Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800

How we configured our test systems: When configuring our test systems for this article, we first entered their respective system BIOSes and set each board to its "Optimized" or "High Performance Defaults". We then saved the settings, re-entered the BIOS and manually set the memory for DDR2-800 operation with 4,4,4,12 timings. The hard drives were then formatted, and Windows XP Professional (SP2) was installed. When the Windows installation was complete, we installed the drivers necessary for our components, and removed Windows Messenger from the system. Auto-Updating and System Restore were then disabled and we set up a 1024MB permanent page file on the same partition as the Windows installation. Lastly, we set Windows XP's Visual Effects to "best performance," installed all of our benchmarking software, defragged the hard drives, and ran the tests.

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We began our testing with SiSoftware's SANDRA XI, the System ANalyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant. We ran six of the built-in subsystem tests that partially comprise the SANDRA XI suite with the Core 2 Extreme QX6800 (CPU, Multimedia, Multi-Core Efficiency, Memory, Cache, and Memory Latency). All of the scores reported below were taken with the processor running at its default clock speeds of 2.93GHz.

Preliminary Testing with SiSoft SANDRA XI
Synthetic Benchmarks

Core 2 Extreme QX6800 @ 2.93GHz CPU Arithmetic	Core 2 Extreme QX6800 @ 2.93GHz MultiMedia	Core 2 Extreme QX6800 @ 2.93GHz Multi-Core Efficiency
Core 2 Extreme QX6800 @ 2.93GHz Memory Bandwidth	Core 2 Extreme QX6800 @ 2.93GHz Cache and Memory	Core 2 Extreme QX6800 @ 2.93GHz Memory Latency

The Core 2 Extreme QX6800 performed just as you'd expect it would in the various SANDRA subsystem tests. In the CPU and Multimedia benchmarks, it was clearly the fastest of the bunch thanks to its higher frequency. The Multi-Core Efficiency benchmark had it finishing behind a high-end Xeon rig, and in the Memory Bandwidth, Memory Latency, and Memory and Cache benchmarks, the QX6800 finished in-line with other similarly configured Intel-based reference systems.