Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 and Massive Price Cuts
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 16, 2007 3:04 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Once More, With Feeling
We've already been through one major set of Intel price cuts this year, that was just three months ago after the Core 2 QX6800 launch. The smoke hadn't even cleared from the first round but both AMD and Intel are back in price slashing mode.
AMD already cut its prices before today's article, while Intel's cuts aren't scheduled to take effect until July 22nd (next week). We'll start off with AMD's pricing:
| CPU | Clock Speed | L2 Cache | Price |
| AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 | 3.0GHz | 1MBx2 | $599/pair |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ | 3.0GHz | 1MBx2 | $178 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ | 2.8GHz | 1MBx2 | $157 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ | 2.6GHz | 1MBx2 | $136 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ | 2.6GHz | 512KBx2 | $125 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ | 2.5GHz | 512KBx2 | $115 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ | 2.3GHz | 512KBx2 | $94 |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ | 2.1GHz | 512KBx2 | $73 |
| AMD X2 BE-2350 | 2.1GHz | 512KBx2 | $91 |
| AMD X2 BE-2300 | 1.9GHz | 512KBx2 | $73 |
Hello savings! The fastest Socket-AM2 processor AMD offers now costs less than $200, and only two of AMD's processors sell for over $150. Competition may not be good for AMD's bottom line but it's definitely enabling cheap system builds this year.
As exciting as a $1,000 CPU running a whole 70MHz faster than its predecessor may be, the real story today is how AMD and Intel stack up when you take the latest round of price cuts into account.
Intel's lineup looks very confusing at first, but after the price cuts take effect it'll be a lot easier to recommend processors. The table below has all currently available Intel CPUs (as well as a few that are due out soon), but you'll notice that some lines are in red. The lines in red are products that are available in the market, but no longer make sense to buy after the price cuts next week.
In an attempt to quickly move the market to 1333MHz FSB platforms, Intel has made those chips far more attractive than the previous 1066MHz FSB processors:
| CPU | Clock Speed | FSB | L2 Cache | Availability | Pricing |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 | 3.00GHz | 1333 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 | 2.93GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 | 2.66GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 | 2.93GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 | 2.66GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $530 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 | 2.40GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $266 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 | 3.00GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $266 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 | 2.66GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $183 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 | 2.66GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $316 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 | 2.40GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $224 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 | 2.33GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6540 | 2.33GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 | 2.13GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $183 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 | 2.13GHz | 1066 | 2MB | Now | $183 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 | 1.86GHz | 1066 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 | 1.86GHz | 1066 | 2MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 | 2.40GHz | 800 | 2MB | Q4 | $133 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 | 2.20GHz | 800 | 2MB | Q3 | $133 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 | 2.00GHz | 800 | 2MB | Now | $113 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 | 1.80GHz | 800 | 2MB | Now | $113 |
| Intel Pentium E2180 | 2.00GHz | 800 | 1MB | Q4 | $84 |
| Intel Pentium E2160 | 1.80GHz | 800 | 1MB | Now | $84 |
| Intel Pentium E2140 | 1.60GHz | 800 | 1MB | Now | $74 |
See a trend? Financially it makes no sense to buy any of the 1066MHz FSB CPUs anymore, Intel sure knows how to push new chipsets on a market.
If you remove all the CPUs that no longer make sense to buy from the chart, you actually get a pretty nice and simple processor lineup:
| CPU | Clock Speed | FSB | L2 Cache | Availability | Pricing |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 | 3.00GHz | 1333 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 | 2.93GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 | 2.66GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $530 |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 | 2.40GHz | 1066 | 4MBx2 | Now | $266 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 | 3.00GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $266 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 | 2.66GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $183 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 | 2.33GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6540 | 2.33GHz | 1333 | 4MB | Now | $163 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 | 2.40GHz | 800 | 2MB | Q4 | $133 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 | 2.20GHz | 800 | 2MB | Q3 | $133 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 | 2.00GHz | 800 | 2MB | Now | $113 |
| Intel Pentium E2180 | 2.00GHz | 800 | 1MB | Q4 | $84 |
| Intel Pentium E2160 | 1.80GHz | 800 | 1MB | Now | $84 |
| Intel Pentium E2140 | 1.60GHz | 800 | 1MB | Now | $74 |
It's almost like the early days of the Core 2, when model numbers weren't overly confusing for end users, almost.
