Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 review

2D and 3D operations

In the 2D/3D category, we first consider Cinebench, a rendering test based on Maxxon Cinema 4D. This reveals the greatest performance gain so far: the quadcore performs 68% better than the dualcore of the same clock speed, and 53% better than the previous Extreme Edition:

	Cinebench R9.5 x64
	Core 2 Extreme QX6700	1449
	Dual Opteron 2216	1233
	Core 2 Extreme X6800	945
	Athlon FX-62	867
	Core 2 Duo E6700	858
	Athlon X2 5000+	809
	Core 2 Duo E6400	688

In the Photoshop CS2 Filtertest, various filters and transformations are performed on a set of five photographs (two with a resolution of six megapixels, and three with a ten megapixel resolution. The result of the test is the total time that Photoshop CS 2 needed for the execution of the transformations. Here, too, the quadcore proves its mettle, but not as convincingly as in the Cinebench test:

	Photoshop CS2 Filtertest (time)
	Core 2 Extreme QX6700	112.6
	Core 2 Extreme X6800	133.0
	Core 2 Duo E6700	139.7
	Core 2 Duo E6400	171.0
	Athlon FX-62	186.0
	Dual Opteron 2216	195.7
	Athlon X2 5000+	209.8

The next benchmark is a combination of the Photoshop CS2 Filtertest and importing a photo shoot in the background, which consists of 199 RAW images in Adobe Lightroom (beta 3). We indicate the time needed for both applications. The dual Opteron, which was playing second fiddle in the tests so far, manages to show its teeth here by beating the Kentsfield in Photoshop. However, the Opteron's performance is probably more due to the RAID5 array than to computing power. Moreover, the AMD system spends longer on the other application, making the QX6700 the winner after all:

	Photoshop + Lightroom (Photoshop time)
	Dual Opteron 2216	207.2
	Core 2 Extreme QX6700	235.5
	Core 2 Extreme X6800	267.6
	Athlon FX-62	285.6
	Core 2 Duo E6700	290.5
	Athlon X2 5000+	300.2
	Core 2 Duo E6400	341.8

	Photoshop + Lightroom (Lightroom time)
	Core 2 Extreme QX6700	664.6
	Core 2 Extreme X6800	779.9
	Core 2 Duo E6700	867.6
	Core 2 Duo E6400	927.6
	Dual Opteron 2216	991.8
	Athlon FX-62	1065.8
	Athlon X2 5000+	1111.9

We ran the Photoshop CS2 Filtertest for a third time with another application running in the background. This time, 102 JPEG images are de-noised using Neat Image 5.5, and subsequently saved as .tiff files. Again, we show what time both applications needed. The quadcore does a very good job by beating its dualcore predecessor by three minutes, which means a cut in the time needed of 37%:

	Photoshop + Neat Image (Photoshop time)
	Core 2 Extreme QX6700	133.7
	Core 2 Extreme X6800	173.5
	Core 2 Duo E6700	184.1
	Athlon FX-62	223.6
	Dual Opteron 2216	244.7
	Core 2 Duo E6400	278.4
	Athlon X2 5000+	318.9

	Photoshop + Neat Image (Neat Image time)
	Core 2 Extreme QX6700	310.2
	Core 2 Extreme X6800	448.0
	Core 2 Duo E6700	494.7
	Dual Opteron 2216	581.1
	Core 2 Duo E6400	618.8
	Athlon FX-62	734.7
	Athlon X2 5000+	779.9

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