amongst us this Core 2 Extreme QX6700 will overclock with ease, since it has its multiplier unlocked for more convenient overclocking. Our own Core 2 Extreme QX6700 sample could easily reach 3.20GHz by increasing the multiplier. If you want to get even more a voltage increase will be required, but in the 3.47GHz is certainly possible to reach. However, due to being build out of two Core 2 Duo processors this QX6700 will consume about twice as much power and therefore produce more heat. To allow this quad core to excel in terms of performance, you need proper cooling to keep it cool. Yeah, water cooling would be an awesome idea.

That wraps up our Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad core coverage and we are very pleased with its performance. And although the multi-threaded applications did benefit the most, we expect this to improve over time. For now, there's no doubt that the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 will put Intel further at the top in terms of performance. It will be very hard for AMD to hurt Intel as they have quite a long way to go. With the kind of frequency scaling possible on the new qual core processor, you can tell that Intel is not going to let AMD come close. Like the saying goes, power is seductive and the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is as sweet as it comes. The Intel quad core technology has a big future ahead.

Pros

• Excellent Performance
• Quad Core Technology
• Multi-Threading Performance
• Unlocked Multiplier
• Outstanding Functionality
• Amazing Overclocking Capability
• Future Proof Technology
• Power Consumption

Cons

• Quite Expensive

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