4 CPU cores

Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Specifications
Product Code	HH80562PH0678M
Core Frequency	2.66GHz
Front-side Bus Frequency	1066MHz
Thermal Design Power	130W
Stepping	B-3
Number of CPU Cores	4
L2 Cache	8MB (2x4MB)
CPU Multiplier	x10
CPU Voltage	1.350V
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology (EIST)	Yes
Extended HALT State (C1E) Enabled	Yes
Execute Disable Bit (XD) Enabled	Yes
Intel® 64 Technology	Yes
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT)	Yes
Socket	LGA-775
Transistor Count	582

We’ve discussed Intel’s 4-core implementation in the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 at length in previous articles, so we won’t get into the fine details here. In a nutshell Intel’s Core 2 Extreme QX6700 CPU is essentially two Core 2 Duo E6700 CPU’s that have been grafted together into one package connected by the front-side bus (FSB). You can literally see this in the following image provided by Intel:

QX6700 without the heat spreader

Features

Pictured above is a Core 2 Extreme QX6700 without its integrated heat spreader installed. With the heat spreader in place, it looks just like any other Core 2 CPU:

QX6700 (left) Extreme X6800 (right)

Each processing core inside the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 features 4MB of L2 cache (for a total of 8MB in the CPU), and the cores are clocked at 2.66GHz. (Again, the QX6700 is basically two Core 2 Duo E6700’s in one package.) Fundamentally Kentsfield is just two Conroe CPUs integrated into one package, although Intel has added a new digital thermometer that replaces the thermal diode used previously to read the CPU’s temperature. According to Intel, the new digital thermometer gives more accurate readings than the diode that was used previously.

In comparison to Intel’s Core 2 Extreme X6800, the QX6700 runs 273MHz slower, and it consumes nearly twice the power (Intel lists a TDP of 75W for the Core 2 Extreme X6800), but with four processing cores built-in, it should deliver significantly more performance than Core 2 Extreme X6800 in applications that are designed to take advantage of multi-core. Intel has provided the following list of games that are designed to take advantage of both dual-core and more than 2-core (multi-core) CPUs:

Software designed for 4 or more cores

Adobe AfterEffects 7/8

Adobe Premiere Pro 2/3.0

Adobe Encore DVD 2.+

Maxon Cinema 4D v10

Pinnacle Studio dv 10

Sony Vegas 7.0

Steinberg- Yamaha Cubase v4.5

THQ/Gas Powered Games Supreme Commander

Remedy Alan Wake

Valve Half-Life 2: Episode 2

Epic Unreal Engine 3

Ubisoft Splinter Cell: Double Agent

Autodesk 3DSMAX 8 and 3DSMAX 9

Adobe Photoshop CS2

Quicktime Pro 7.1

XMPEG with DIVX 6.2

DVD Shrink 3.2

Pov Ray 3.7 Beta

TMPGEnc 2.524

While it isn’t listed in the table above, CryTek’s Cevat Yerli has also confirmed that Crysis will take advantage of multi-core CPUs like the Core 2 Extreme QX6700.

Before we go on, here we should note that there is a difference between applications that have been programmed to take advantage of dual-core CPUs, and those that take advantage of multi-core CPUs like the Extreme QX6700. Just because a game takes advantage of dual-core doesn’t mean it will benefit from quad-core. Quake 4 for instance, the first game that’s been patched to take advantage of dual-core CPUs, doesn’t deliver any additional performance with a quad-core CPU like the Core 2 Extreme QX6700. From here on out, we’ll refer to dual-core games that only use two threads like Quake 4 as dual-threaded, and multi-core games that support multiple threads as multi-threaded.