qx6800
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Penryn CPUs benchmarked, don't slouch
So, 45nm sounds hip-cool and all, but what does that mean for performance? Intel's coming forward with some Penryn numbers -- with the help of Reg Hardware looking over its shoulder to make sure the tests are legit -- and it seems we're in for a decent speed bump, but not necessarily a revolution. Dual core and quad core 3.33GHz Penryns, each with a 1333MHz frontside bus, were pitted against the current desktop-leading 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6800 on a 1066MHz bus. Tests were run on top of a well decked test system, running Vista Ultimate. Naturally, the quad core Penryn took the top spot in all the tests, with varying margins depending upon which app was used -- no surprises there. The dual-core Penryn took third behind the spendy QX6800 for the most part, other than the single-threaded Half-Life 2 and the SSE 4-capable DivX test, which capitalized upon the media-friendly instructions Intel is adding to its new processors. Looks like we'll be seeing much more from these processors as more SSE 4 apps hit the market, but for now you shouldn't be feeling too bad about buying a QX6800 -- it's not obsolete by a long shot.
DosPara, Faith intro dueling quad core BTO PCs
Japanese manufacturers DosPara and Faith have each introduced some pretty high-end build-to-order PCs this week, both packing Intel's new 2.93Ghz Core 2 Extreme QX6800 processor (or configurable with less if that's too much for ya). In addition to that speedy processor, DosPara's recommended configuration boasts a GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card, 2GB of RAM, a 750GB hard drive, and a DVD burner, among other goodies. Opting for Faith's system will give you the slightly beefier GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card as standard, along with 2GB of RAM and a 300GB hard drive. While prices will obviously vary quite a bit depending on the configuration, you can expect to easily blow between $3,000 and $5,000 if one of 'em strikes your fancy.Read - Akihabara News, DosPara's Core 2 Extreme QX6800 BTO PCRead - Akihabara News, Faith's version of BTO PC
Vigor Gaming's Force Recon QXN packs a quad core QX6800
We're always impressed with how fast manufacturers are able to incorporate newly-announced components into their products -- we think there's some black magic at play -- and sure enough, boutique gaming house Vigor is already offering a gaming desktop powered by Intel's new high end Core 2 Extreme QX6800. Besides the 2.93GHz, quad core processor -- which comes standard -- you can also stuff this box with as much as 4GB of blazing fast 1111MHz DDR2 RAM, 750GB of storage, dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX cards in SLI, as well as the usual array of optical drives, wireless radios, and connectivity ports. Available immediately, the ominously-titled Force Recon QXN starts at $3,500 and just keeps reaching for the stars from there.
Intel intros quad core 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6800
Intel's been on a tear when it comes to announcing new products lately, and while the upcoming McCaslin UMPC platform and new Core 2 Duo ULV CPUs will appeal mostly to road warriors, the 2.93GHz QX6800 Core 2 Extreme quad core beast is targeted squarely at power users. As with the step up from the dual core E6700 to E6800, though, you're paying more than double the price ($999 $1,200 versus $530) when moving from the Q6700 to QX6800, but getting less than a 300MHz bump in speed. Our advice? Leave this new chip for the boutique gaming manufacturers, and put the extra money towards a motherboard that'll let you overclock a less expensive model hassle-free.