Intel’s latest quad-core chip:
The Core 2 Extreme QX6850 is not a significant leap forward from the previous QX6800. The speed was increased from 2.93GHz to 3.0GHz and the front-side bus of 1,066MHz increased to 1,333MHz. This is not much of an improvement so..
You may be wondering why I’m writing about the QX6850 if nothing new or interesting was added? The improvement was not in hardware but in the price. For $999, Intel’s new chip is significantly cheaper than the QX6800, and slightly faster.
Cost is just as important
I think Intel made a smart move because AMD is becoming consumer choice. Intel’s benchmarks may be faintly superior to AMD’s soon to come quad core chip, but try and justify the $300 to $400 price gap. Competition is fierce since quad core will soon become standard as a result of Windows Vista and DirectX 10.
Compliant Motherboards
The QX6850 uses the same standard LGA 775 design, which means that you don’t necessarily need a next-generation motherboard to use it. But this baby works best on Intel G33, P35, and X38 chipsets or Nvidia’s 600 series board. Other boards won’t utilize all its overwhelming features. Intel’s X38 motherboards will soon be released. Obviously, this is the board of choice for running their chip and it also implements PCI Express 2.0.
Why is Intel better than AMD?
One huge advantage to buying an Intel chip over an AMD chip is software. For the end of 2007, Intel promises a next generation chip architecture code named “Penryn”. Some of the new features include SSE 4.0 (multimedia) and 45-nanometer processing. This results in a cooler chip and allows faster clock speeds.
As personal advice:
Don’t buy this chip just yet. I suggest waiting until AMD releases Barcelona, its competitive quad core chip. You never know what system will get top scores in the end.
