Synthetic Benchmarks (Cont.)

We remain still with the synthetic benchmarking of the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 processor, but instead of focusing on the CPU performance with Everest Ultimate Edition from Lavalys we will look at the FPU performance. As you know, or maybe you don't, each processor since the i386 has both a CPU and FPU unit and these are used for different tasks and processing means. Using Everest Ultimate Edition we already looked at the CPU, or also referred to as Integer performance and the next point to check is the FPU, or floating point performance. This also includes the extra instruction sets that are introduced by Intel and AMD over the past year for multimedia applications.

Lavalys Everest Ultimate 2006 (Cont.)

This is our next aspect and extensive use of Everest Ultimate Edition, which is the cutting-edge benchmarking and diagnostics tool to maximize security, performance, and troubleshooting capabilities for home and home office PC environments, PC professionals and consulting firms as well as OEM partners and configuration centers worldwide. Once again we will be using the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 sample and analyze the results in comparison with our overclocked Core 2 Duo E6300 retail processor. So let's fire up this second part of our Everest analysis.

FPU Julia Benchmark

This benchmark measures the single precision; also know as 32-bit floating point performance through the computation of several frames of the popular Julia fractal. The code behind this benchmarks is written in Assembly, and it is extremely optimized for every popular AMD and Intel processor core variants by utilizing the appropriate x87, 3DNow!, 3DNow!+ or SSE instruction set extension. The FPU Julia test consumes quite a low amount of system memory, and is as well HyperThreading, multi-processor (SMP) and multi-core (CMP) aware.

Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. - C2E QX6700 at 2.66GHz

Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. - C2D E6300 at 2.66GHz

This first benchmarks which is just looking at the FPU performance shows to a similar trend as we have seen during the CPU analysis. The Core 2 Extreme QX6700 CPU does deliver an outstanding top score with doubling the performance of our Core 2 Duo E6300 which is set at the same 2.66GHz operating frequency. When it comes to raw power of the FPU the more cores you got the better the performance. Since both CPU's did use the same configuration except for mainboard wise, although based upon Intel's 975X Express chipset, it show that the quad core can do twice as much.

FPU Mandel Benchmark

The following benchmark measures the double precision; also know as 64-bit floating point performance through the computation of several frames of the popular Mandelbrot fractal. The code behind this benchmark is written in Assembly, and it is extremely optimized for every popular AMD and Intel processor core variants by utilizing the appropriate x87 or SSE2 instruction set extension. The FPU Mandel test consumes a low amount of system memory, and is HyperThreading, multi-processor and multi-core aware.

Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. - C2E QX6700 at 2.66GHz

Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. - C2D E6300 at 2.66GHz

Continuing on our analysis, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 does remain performing as expected. Twice as much cores, so theoretically twice as fast. Well you can certainly say that going from these results. The 64-bit floating point performance is outstanding and when looking at the reference results, our quad core seems to be performing just slightly better. Even a dual processor Xeon system equipped with two dual core Xeon 5140 processors is no match for our Core 2 Extreme quad core system. So a single quad core CPU beating a dual equipped dual core system is quite an achievement.

FPU SinJulia Benchmark

And the last benchmark measures the extended precision, also known as 80-bit floating point performance through the computation of a single frame of the modified Julie fractal. The code behind this benchmark is written in Assembly, and it is extremely optimized for every popular AMD and Intel processor core variants by utilizing trigonometric and exponential x87 instructions. The FPU SinJulia test consumes low amount of system memory, and is HyperThreading, multi-processor and multi-core aware.

Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. - C2E QX6700 at 2.66GHz

Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. - C2D E6300 at 2.66GHz

And finally to end of our analysis using Everest we see that these numbers just keep confirming all previous results. Again doubling the performance, so can you go wrong with this Core 2 Extreme QX6700 processor from Intel? Going by these results we wouldn't think so. With the quad core you get really twice the performance of the popular dual core, so if you are a power hungry mind you really would appreciate the Core 2 Extreme QX6700. Of course there is still more to check, so we won't stand still and go on with some more applications and benchmark suites to provide a full image of the first Intel quad core processor.