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Intel Pentium G6950
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Socket | |||
| Number of cores | 2 | ||
| Clock rate | 2.8 GHz | ||
| Cache | 3 MB | ||
| Thermal Design Power | 73 W | ||
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| Technology | 32 nm |
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Régis Jehl
Test date: May 26, 2010
Test date: May 26, 2010
The Intel range
The Pentium G6000 range arrived in January 2010, and is made up of dual-core processors with a built-in graphics chipset.
Based on the Clarkdale architecture, they have 3 MB of L3 cache and use an 1156 socket. Engineered at 32 nm, their Thermal Design Power is a moderate 73 W.
Based on the Clarkdale architecture, they have 3 MB of L3 cache and use an 1156 socket. Engineered at 32 nm, their Thermal Design Power is a moderate 73 W.
The Pentium G6000 processors are entry-level dual-core CPUs form Intel.
With their built-in graphics, they're primarily designed for use with office applications in desktop PCs. As a result, Intel's advanced technologies like Hyper-threading and Turbo mode don't feature.
Built-in 'graphics card'
Like the Core i3 500 and i5 600 families, the Pentium G6000s include integrated graphics. Let's be clear about what means: they work as if Intel had included a graphics card directly in the processor itself. To use it, you'll need to have a motherboard that uses the H55 chipset. If yours has the P55 chipset, these graphics capabilities will be completely ignored. Don't expect any kind of 3D performance though: these chipsets aren't designed for gaming and are reserved strictly for running applications.
Energy ConsumptionOne of the G6950's strengths is its low energy consumption. When idle, our whole test computer, which includes a very power-hungry graphics card, didn't climb above 97 W. That's a good score, and one which was repeated when it started working, with consumption only climbing to 122 W. It's perfect for office use and your electricity bill isn't going to go through the roof.
Performance: ApplicationsAs we mentioned earlier, you can't expect anything out of the ordinary from this chip, but it will be good enough for anybody who doesn't want to play games in 3D and doesn't make regular use of demanding software for editing photos or re-encoding video. The Pentium G6950 is perfect for use on an office computer, and keeps the OS running smoothly enough to make using most applications easy. We had no problems with Word, Excel, Picasa, browsing the web or playing music or video ...
General overall average.
Click on the graph to see all of our results and compare this CPU to other models.
Click on the graph to see all of our results and compare this CPU to other models.
In practice, the G6950 performs similarly to an AMD Phenom II X2 550. Depending on which programs you're using, one or the other takes a slight lead: Intel won out in our Adobe Lightroom test, while AMD took the lead in WinRAR.
Performance: GamingAvid gamers should look elsewhere. This processor will hold you back while gaming, especially if you have an anyway decent graphics card, which will be underused and unable to perform to the best of its ability. Compared to a Core 2 Duo E8600, the performance can be anywhere between 20% and 30% worse.
| View Performance Index Table |
Pluses
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Moderate energy consumption
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Powerful enough for office use
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Built-in graphics
Minuses
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Not powerful enough for medium or advanced gaming
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Built-in graphics weak
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Not suitable for heavyweight apps
This is an affordable processor for your office PC that is fast enough to keep your OS running smoothing. Don't expect too much from it though: more demanding operations take longer and games really aren't its strong point.
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