Intel's Core 2 Extreme & Core 2 Duo: The Empire Strikes Back
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 14, 2006 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
New Pricing
As you will soon see, Intel's new Core 2 lineup has basically made all previous Intel processors worthless. The performance of the new Core 2 CPUs is so much greater, with much lower power consumption, that owners of NetBurst based processors may want to dust off the old drill bits and make some neat looking keychains.
Intel also realizes that its new Core 2 line will make its older Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition processors seem a bit homely, and thus it will significantly reduce the pricing on some of the CPUs by the end of this month to help spruce them up a bit.
Intel's new pricing, effective starting July 23rd, is listed below:
| CPU | Clock Speed | L2 Cache | Price |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 | 2.93GHz | 4MB | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 | 2.66GHz | 4MB | $530 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 | 2.40GHz | 4MB | $316 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 | 2.13GHz | 2MB | $224 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 | 1.86GHz | 2MB | $183 |
| Intel Pentium D 945 | 3.40GHz | 2MBx2 | $163 |
| Intel Pentium D 915 | 2.80GHz | 2MBx2 | $133 |
| Intel Pentium D 820 | 2.80GHz | 1MBx2 | $113 |
| Intel Pentium D 805 | 2.66GHz | 1MBx2 | $93 |
The table above only showcases the NetBurst CPUs that are actually cheaper than their Core 2 counterparts; there are a number that are priced equal to Core 2 options, but you'll want to stay away from those (more blatant foreshadowing).
Unfortunately AMD won't have an architectural update of the Athlon 64 X2 until sometime in 2007 or 2008, thus its only response to Intel's Core 2 lineup today is to also reduce pricing. Shortly before today's launch AMD informed us that more aggressive price cuts for the Athlon 64 X2 line were coming in July, but we couldn't get any more specific information. The best numbers we've got are those that were leaked shortly after Computex, which may end up being higher than what AMD is now thinking of doing:
| CPU | Clock Speed | L2 Cache | Projected Price |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ | 2.6GHz | 512KBx2 | $403 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ | 2.4GHz | 512KBx2 | $301 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ | 2.2GHz | 512KBx2 | $240 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2.0GHz | 512KBx2 | $169 |
In order to keep prices competitive, AMD is also killing off its Athlon 64 X2s with a 1MB L2 cache. By only shipping 512KB parts (except for the limited quantities of FX processors that are sold), AMD can produce more CPUs per wafer and thus help increase supply and offer lower prices.
Below we've compared both AMD and Intel's proposed price cuts, and as you can see, AMD needs to do a lot more in order to remain competitive.
| CPU | Clock Speed | L2 Cache | Price |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 | 2.93GHz | 4MB | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 | 2.66GHz | 4MB | $530 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ | 2.6GHz | 512KBx2 | $403* |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 | 2.40GHz | 4MB | $316 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ | 2.4GHz | 512KBx2 | $301* |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ | 2.2GHz | 512KBx2 | $240* |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 | 2.13GHz | 2MB | $224 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 | 1.86GHz | 2MB | $183 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2.0GHz | 512KBx2 | $169* |
| Intel Pentium D 945 | 3.40GHz | 2MBx2 | $163 |
| Intel Pentium D 915 | 2.80GHz | 2MBx2 | $133 |
| Intel Pentium D 820 | 2.80GHz | 1MBx2 | $113 |
| Intel Pentium D 805 | 2.66GHz | 1MBx2 | $93 |
*Note: The AMD prices are still rumored. We're waiting for final confirmation from AMD for accuracy.
Based on these prices, AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4600+ would have to beat Intel's E6600, the 4200+ would have to beat the E6400 and the X2 3800+ would have to be somewhere in between the performance of a Pentium D 940/945 and an E6300.
We're getting the impression that AMD may be cutting prices more than what we've seen here, but we have no idea to what degree yet. By the end of this year AMD will also offer higher clock speeds as well as its new 4x4 platform (dual socket, dual core desktop Athlon 64 FX motherboards), but that's all we can expect for the foreseeable future.
