Post by Renown on Dec 13, 2007 18:01:37 GMT -5
Intel has been on top of their game since the launch of Conroe, the first Core 2 branded processors, released July 26th, 2006. The launch of these benchmark-killing CPUs were the product of AMDs previous reign with the K8 architecture. Which needless to say, Intel couldn't hold a candle to, so, Intel decided to plan for the future with an entirely new architecture aimed at regaining their performance crown, and such an event has been underway since that very day - July 26th, 2006. More than a year and a half, for those of you who don't care to count the days in your head.
Onto the topic at hand, the Core 2 Quad, the product of Intel's winning strategy known as Conroe. However, don't get the original codename confused with the quad-core batch, the quad cores go by the code name "Kentsfield." The first dual-die quad core CPUs, launched November 6th, 2006. The top-of-the-line Kentsfield CPUs were those of the Extreme moniker (Kentsfield XE, if you will) with the model designation QX6xx0; the Q which of course denoted that it was a quad core part, and the X denoted it being Extreme. The mainstream quad core CPUs lacked the "X" and were designated with model numbers that followed as such - Q6xx0. All of them featured two 4MB L2 caches (4MB shared between the dies, effectively equating to 8MB of shared L2 cache. The mainstream part, the Q6600 (which this review is based upon), clocked at 2.4GHz, was released on January 8th, 2007 at a heart-stopping $851 (SL9UM - B3 revision), and was reduced to just $530 on April 7th, 2007.
The price cuts didn't end there, on July 22nd, 2007 the Q6600 would see it's final price cut, bringing it from $530 to the ever-so-affordable price of $266. However, it didn't end with just an incredibly affordable price cut, with the introduction of the Core 2 Quad Q6700 and the Core 2 Extreme QX6850, this price cut would see another benefit, a newer, cooler revision; SLACR - G0 revision. Where the original Q6600 (B3) had a TDP (Thermal Design Power) rating of 105W, the newer Q6600 (G0) had a TDP of just 95W. This lower TDP not only meant it would run a lot cooler at stock speeds, but would mean (or at least imply) that it's overclocking ability has also improved.
Alright, enough of the history lesson, onto the actual review...
Testbed
Motherboard: Maximus Formula SE - BIOS ver. 0903
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz; overclocked to 3.2GHz
Memory: OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2-800
Cooling: CoolIT Eliminator - Fan speed set to high
I'll be honest, when I first purchased the Q6600 I had no way of knowing whether I would receive either the B3 or G0 revisions, because I ordered from Newegg, but when it arrived at my door, and I tore the cardboard box up just to get to my new shiny quad-core CPU, I received a G0 stepping, which needless to say, made me a happy camper.
Immediately I began by overclocking this monster of a processor to 3.2GHz, and here are the results to prove so...
400 x 8 - 1.3v
There was a problem with the Core Temp beta I was using, because as you can see, it was reporting both a frequency and FSB higher than the actual. Other than that, I can report that although the Eliminator is intended for dual-core processors, it did a better job cooling a quad-core than I originally expected. The highest temperature during load was a toasty 84C, a temperature one should avoid when stress testing, but since it never went above 84C, I was quite pleased with the results of a TEC watercooler meant for dual-core CPUs.
I played around with the CPU a little bit more, and I was able to reach 3,336MHz
417 x 8 - 1.3v
From this slight overclock temperatures exceeded 87C, a point in which I immediately halted torture testing, however, it was perfectly stable for the most part as the test itself went on for about four hours or so.
I've been testing ever since, and I've reconsidered most of voltage options used when overvolting, and at the moment I'm flexing the Q6600 at 3GHz at only 1.256v. Now the Eliminator runs the Q6600 a tad cooler, the highest load temperature I've seen is 76C.
This review will come to a close for the time being, but testing shall continue and more results will be posted throughout the end of December. The next test session will include an improved watercooling method - the Swiftech H20-220 Compact, all the greatness of the H20-220 Apex without the excessive hassle. I say hassle because I'm too lazy to drill holes in my case and construct the entire loop as a whole.
Until then.
Onto the topic at hand, the Core 2 Quad, the product of Intel's winning strategy known as Conroe. However, don't get the original codename confused with the quad-core batch, the quad cores go by the code name "Kentsfield." The first dual-die quad core CPUs, launched November 6th, 2006. The top-of-the-line Kentsfield CPUs were those of the Extreme moniker (Kentsfield XE, if you will) with the model designation QX6xx0; the Q which of course denoted that it was a quad core part, and the X denoted it being Extreme. The mainstream quad core CPUs lacked the "X" and were designated with model numbers that followed as such - Q6xx0. All of them featured two 4MB L2 caches (4MB shared between the dies, effectively equating to 8MB of shared L2 cache. The mainstream part, the Q6600 (which this review is based upon), clocked at 2.4GHz, was released on January 8th, 2007 at a heart-stopping $851 (SL9UM - B3 revision), and was reduced to just $530 on April 7th, 2007.
The price cuts didn't end there, on July 22nd, 2007 the Q6600 would see it's final price cut, bringing it from $530 to the ever-so-affordable price of $266. However, it didn't end with just an incredibly affordable price cut, with the introduction of the Core 2 Quad Q6700 and the Core 2 Extreme QX6850, this price cut would see another benefit, a newer, cooler revision; SLACR - G0 revision. Where the original Q6600 (B3) had a TDP (Thermal Design Power) rating of 105W, the newer Q6600 (G0) had a TDP of just 95W. This lower TDP not only meant it would run a lot cooler at stock speeds, but would mean (or at least imply) that it's overclocking ability has also improved.
Alright, enough of the history lesson, onto the actual review...
Testbed
Motherboard: Maximus Formula SE - BIOS ver. 0903
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz; overclocked to 3.2GHz
Memory: OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2-800
Cooling: CoolIT Eliminator - Fan speed set to high
I'll be honest, when I first purchased the Q6600 I had no way of knowing whether I would receive either the B3 or G0 revisions, because I ordered from Newegg, but when it arrived at my door, and I tore the cardboard box up just to get to my new shiny quad-core CPU, I received a G0 stepping, which needless to say, made me a happy camper.
Immediately I began by overclocking this monster of a processor to 3.2GHz, and here are the results to prove so...
400 x 8 - 1.3v
There was a problem with the Core Temp beta I was using, because as you can see, it was reporting both a frequency and FSB higher than the actual. Other than that, I can report that although the Eliminator is intended for dual-core processors, it did a better job cooling a quad-core than I originally expected. The highest temperature during load was a toasty 84C, a temperature one should avoid when stress testing, but since it never went above 84C, I was quite pleased with the results of a TEC watercooler meant for dual-core CPUs.
I played around with the CPU a little bit more, and I was able to reach 3,336MHz
417 x 8 - 1.3v
From this slight overclock temperatures exceeded 87C, a point in which I immediately halted torture testing, however, it was perfectly stable for the most part as the test itself went on for about four hours or so.
I've been testing ever since, and I've reconsidered most of voltage options used when overvolting, and at the moment I'm flexing the Q6600 at 3GHz at only 1.256v. Now the Eliminator runs the Q6600 a tad cooler, the highest load temperature I've seen is 76C.
This review will come to a close for the time being, but testing shall continue and more results will be posted throughout the end of December. The next test session will include an improved watercooling method - the Swiftech H20-220 Compact, all the greatness of the H20-220 Apex without the excessive hassle. I say hassle because I'm too lazy to drill holes in my case and construct the entire loop as a whole.
Until then.