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Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Processor Review

Manufacturer:	Intel
Product:	Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor QX6700 'Kentsfield'
Date:	Wed, Nov 01, 2006 - 11:00 AM
Written By:	Nathan Kirsch -
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Comanche 4 and Quake 4

NovaLogic; Comanche 4:

The Comanche 4 benchmark demo is a unique benchmark as it represents a real-world gaming experience. It contains the single player Eagle's Talon mission from the game as well as a detailed cinematic. This DirectX 8.1 benchmark demo measures your system's performance in the standard frames per second format. This game is very old, but even today it's one of the best gaming benchmark to show raw CPU performance.

As we look at our gaming results, we need to remember that all of the cpus that we tested have more than enough power to run any of todays games at very playable and eye-pleasing settings. But as well look at them, it is hard not to see the facts that are before us: Core 2 Duo is to the gamer in 2006 what the A64 was to the gamer at its release.  There was a WOW! factor that many said could never be duplicated, but we are here to say that it has not only been duplicated, but surpassed with the Core 2 Duo. 

Here in the Comanche 4 test, we see what we have seen in every other test, in that the Core 2 Duo takes the top spots.  The E6700 trails its big brother by 12 fps, but leads the FX-62 by 11fps.  The Intel 965EE follows everyone else, as we have seen in all the results so far.

ID Software; Quake 4 v1.2

ID Software?s QUAKE 4, developed by Raven Software, takes players into an epic invasion on a barbaric alien planet in one of the most anticipated first person shooters for 2005. Even today in 2006 Quake 4 is played by professional gamers around the world in the fames World Series of Video Games (WSVG) and still one of the most played first person shooters on the market today.

As we change resolutions in Quake 4, we really do not see much difference in the fps, but it is clear that the Intel QX6700 doesn't fair as well at the equally clocked Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 processor.  Since games often love memory bandwidth it's possible the lower memory bandwidth that we observed with Sandra 2007 is now playing a direct role in the performance numbers we observed here.  

Curious about the results we monitored the CPU usage and with SMP enabled in the game the only cores used on the CPU for the most part were 2 and 3.  It's clear that current SMP game titles like Quake 4 with the latest patches don't take advantage of more than dual-core processor.

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