The
QX6700
Above
is a CPUz screenshot which details a number of
the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700’s specifications.
The most important probably being that this product
features 4 CPU cores, the first processor of its
kind to make it to retail. The CPU code name of
the quad is “Kentsfield” and this
is a 65nm product (as were the Conroes/original
Core 2’s). Voltages used by the quad are
very similar to the dual core versions, both sitting
a shade over 1.2v with the recommended maximum
for the QX6700 being 1.35v with standard cooling.
The
QX6700 runs on a 1066mhz FSB (266mhz x4) identical
to other Core 2 model’s and uses a 10x multiplier
to give us a core speed of 2.66GHz. This is 266MHz
slower than the fastest Core 2 dual core CPU (the
X6800) which runs at 2.93GHz. As with the dual
core Extreme model the quad core Extreme CPU is
multiplier unlocked. The quad CPU has double the
levels present on the X6800 dual core processor,
meaning 4x32Kb of L1 Data, 4x32Kb of L1 Code and
2x 4mb of Level 2 cache.
As
the above picture shows … the QX6700 looks
identical from the top to any other recent S775
CPU. Turning over the chip we can see that the
basic layout is also the same.
Dual
|
Quad
|
Inside
the CPU we have similar cache and memory management
which featured in previous Core CPU’s. Intel
Smart Memory Access and Advanced Smart Cache combine
to ensure that data is passed from memory to L2
cache in a sensible order so as to make sure that
data can be executed by the CPU’s cores
in a timely manner (L2 Cache is allocated dynamically
to the cores as required).
Also
present here is Wide Dynamic Execution which allows
each core to process a maximum of four instructions
at any one time resulting in increases to efficiency
and overall execution speed.
One
of the major pushes of the last few years, and
something which will continue to be a major arena
for business expansion is the media centre PC.
With these systems there comes a requirement for
low noise, low power solutions. In the quad core
range Intel have enhanced the Digital Thermal
Sensor which measures the on die temperatures
and in combination with the 975 express chipset’s
Quiet System Technology the DST is able to control
the CPU cooler more effectively to keep noise
at a minimum.
So,
to summarise, what the above tells us is that
the QX6700 is basically two of the original Core
2 CPU dies within a single CPU package. What exactly
does that mean to the end user? The answer is
that when combined with the correct software which
is optimised to run on more than 2 cores we see
some excellent gains in performance. One such
application is the recently released Sonic/Roxio
MyDVD 9 (part of the Easy Media Centre 9 software
suite). As shown below MyDVD9 makes full use of
each processor core and we shall look at the performance
benefits later in the article, however for now
it’s safe to say that the benefits are substantial.
Before
we look at the performance of the Intel Core 2
Extreme Processor QX6700 here are the Full Specifications:
CPU
Name |
Intel
Core 2 Extreme Processor QX6700 |
Core
Frequency |
2.66GHz |
System
Bus Frequency |
1066MHz |
TDP |
130W |
Stepping
|
B-3 |
Number
of CPU Cores |
4 |
L2
Cache |
8MB
(2x4MB) |
Max
VID |
1.350
V |
Socket |
FC-LGA775 |
