Intel Core 2 Performance, Overclocking, Power Usage Review

CPU by piotke @ 2006-07-14

The most anticipated CPU of the year is here! Intel has released the Core 2 which promises amazing performance at low watts. Does it live up to expectations? Find out in this review where we focus on overclocking, CPU scaling and power consumption.

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Power usage & performance scaling

Power usage

Using a power consumption meter installed between the power cable and the wall outlet I was capable of measuring the full system power consumption. Stressing only one core gave a load of 50%, so in a second stage of testing I stressed the second core as well, making the cpu 100% stressed:

Madshrimps (c)


I monitored the power usage of the overclocked Core 2 Extreme X6800. This can be interesting as you can verify at what point the power consumption increases past the point where you can keep the CPU cool enough.

Madshrimps (c)


The ideal setting for this particular X6800 sample seems to be 3.4Ghz, giving you the best performance per Watt.

Madshrimps (c)
(chart based on average performance increases in benchmarks seen below)



Performance scaling

While the X6800 is likely to out perform any other CPU current on the market, Intel will not rest on their laurels, with higher rated CPUs planned for later this year I though it?s interesting to take a look at how these CPUs will scale performance wise, going from 3ghz all the way to 4.5ghz. So recording data in 100Mhz steps between 3-4Ghz I added a trend line to estimate future performance. While the trend line does give you an idea, keep in mind that it's not 100% correct, small deviations from actual performance are possible (in most cases the trend line shows the score too high).

Madshrimps (c)

Madshrimps (c)

Madshrimps (c)

Madshrimps (c)


The future looks bright! What we have here is a CPU with excellent performance, good overclocking potential and acceptable power consumption, but how much does it cost? Time to turn the page ->
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