Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16 GHz Dual Core). e8500 phenom e9350. The Intel Core 2 E8500 and the AMD Phenom X4 e9350 offer high performance within the same 65 W power envelope, and are sold at the same price point. We used the lead model Core 2 Duo E8500, which is based on the Wolfdale core with its massive 6 MB L2 cache....

• -Performance: Applications
• -Dual-Core Versus Quad-Core: Part 2

We used our Core 2 Duo E8500 engineering sample (3.16 GHz at FSB1333 system speed) for our overclocking tests....

• -Overclocking Intel's Wolfdale E8000
• -Overclocking Intel's Wolfdale E8000

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU You asked for it, and here it is: the dual-core Core 2 Duo E8500, based on Intel’s 45 nm Wolfdale design. The real strength of the 45 nm Penryn processors like the E8500, however, is their huge overclocking potential. The E8500 doesn’t disappoint, either—more on that later. Why didn’t we pay the extra money for the E8600 and instead opt for the E8500? In the end, we chose the E8500 for its degree of value, and we were glad we did....

We found that these boards with the Core 2 Duo E7200 processors are capable of delivering mainstream performance at extremely attractive power requirements of just above 30 W. E7200 Clocks Like E8500 We chose the E7200 because it runs on the same 9.5x multiplier as the Core 2 Duo E8500. As a consequence, you can operate the E7200 at E8500 clock speeds simply by switching the bus from FSB1066 to FSB1333. Cost Considerations The Core 2 Duo E8500 lost our vote because of its stepping, which hasn’t reached M0 yet, and because of its substantially higher cost. While we found the Core 2 Duo E7200 on the Web for less than $120, the Core 2 Duo E8500 still costs $210 or more....

We have to wonder how much the Radeon 4870 X2 is helping the E8500 stay in the running in this benchmark. Let's spice it up with 4xAA and 16xAF to see if the 4870 X2 can push the E8500 a little higher in the standings: As we suspected, adding hearty gobs of AA and AF will help the E8500/4870 X2 system regain some ground over the i7 920/4850 X2. The result is a virtual tie. Of course, we'll add 4xAA to stress it even further: We're still seeing the i7 920 system pull 90% of the performance of the E8500 system, but at lower frame rates the difference to the end-user will be more pronounced....

Core 2 Duo E8200 runs at 2.66 GHz; E8400 has a 3.0 GHz clock speed and the top model, the E8500, runs at 3.16 GHz....