Hot on the heels of the Core 2 Duo launch, Intel came out and released the world’s first quad-core processor last November. Given how powerful the Core 2 Duo had proven to be, we wondered how much of a performance gain this new quad-core version could offer.
According to our previous tests, there are currently no games that take advantage of the additional two cores; however software such as Photoshop, Pinnacle Studio Plus, QuickTime and 3D Studio Max all greatly benefited from the power of four dedicated cores. For example, the QX6700 was 15% faster than the Core 2 Duo E6700 in Photoshop, and gains as big as 43% were seen in Pinnacle Studio Plus. The biggest performance gap was found in 3D Studio Max where the QX6700 was 89% faster than the E6700.
Even though there will be those out there that will want the power of the QX6700 for image and video editing, the processor’s steep price ($1000) might set high barriers for getting one. Today Intel is releasing a second quad core processor called the Core 2 Quad Q6600. This new entry that comes clocked at 2.40GHz does not belong to the Extreme family of processors and will begin life at $530, making it a much more affordable alternative than the QX6700.
View: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 review @ TechSpot
According to our previous tests, there are currently no games that take advantage of the additional two cores; however software such as Photoshop, Pinnacle Studio Plus, QuickTime and 3D Studio Max all greatly benefited from the power of four dedicated cores. For example, the QX6700 was 15% faster than the Core 2 Duo E6700 in Photoshop, and gains as big as 43% were seen in Pinnacle Studio Plus. The biggest performance gap was found in 3D Studio Max where the QX6700 was 89% faster than the E6700.
Even though there will be those out there that will want the power of the QX6700 for image and video editing, the processor’s steep price ($1000) might set high barriers for getting one. Today Intel is releasing a second quad core processor called the Core 2 Quad Q6600. This new entry that comes clocked at 2.40GHz does not belong to the Extreme family of processors and will begin life at $530, making it a much more affordable alternative than the QX6700.
View: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 review @ TechSpot
well the nameing should be simple to understand, its in this format
[Product] [Revision] [Cores]
So you have
Core Solo
Core Duo
Core 2 Solo
Core 2 Duo
Core 2 Quad
when the next version comes out it will be
Core 3 Duo
Core 3 Quad... etc
Its all about perception remember
Its all about perception remember
no its not, its about versioning vs cores... read my post above
core 2 solo/duo/quatro
Think of the "2" as the IV in pentium IV.
Anyway, the cache coherency requirements on separate FSBs would actually slow down performance.
At the moment, the requirements for games aren't that stressful on the CPU as any game that can still use the performance boost of an 8800GTX is definitely not CPU limited.
Plus, socket 771 Xeons and certified motherboards that take socket 771 chips cost an arm and a leg and are aimed at workstation users, not games for obvious (re: performance and cost) issues.
Cal
btw, is this much processing power really needed for the general public? i think not...
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