Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 and Massive Price Cuts
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 16, 2007 3:04 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Once More, With Feeling
We've already been through one major set of Intel price cuts this year, that was just three months ago after the Core 2 QX6800 launch. The smoke hadn't even cleared from the first round but both AMD and Intel are back in price slashing mode.
AMD already cut its prices before today's article, while Intel's cuts aren't scheduled to take effect until July 22nd (next week). We'll start off with AMD's pricing:
| CPU | Clock Speed | L2 Cache | Price |
| AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 | 3.0GHz | 1MBx2 | $599/pair |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ | 3.0GHz | 1MBx2 | $178 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ | 2.8GHz | 1MBx2 | $157 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ | 2.6GHz | 1MBx2 | $136 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ | 2.6GHz | 512KBx2 | $125 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ | 2.5GHz | 512KBx2 | $115 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ | 2.3GHz | 512KBx2 | $94 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ | 2.1GHz | 512KBx2 | $73 |
| AMD X2 BE-2350 | 2.1GHz | 512KBx2 | $91 |
| AMD X2 BE-2300 | 1.9GHz | 512KBx2 | $73 |
Hello savings! The fastest Socket-AM2 processor AMD offers now costs less than $200, and only two of AMD's processors sell for over $150. Competition may not be good for AMD's bottom line but it's definitely enabling cheap system builds this year.
As exciting as a $1,000 CPU running a whole 70MHz faster than its predecessor may be, the real story today is how AMD and Intel stack up when you take the latest round of price cuts into account.
Intel's lineup looks very confusing at first, but after the price cuts take effect it'll be a lot easier to recommend processors. The table below has all currently available Intel CPUs (as well as a few that are due out soon), but you'll notice that some lines are in red. The lines in red are products that are available in the market, but no longer make sense to buy after the price cuts next week.
In an attempt to quickly move the market to 1333MHz FSB platforms, Intel has made those chips far more attractive than the previous 1066MHz FSB processors:
| CPU | Clock Speed | FSB | L2 Cache | Availability | Pricing |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 | 3.00GHz | 1333 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 | 2.93GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 | 2.66GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 | 2.93GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 | 2.66GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $530 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 | 2.40GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $266 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 | 3.00GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $266 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 | 2.66GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $183 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 | 2.66GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $316 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 | 2.40GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $224 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 | 2.33GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6540 | 2.33GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 | 2.13GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $183 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 | 2.13GHz | 1066 | 2MB | Now | $183 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 | 1.86GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 | 1.86GHz | 1066 | 2MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 | 2.40GHz | 800 | 2MB | Q4 | $133 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 | 2.20GHz | 800 | 2MB | Q3 | $133 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 | 2.00GHz | 800 | 2MB | Now | $113 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 | 1.80GHz | 800 | 2MB | Now | $113 |
| Intel Pentium E2180 | 2.00GHz | 800 | 1MB | Q4 | $84 |
| Intel Pentium E2160 | 1.80GHz | 800 | 1MB | Now | $84 |
| Intel Pentium E2140 | 1.60GHz | 800 | 1MB | Now | $74 |
See a trend? Financially it makes no sense to buy any of the 1066MHz FSB CPUs anymore, Intel sure knows how to push new chipsets on a market.
If you remove all the CPUs that no longer make sense to buy from the chart, you actually get a pretty nice and simple processor lineup:
| CPU | Clock Speed | FSB | L2 Cache | Availability | Pricing |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 | 3.00GHz | 1333 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 | 2.93GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 | 2.66GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $530 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 | 2.40GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $266 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 | 3.00GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $266 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 | 2.66GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $183 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 | 2.33GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6540 | 2.33GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 | 2.40GHz | 800 | 2MB | Q4 | $133 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 | 2.20GHz | 800 | 2MB | Q3 | $133 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 | 2.00GHz | 800 | 2MB | Now | $113 |
| Intel Pentium E2180 | 2.00GHz | 800 | 1MB | Q4 | $84 |
| Intel Pentium E2160 | 1.80GHz | 800 | 1MB | Now | $84 |
| Intel Pentium E2140 | 1.60GHz | 800 | 1MB | Now | $74 |
It's almost like the early days of the Core 2, when model numbers weren't overly confusing for end users, almost.
