Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 - first look

Posted at: 3:49am 29th October 2007 by James Gorbold

Meet the world's first 45nm Penryn CPU ...

Of course, being an Extreme edition CPU with an unlocked multiplier, the QX9650 is very expensive, and for that reason alone we wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. However, for extreme overclockers, or those who simply want a cooler faster PC, it’s hard to resist the urge to run out to the shops and splurge a huge amount of cash on a QX9650.

However, for those who can’t afford to splash out more than £600 on a new CPU, Intel will release a full range of more reasonably priced 45nm dual and quad-core Penryn architecture CPUs over the coming months, which will also bring the same advantages to the table (increased performance, greater energy efficiency and more overclocking headroom). As Intel will also launch a whole range of 45nm Penryn architecture Xeons and mobile CPUs in the near future, AMD is really going to have to pull a rabbit out of the hat if it wants anybody to consider buying one of its CPUs.

Click here for the full benchmark results.


IN DETAIL

Frequency 3GHz
Core Yorkfield
Number of cores 4 x physical
FSB 333MHz (1,333MHz effective)
Level 1 cache 32KB + 32KB (each core)
Level 2 cache 2 x 6MB (shared)
Packaging LGA775
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 130W
Features SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4, EM64T, EIST, Execute Disable Bit