Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 - Quad-Core Assault

Though we typically like to tease you with this type of testing, saving it for the tail end of our performance analysis section, we thought we'd dive right into the good stuff here and show you just how many extra clock cycles Intel has in the hopper backing up their new quad-core processor.

Overclocking Kentsfield - Core 2 Extreme QX6700 @ 3.33GHz Power and then some, with the help of Zalman

For the purposes of this test, we simply cranked up the FSB speed of Kentsfield rather than altering the CPU multiplier.  This will be a more realistic scenario, if some of you are interested in a standard Core 2 Quad chip, rather than a likely much more expensive Extreme edition like the QX6700 we tested.

SiSoft SANDRA 2007 SP1 - Kentsfield CPU, Multimedia and Memory Performance
Overclocked At 3.33GHz

With the help of our standard Zalman air cooler, and a small voltage bump to 1.4V, we were able run the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 at 3.3GHz for hours at 100% load.  SANDRA's reported ALU and SSE3 performance for Core 2 Extreme QX6700 overclocked at this speed is, in a word, insane.  At over two times the performance of a Core 2 Extreme X6800, it's almost hard to believe.  We'll see if these large overclocked gains actually bear fruit in some real world application testing, in the pages ahead as well.