Final Words

Intel's Core 2 Extreme X6800 didn't lose a single benchmark in our comparison; not a single one. In many cases, the $183 Core 2 Duo E6300 actually outperformed Intel's previous champ: the Pentium Extreme Edition 965. In one day, Intel has made its entire Pentium D lineup of processors obsolete. Intel's Core 2 processors offer the sort of next-generation micro-architecture performance leap that we honestly haven't seen from Intel since the introduction of the P6.

Compared to AMD's Athlon 64 X2 the situation gets a lot more competitive, but AMD still doesn't stand a chance. The Core 2 Extreme X6800, Core 2 Duo E6700 and E6600 were pretty consistently in the top 3 or 4 spots in each benchmark, with the E6600 offering better performance than AMD's FX-62 flagship in the vast majority of benchmarks. Another way of looking at it is that Intel's Core 2 Duo E6600 is effectively a $316 FX-62, which doesn't sound bad at all.

We're still waiting to get our hands on the E6400 as it may end up being the best bang for your buck, but even the slower E6300 is quite competitive with AMD's X2 4200+ and X2 3800+. If AMD drops the price on those two parts even more than we're expecting, then it may be able to hold on to the lower end of the performance mainstream market as the E6300 is not nearly as fast as the E6600.

As impressed as we are with Intel's Core 2 processor lineup, we are still very concerned about availability and street pricing. To quote from our last Core 2 preview article:

While Intel's Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors will be released at the beginning of Q3 of this year it will take some time for all of Intel's shipments to be Conroe based. The scary statistic is that by the end of this year, only 25% of Intel's Performance Mainstream desktop processor shipments will be based on Conroe. The remaining 75% will still be NetBurst based, meaning they will be Pentium 4, Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition.

...

For the Dells of the world, Conroe availability shouldn't be too much of an issue because companies like Dell get first dibs. For years of not going with AMD, all while demanding something more competitive from Intel, you better believe that Dell is going to soak up every last Conroe that it can.

The problem then becomes what happens after Dell and HP have eaten their lunch; unfortunately the concern is that aggressive pricing won't be enough to reduce retail demand for Conroe. What we're worried about happening is a very small supply of Conroes on the retail market in late Q3/early Q4, resulting in much higher street prices than what you see on page 2. In the worst case scenario for Intel, Conroe's limited retail availability could result in a price to performance ratio equal to or worse than AMD's Athlon 64 X2.

Despite pulling in the official launch date for Core 2 processor benchmarks, shipment dates for the CPUs haven't changed. According to Intel:

Intel Core 2 Extreme processor based systems and boxed product are expected to be available on the day of launch, 27 July. Intel Core 2 Duo processor based systems and boxed product [through places such as Newegg] are expected to be available from 7 August. Each OEM has their own product introduction / transition cycles based upon their target market segment and current product offerings. We expect some to offer product in August with more introductions extending through September. Check with the OEMs of your choice to get their specific message on system availability.

From what Intel is telling us, you shouldn't be able to so much as purchase Core 2 processors until after the first week in August, although you'll be able to get complete systems before then. At the same time, we're hearing that distributors already have some Core 2 parts in stock and will begin shipping very soon. While we tend to believe Intel's assessment of availability, we're hoping it's conservative.

If Intel's availability statements are true or even worse, overly optimistic, then don't expect to be upgrading to a Core 2 system anytime soon. However, if all goes well, although Vista may be delayed until 2007, Intel's Core 2 processors will give you a very good reason to upgrade this year.

Overclocking
Comments Locked

202 Comments

View All Comments

  • Gary Key - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link

    The first nF4 Intel Edition boards will be available the week of 7/20. The nForce 500 boards for Intel will not be available until early August. We are now under NDA for the nForce 500 until NVIDIA makes their release announcement. However, there are a couple of nForce 500 boards that look very promising at this time. Do not expect high FSB overclocking results until NVIDIA's next chipset but overall performance is very good at this time.
  • mobutu - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link

    Thank you very much for the info you shared.
    Still, one more question: what do you mean "nVidia next chipset"? Like nF6 or smtg? Because if so it means probably Q4 2006 or Q1 2007 ...
  • Gary Key - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link

    The one that will come out this winter that we cannot discuss except for the fact that it will be a single chip and dual x16 capable. :) Of course, no real mention of it so far but ATI has a really nice Intel chipset due in late August to early September followed up by a refresh in the winter also.
  • mobutu - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link

    Oh, I got it. Thank you very much, much appreciated.
    Looking forward to see Anandtech review of Conroe motherboards.
  • Visual - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link

    you really need to include scores for 4ghz conroes, and maybe some 3.2ghz x2s(though this isnt really needed) and your review will be the most perfectest one evar!
  • JarredWalton - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link

    We generally reserve overclocking scores for articles specifically looking at that aspect. It's unfair to include OC'ed Core 2 without OC'ed X2, FX, etc. I hope to get a Core 2 in the near future to run some specific OC benchmarks comparing a lower end (E6300 and/or E6600) Core 2 with X2 3800+ (hopefully EE, but we'll see).
  • junior1 - Saturday, July 15, 2006 - link


    Jarred that would be great to see. The E6300 and X2 3800+ seem close, but the final AMD pricing and the overclocking potential of each could really make either the clear winner for performance per dollar in the midrange segment.

    Is the die size smaller on E6300 and E6400, or is it a full die with half the cache disabled? Any chance the smaller cache means better OC potential?

    It would be great to see results with several chipsets.
  • Warder45 - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link

    awww. At least give us a taste, maybe 2 or 3 of the most CPU intensive tests run at 4ghz.
  • Gary Key - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link

    quote:

    awww. At least give us a taste, maybe 2 or 3 of the most CPU intensive tests run at 4ghz.
    Just wait a few days.... :)
  • mendocinosummit - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link

    Ya, that is what I was hoping for. I want to see a dual core (that has some balls, unlike the preslers) run at 4ghz and do some benchmarks

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now