Motherboard Requirements for 1333MHz FSB?
While there's no official support for 1333MHz FSB CPUs on Intel's P965 and 975X chipsets, many high end P965 motherboards provide unofficial support with little more than a BIOS update. Obviously if you're building a new system today, Intel's 3-series chipsets all enable the 1333MHz FSB and are available with both DDR2 and DDR3 support. We tested with Gigabyte's GA-P35C-DS3R, which offers four DDR2 and two DDR3 slots, giving you the option of either memory technology.
NVIDIA is quick to point out that all of its 680i based motherboards not only support the 1333MHz FSB but will also support Intel's forthcoming Penryn core, all that's necessary is a BIOS update. Motherboards based on Intel's 3-series chipsets should support Penryn just fine, but the verdict isn't out yet on what P965 boards will work with Intel's first 45nm core due out at the end of this year.
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Pirks - Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - link
again, you're probably right if the silent PC is build with dual core CPU. in my case I've got single core CPU since I don't need any dual core functionality (I mostly play games like Doom 3 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.), and while dual cores from intel are very solid choice for silent PC - single cores from Intel pretty much suck. hence my choice of AMD San Diego single core chip - that chip turned out to be the best "price/performance/watt for gaming" ratio I could find on ebay :) again, this is all about single core CPUs. I have no idea how the picture looks for dualcores, probably Intel got stronger offer here - by the time I'm about to upgrade to dual core Phenom would be around and we'll see again who wins - AMD very often wins by better price, even when their CPUs are slightly inferior to Intel onesutube545 - Thursday, July 19, 2007 - link
Oh, STFU already, you dumb fanboyPirks - Thursday, July 19, 2007 - link
what, you forgot to put some lube on your blue intel dildo again?Zak - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Looks like the Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.00GHz) is a decent pick for gaming machine until games take full advantage of quad-core CPU.Z.
jay401 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Or if you're a budget-conscious gamer, pick up an E4400 for less than half the price and run it at 3.0GHz/1333fsb (drop the multiplier to 9x) which seems to be a pretty common and easy oc with any motherboard capable of 1333fsb.Should show little or no performance difference considering the only hardware difference is it has half the cache which doesn't seem to impact games much if at all.
sprockkets - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Yep, you want a nice fast platform, get Intel. But I've tested power usage of my Abit nview + 3800+ dual core 65nm processor from AMD, and it takes around 115 watts of energy at full load.I think nowadays either you get an ATX gaming system or now try to build the smallest and quietest and coolest mini itx system since they are powerful enough now for most.
bobbyto34 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Yeah for normal home usage, it is interessant to find the best power consumption/ price / performance Ratio.AMD X23800+ @ 65€ was an excellent bargain (good performances ingame, though not as good as C2D).
In some cases, you want only raw performance: usually for work, less time spent waiting, gives you more productivity. At work we have to treat 1gigabyte text files, so the E6700 rocks vs other stations we have (A64 3000+ or P4 3.2Ghz) !
kataras - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
Hello, just wanted to know is this the Core 2 Duo CPU which has no IHS (internal heatsink) on. Was it hard to remove it, do you need special tools? Did it decrease the temp significantly? I am asking this because i am thinking of either removing IHS or lapping my E6320 as it runs really hot indeed. i would be very pleased if you could answer my questions regarding IHS.Thanks
Ron
AMDfreak - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
You can find lots of info about removing the IHS over a the xtremesystems.org forums.microAmp - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
"... whole 7MHz faster than its predecessor may..." on page 2. Should be 70Mhz faster.