III. Intel® Core™ Micro Architecture Overview of Features

If you have read the earlier article, you may want to skip this section.

Before proceeding with the testing of the processor, it is important to lay down the new features found on this new breed of processors. It is because these new processors, though similar in appearance, are working like they are on heavy steroids. Here's a company snippet:

Announcing Intel® Core™2 Processor Family Brand

Unified Desktop and Mobile Processor Brand Name Helps Users Better Choose the Right Solution.

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor is the new brand name for our next-generation energy-efficient performance desktop and mobile processors. Formerly known by their codenames Conroe and Merom, the Intel® Core™2 processors for desktop and mobile computers are based on the Intel® Core™ microarchitecture, Intel's new industry-leading foundation for all mobile, desktop and server platforms moving forward.

By offering a single brand name for our mainstream desktop and laptop dual-core processors, Intel's branding strategy makes it simple for consumers and businesses to choose a powerful and energy efficient processor – and makes it easier for developers to "write once, run everywhere."

• Intel® Wide Dynamic Execution

  • Executes 4 instructions per clock cycle vs. 3 per clock with AMD*

• Intel® Smart Cache

  • Each core can access shared L2 cache vs. dedicated L2 for each core in AMD* K8 DC
  • Shared L2 can adapt to each core’s load
  • Fast Data Sharing

• Intel® Smart Memory Access

  • Maximizes main memory to CPU bandwidth and reduces latency
  • "Feeds the pipeline" improves the rate at which data flows
  • Data is Where You Need it, When You Need It

• Intel® Advanced Digital Media Boost

  • 2x throughput on many multimedia instructions
  • Provides performance boost on each core

• Intel® Intelligent Power Capability

  • Ultra fine-grained power control
  • Microarchitecture devices are only on when they need to be
  • Split Bus – so that data required in some modes of operation can be put in a low power state when not needed

I will not delve into each detail of the features, suffice it to say that there are many sites that covers this already. Maybe in the future, I'll make a short separate overview article of the capabilities of the CPU.

Test Setup

_{Images are found on the web and owned by respective owners}

Motherboard: Intel® D975XBX Desktop Board Rev 304 BIOS 1209
The Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme QX6700 Processor will be slotted on the Intel® D975XBX Desktop board. This motherboard supports all current Intel® processors, but take note of the revision and BIOS version of this board since other revisions of this motherboard will not be supporting the new processors. This motherboard also supports a lot of features, but for the purpose of testing, I will limit the system build on the basic components: a single floppy, a SATA RAID 0 hard drive, a single IDE optical drive, a PCIe video card, and 2x512MB of DDR2-667MHz RAM.

Memory: DDR2-667MHz RAM/Micron* Chips 2x512MB (CL5-5-5-15 SPD)
The RAM used will be a value RAM with Fat Micron D9 chips, rated at DDR2-667MHz CL5-5-5-15. This is a different RAM from the previous test bed I have tried but this RAM shares similar features. This should be good enough for a 1:1 and 4:5 ratio when used with a processor that runs on 200MHz or 266MHz system bus.

Hard Drive: Seagate* Barracuda 120GB SATA RAID 0
To speed up installation of OS and access of files, I decided to use my two(2) Seagate* Barracude SATA hard drive and configured it as RAID 0.

Video Card: Power Color* X800GT
I decided to use a Powercolor X800GT PCIe Video Card as this would fit most of those who likes mainstream gaming and powerful 2D graphics. This video card is also powerful but it does not gulp large amount of electricity which should help me ensure the stability of the motherboard. The video card will not be modified nor tweaked in any way.

Power Supply: HEC* WinPower 550
To ensure that I will not be hampered by power fluctuation and instability, I used a much beefier power supply that I can currently muster out of my lab. While I have Antec Neo 480w, Ultra X-Connect 500w, and Enermax 450W the WinPower has 550w in reserve power. The other benefits of this power supply is, aside from the bling bling blue LED fan, is that it has native 24Pin ATX, SLI ready, and has two(2) 2x2 12v connector.

Chassis: Thermaltake* LANFire Xaser III
Testing will be done inside my trusty Thermaltake LANFire Xaser III. The choice of chassis is just out of random, to ensure that I will be getting an accurate results with temperature reading of the CPU both in idle and full load. This chassis has proven itself to me for quite some time and I know that it offers great air flow. I also love the chassis for its light weight design, and nice clear side panel window. This chassis doesn't come with a power supply, and I believe can be had for less than Php7,000. Pretty pricey, but all I can say is that I really love this chassis and hasn't cause any parts installed inside it to burn.

Optical Drive: OEM DVD Drive
Well, I don't particularly have a use for a good known DVD drive but if you have one and willing to donate it to me, then I'm all open arms :). Anyway, this OEM DVD drive will remain nameless until I got off my lazy bum, but nonetheless, this DVD drive has served me well and has never let me down. It's really an old DVD drive, and I don't even know how fast this baby run. One thing is sure though, it's longer than usual drive seen today and it's a lot heavier.

Full Specifications

• Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme QX6700 (2.66Ghz)/Reference Stock Cooler
• Motherboard: Intel® D975XBX i975 Rev304
• Memory: 2x512MB DDR2-PC5300@D@CL5-5-5-15(Auto)
• Video Card: Powercolor* X800GT 256MB
• Hard Disk: Seagate* Barracuda 120GB x2 RAID 0
• Optical Drive: OEM DVD Drive
• Floppy Drive: Sony 1.44Mb
• Chassis: Thermaltake* LanParty
• Power Supply: HEC* WinPower 550
• Operating System: Windows* XP SP2

It's time to party!