Intel Core 2 Duo & Core 2 Extreme Processors, Chipsets And Performance Analysis

Name: Intel Core 2 Duo & Core 2 Extreme Processors, Chipsets And Performance Analysis - Page 15
Brand: Intel

by Marco Chiappetta — Thursday, July 13, 2006, 11:59 AM EDT

To start our in-game testing, we did some low-resolution benchmarking with F.E.A.R. When testing processors with F.E.A.R, we drop the resolution to 640x480, and drop all of the in-game graphical options to their minimum values to isolate CPU and memory performance as much as possible.

Benchmarks with F.E.A.R: Low Quality

DirectX 9 Gaming Performance

In the Conroe performance "sneak peek" articles we've posted over the last few months, Intel used F.E.A.R. as a showcase for their Core 2 line of processors. The reason? Intel's new processors handily outpace anything currently available from AMD here, and absolutely crush the Pentium Extreme Edition 965.

Benchmarks with Quake 4 v1.2: Low Quality

OpenGL Gaming Performance

For our next game test, we benchmarked all of the test systems using a custom single-player Quake 4 timedemo. Here, we installed the game's official v1.2 patch which is SMP capable, tuned the resolution down to 640x480, and configured the game to run at its "Low-Quality" graphics setting. Although Quake 4 typically taxes today's high-end GPUs, when it's configured at these minimal settings, it too is more CPU and memory-bound than anything else.

The new Core 2 Duo E6700 and Core 2 Extreme X6800 also performed extremely well in our custom Quake 4 benchmark. In these tests, the E6700 was about 19 FPS faster than an FX-62 and the X6800 was 30 to 40 frames per second faster depending on the chipset used. And of course, the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 and Athlon 64 5000+ trail the Core 2 processors by even larger margins. Interestingly, the P965 / X6800 combo put up the best scores, followed by the 975X Express and then the nForce 4 SLIX16.

Tags: Intel, Core 2, Processors, Core, processor, CES, Chipset, Chip, performance, process, Core 2 Duo, chips, SIS, Xtreme, extreme, rf, analysis, RMA, IPS, duo, chipsets, Extreme Pro, XT, pro, SSO, eme, IP, and

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com