Motherboard Requirements for 1333MHz FSB?
While there's no official support for 1333MHz FSB CPUs on Intel's P965 and 975X chipsets, many high end P965 motherboards provide unofficial support with little more than a BIOS update. Obviously if you're building a new system today, Intel's 3-series chipsets all enable the 1333MHz FSB and are available with both DDR2 and DDR3 support. We tested with Gigabyte's GA-P35C-DS3R, which offers four DDR2 and two DDR3 slots, giving you the option of either memory technology.
NVIDIA is quick to point out that all of its 680i based motherboards not only support the 1333MHz FSB but will also support Intel's forthcoming Penryn core, all that's necessary is a BIOS update. Motherboards based on Intel's 3-series chipsets should support Penryn just fine, but the verdict isn't out yet on what P965 boards will work with Intel's first 45nm core due out at the end of this year.
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gigahertz20 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Ahhh man I loved the article but I was hoping for some overclocking benchmarks, very disappointing. I wanted to see an overclocked Q6600 vs. overclocked e6850, there were reports the E6850 can OC up to around 4GHz. I was hoping this article would show us some OC results. Is this planned for later or something?cpeter38 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Another Ditto!!!!Sunrise089 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
and another!All the early Conroe reviews had OC numbers. And yes, by now we realize that as far as dual-cores go, any of the new parts should overclock about the same. It's really important to a lot of users however to know how the overclocking of these new parts matches up to the quad-core part.
Frumious1 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
You've got numbers http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3020&am...">like this that have quad core hitting 3.60 GHz with appropriate cooling. Q6600 should easily hit 3.0-3.3 GHz with a reasonable HSF, and if you want something high-end like the Ultra-120 Extreme, maybe even 3.60 GHz (9x400). One more reason to go quad - just mind the energy bills!Sunrise089 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
yes, but what about if the dual-core part is overclocked to 4.0ghz?Frumious1 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Given that overall performance goes to 2.4 GHz quad core over 3.0 GHz dual core (a 600 MHz difference), I can guarantee that a 3.6 GHz quad core would be better than 4.0 GHz dual core (a 400 MHz difference). That said, for gaming it really wouldn't matter much right now - no games even try to utilize more than two cores that I'm aware of. And don't even think about a 3.6 GHz overclocked quad core chip unless you have a beefy PSU!BikeDude - Tuesday, July 17, 2007 - link
Flight Simulator X SP1 adds multicore support and should benefit from additional (beyond dual) cores."As I stated previously, our multi-core support will take advantage of both 2 and 4 cores today, and more cores in the future when they become available."
(http://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/archive/2007/05/14/f...">http://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/archive/2007/05/14/f...
I am a bit disappointed that Anandtech doesn't bench FSX. I also miss the compiler benchmarks they used to do. AMD used to do quite well in those... (I say this as someone who uses compilers, not as a former AMD fanboy which I probably am)
RamarC - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
anyone know what oc results i can expect with a p35-based mobo and a q6600? is 3.0ghz as easy to reach as it is with an e6600?ZDNetReader1 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Ditto!! What he said!!MrKaz - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Price-wise, the only AMD/Intel competition we have here is between the FX-74 and the Q6700. Do keep in mind that as the FX-74 is a dual-socket configuration, the motherboard is a bit more expensive than what you can use with any of the single-socket quad-core Intel solutions.This is obviously true, but it’s also true that Intel motherboards for single socket VS AMD motherboards for single socket are also more expensive.
In my country equivalent ASUS AMD motherboard VS ASUS INTEL motherboard is around 30% to 50% cheaper.
Do keep that in mind too.