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Josh7289 - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
When I go to college next year, I know what I'll be buying. :)Pirks - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
When I see AMD price cuts next month, I know what your face'll look like. :)theoryzero - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
This review (and the many others from other review sites) is interesting in that it confirms Intel's bold claims made back in March.However, with that out of the way, what I really want to know is which chipset/MoBo to go with? Is springing for high-end memory worth it on Core2? Any plans for a motherboard review in the very near future? Given the Abit AB9 preview and recent articles on DDR2-1000 memory I kind of expected this stuff to show up after the NDA was lifted too.
Wesley Fink - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
Conroe starts shipping July 27th - the original launch date. Intel moved the launch date back two weeks because OEMs like Dell and HP were hot to start advertising and shipping Conroe systems. I suspect Intel was also trying to salvage their NDA. Good news is hard to contain and two more weeks of NDA would have likely resulted in more info leaks that Intel did not want to turn into a flood.You will be able to find answers at AnandTech to your basic Conroe motherboard and memory questions early next week.
theoryzero - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
Sounds good, thanks!bob661 - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
Thanks.Howard - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
I would have loved to see minimum FPS as well as average FPS. The review was great otherwise.JarredWalton - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
While we could report those scores, we didn't feel we should at least on Oblivion. The reason for that is because the Oblivion runs were manually tested with FRAPS, and the results aren't perfectly comparable between runs. Anyway, here are some of the numbers, but recognize that the margin of error is going to be larger than what you would see with automated timedemos:Oblivion Bruma:
Core E6300: 32-53.7-77
Core X6800: 47-78.6-117
AMD 3800+: 27-47.0-72
AMD FX-62: 38-62.5-94
Oblivion Dungeon:
Core E6300: 39-81.3-211
Core X6800: 57-106.5-214
AMD 3800+: 35-72.0-189
AMD FX-62: 46-89.9-211
F.E.A.R.:
Core E6300: 34-92-224
Core X6800: 41-118-310
AMD 3800+: 28-83-212
AMD FX-62: 38-101-247
Rise of Legends:
Core E6300: 8-68.2-137
Core X6800: 45-120.5-216
AMD 3800+: 5-52.1-115
AMD FX-62: 25-78.4-144
Minimum frame rates in the Rise of Legends benchmark are zero on most of the Pentium D systems, so again we take those with something of a grain of salt. Regardless of how you look at it, though, the Core 2 Duo processors consistently outperform their AMD equivalents in gaming results. We will be looking at additional games next week in our motherboard reviews.
nowuadmit - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
First off, when u guys reviewed a 486/33 for the first time... it was also "the fastest piece of silicon the world has ever seen"... then later, when u saw the P2-550... THAT was the "fastest piece of silicon... blah blah".Well its nice that intel has made a really expensive and barely available new chip, so they can finally match (or even exceed by a few points) AMD's reasonably priced previous generation. So now u can say they have the fastest, and if u want to spend thousands on a CPU that is only slightly faster than something that costs hundreds of dollars, HEY BE MY GUEST! there have been worse wastes of money! (in theory anyways, since the avg american wont be able to actually find any of these in the local stores for quite some time, if intel follows their previous habits).
Anyhow the point of my comment... i think this is a good thing. i mean, anything that actually causes an intel fanboi to admit finally that intel has been reaming your butts for 5 years..
while the people who simply buy whatever CPU makes the most sense have been enjoying getting great quality nookie from AMD! SO i present to you, this Technical Quote of the Year, spoken on behalf of all intel fanbois with half a brain!
Technical Quote of the Year:
"...power hungry, poor performing, non-competitive garbage (sorry guys, it's the truth) that Intel has been shoving down our throats for the greater part of the past 5 years."
Congradulations on your honesty, finally.
MrKaz - Friday, July 14, 2006 - link
Yes that’s truth.80% of Intel crap, only 20% is good. The Pentium M.
So they say 5 years ago until now Intel was “all” crap. I think Northwood was/is very good.
My maximum price is 100$ (or 120$ with cooler) for a CPU. Only AMD as an honest performing CPU for those prices.