How good is Intel's Core 2 Duo?

Intel’s Core 2 Duo is the darling of today’s processor market with good reason: it’s quicker, cooler-running and more energy-efficient than its predecessors.

PCW’s reviews have already confirmed it’s a great performer, but how does it compare in terms of power consumption and lower temperatures? Can Core 2 Duo really combine industry-leading speed with environmental friendliness and quiet cooling?

I put the Core 2 Duo E6700 to the test. Clocked at 2.66GHz, it’s the fastest mainstream desktop Core 2 Duo at the time of writing, with only the pricey X6800 Extreme Edition coming in any quicker.

A fast processor deserves an equally fast motherboard and tests have shown those based on Intel’s 975X chipset can outperform models using the 965 chipset. Because I also wanted to test the E6700’s overclocking capabilities I selected the Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard, a 975X-based model that is already earning itself a reputation as an overclocker’s delight.

There’s one small snag, though. If you’re also going for a 975X-based motherboard for a Core 2 Duo system, you must get one that is Core 2-ready in order to support the processor’s lower voltage requirements; older versions won’t work.

It’ll also need to run a Bios version that supports Core 2 Duo processors, but beware – many so-called Core 2-ready boards with 975X chipsets still run an older Bios. You can update it, but you’ll need an older Pentium to do so (see ‘Are you Core 2-ready?’ later).

All Core 2 Duo desktop processors operate on a 1,066MHz FSB and, like the older Pentium architecture, this is derived using quadruple-data-rate technology – so the actual external clock is 266MHz. This means the memory, which uses double-data-rate technology, will be effectively run at 533MHz if it’s operating in synchronous mode.

While PC2-4200 DDR2 memory rated at 533MHz would do the trick, I needed something with more headroom to allow for overclocking by increasing the FSB. With this in mind, I fitted 2GB of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400, which can be clocked as high as 800MHz, or 400MHz externally.

Completing the test rig was a Gigabyte NX66256DP Nvidia Geforce 6600 PCI Express graphics card and a 400GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 hard disk loaded with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

Keeping the processor cool was the big but very efficient Zalman CNPS9500 heatsink. The disk, OS, graphics card and Crucial Dimms were the same as those used in previous Hardware column benchmarks, allowing direct comparisons to be made.

Before testing the Core 2 Duo with this configuration, I slipped an older 3.6GHz Pentium 4 model 660 into the Asus motherboard in order to update its Bios and took the opportunity to run a full suite of benchmarks for comparative purposes.

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