Tom's Hardware > All Reviews > Components > CPU > Intel Power Consumption Then and Now

Core 2 Extreme QX6850

11:10 - Thursday 3 January 2008 by Patrick Schmid, Achim Roos

Last but not least, we installed today’s crème-de-la-crème processor into our reference system: the Core 2 Extreme QX6850. Its internal layout is pretty easy to explain, as this product basically consists of two Core 2 Duo dies, each with 4 MB L2 cache and running at FSB1333 system speed. The quad core does provide noticeably higher performance in almost all parts of the SYSmark 2007 run. However, it takes almost equally long to complete the benchmark suite, which results in a higher total power consumption due to the fact that the quad core has a higher power requirement across all tests (94 vs. 77 watt system idle power). The situation may look different for computing-intensive benchmarks, where the four cores can outperform the Core 2 Duo by a significant margin. Our testing focused on SYSmark 2007, because it draws a good picture of typical PC usage.

Test Setup

Plattform
CPU I	Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 65 nm; 3000 MHz, 4 MB L2 Cache
CPU II	Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 65 nm; 3000 MHz, 8 MB L2 Cache
CPU III	Intel Pentium D 830 90 nm; 3000 MHz, 2 MB L2 Cache
CPU IV	Intel Pentium 4 630 90 nm; 3000 MHz, 2 MB L2 Cache
Motherboard I	Asus P5E3 Deluxe, Rev: 1.03 Chipset: Intel X38, BIOS 0402 (2007-09-19)
RAM	Crucial BL12864BA1608.8SFB 2x 1024 MB DDR3-1066 (CL 7-7-7-20 2T)
Hard Disk Drive	1 Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500 GB, 7,200 RPM, 16 MB cache, SATA/300
DVD-ROM	Samsung SH-S183
Graphics Card	Gigabyte GV-RX385512H GPU: Radeon HD 3850 (670 MHz) RAM: 512 MB GDDR3 (830 MHz)
Sound Card	Integrated
Power Supply	Coolermaster RS850-EMBA ATX 12V 2.2, 850 W
System Software & Drivers
OS	Windows XP Professional 5.10.2600, Service Pack 2
DirectX Version	9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Platform Drivers Intel	Version 8.3.1.1009
Graphics Drivers ATI	Catalyst 7.11