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Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
Intel's new Duo processor arrives to offer
computer users another revolutionary experience through increased
performance and reduced power consumption with this 45nm processor. The
processor runs at 3.16Ghz, supports a bus speed of 1333Mhz, an L2 Cache
Size of 6MB, an L2 Cache Speed of 3.16GHz and 65W thermal design power.
The processor is also a true 64-bit processor, ensuring that the latest
applications will run flawless on this processor, including mid to high-range
games.
Features
-
Dual Core
-
Enhanced Intel
Speedstep® Technology
-
Intel® EM64T 1
-
Intel®
Virtualization Technology
-
Enhanced Halt State
(C1E)
-
Execute Disable Bit
2
-
Intel® Thermal
Monitor 2
We tested the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 with
PCMark05, one of the world's best benchmarking programs which gives you
a true indication of real-world applications. This tested a variety of
points from multi-tasking, CPU performance, memory performance and a
plethora of other aspects.
PCMark05 - System
| Intel QX9770 |
(8623) |
| Intel QX9650 |
(8434) |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
(8321) |
PCMark05 - CPU
| Intel QX9770 |
(9823) |
| Intel QX9650 |
(9623) |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
(8101) |
PCMark05 - Memory
| Intel QX9770 |
(6734) |
| Intel QX9650 |
(6593) |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
(6690) |
Although not as powerful as the QX series
of processors from Intel, the E8500 still performaned exceptionally well
given the new architecture and cost associated to the CPU.
Next we tested the CPU with 3DMark06,
another leading benchmark utility that is aimed at the graphical
capabilities of the system and gives us a focus point to how well it
will play with games.
3DMark06 - CPU
| Intel QX9770 |
(5012) |
| Intel QX9650 |
(4823) |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
(2910) |
The Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 was a little
disappointing in this test, especially for gamers who may be curious to
see what this CPU will be like with games, however this more likely a
limitation of the software so we decided to test the CPU with Quake 4, a
classic first person shooter.
Quake 4
| Intel QX9770 |
(118) |
| Intel Core 2 Duo
E8500 |
(114) |
| Intel QX9650 |
(103) |
As you can see from the results,
the E8500 actually performed quite well with Quake 4 which is great news
for gamers who enjoy first person shooters. Other games tested were
Crysis and Conflict: Denied Ops with the processor performing quite
well. Next was a more modern game called Company of Heroes.
Company of Heroes is quite a graphically
intensive game with a multitude of processes going on all at once so it
was interesting to see how the E8500 would perform in this category due
to the power behind the game.
Company of Heroes
| Intel QX9770 |
(510) |
| Intel Core 2 Duo
E8500 |
(485) |
| Intel QX9650 |
(410) |
Another victory for the E8500 against the
QX9650 and it was just behind the more powerful QX9770 which shows that
this new architecture will keep up with games of today.
In conclusion, Intel new 45nm processors
has quite a potential which may yet again revolutionize the market
with its increased performance and best of all reduced power
consumption. The best part of the processor for gamers anyway is the
performance of the CPU with the only downside we can see is that it is
only dual-core and not quad core.
It's a very difficult to decision to
make between Quad and Dual which will only be reflected in the market
for a short time as Quads and Eight-cores will eventually be the future.
For the price, it's definitely a great deal for the interim. |
