News
Buyer's Guide: The Best Monitors 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Socket | 775 | ||
| Number of cores | 4 | ||
| Clock rate | 2.4 GHz | ||
| Cache | 8 MB | ||
| Thermal Design Power | 105 W | ||
 Show all specifications
|
|||
| Technology | 65 nm |
 Hide specifications | |
Régis Jehl
Test date: November 6, 2008
Test date: November 6, 2008
Quad-Core from Intel
Released in November 2006, the Core 2 Quad Q6000 line was Intel's first collection of quad-core processors. They are the equivalent of the dual-core models found in the Core 2 Duo E6000 line. This Q6600 arrived in January 2007 and was refined in April 2007.
Based on the Kentsfield architecture, these processors fit 775 sockets and have an 8 MB cache.
Based on the Kentsfield architecture, these processors fit 775 sockets and have an 8 MB cache.
For a long time, the Q6600 was for a long time Intel's entry-level quad-core processor offering, although by entry-level, CPU manufacturers have a tendancy to mean the cheapest of wht can be rather expensive lines.
Despite the fact that it has largely been superseded by the Core 2 Quad Q8200, the Q6600 remains a solid processor, and even beat the newermodel in some of our tests.
Compare the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 with the Intel Core 2 Duo 8200 and other CPUs in our
Product Face-Off
Product Face-Off
When we put them through our image editing test in Photoshop CS3, for instance, the Q6600 applied the filter to our test photo in just 2 minutes 56 seconds in place of the 3 minutes 33 taken by the Q8200.
It seems that as well as having an extra 67 MHz on board, the Q6600's 8 MB of cache--twice as much as is available on the Q8200--helped it come out on top.
Where the new Q8000 series does better, though, is in terms of power consumption.
Engineered at a smaller scale, they use a lot less energy, meaning that the Q8200 used only 161 W at rest, while the Q6600 caused our test machine to draw 180 W while idling.
The results are similar with the CPU load at 100%: our test PC used 222 W with the Q8200, but 282 W with the Q6600.
Pluses
-
Classic quad-core performance: speedy across the board
-
Good in non-optimized applications too
Minuses
-
High power consumption
-
Superseded by the Q8xxx line
This was one of the first quad-core processors to hit the market, and part of Intel's inaugural four core line. Despite the arrival of more powerful CPUs, it's still a strong performer.
