DH Review: Intel Quad 6600 (Q6600)

Zardon · Apr 4, 2007, 12:59 AM

Read The Review Here
____________________________

With the recent release of games such as Supreme Commander which make use of more than two processing cores many of our readers may be contemplating a move to a Quad core CPU. It is fair to say they are still expensive especially when you look at the £650 QX6700. Attempting in someway to address this Intel have released the Q6600 which is meant to be targeted at a slightly lower end market. Don't be jumping for joy just yet, they still retail in excess of £500. The Q6600 offers 1066mhz FSB and 2x4MB of level 2 cache abeit at a lower clock speed of 2.4ghz (266x9) compared to the 2.66ghz its “extreme” edition brother offers. The Q6600 is also multipler locked (above 9x).

Arklon · Apr 4, 2007, 01:09 AM

No SupCom benchmarks?

Zardon · Apr 4, 2007, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arklon

No SupCom benchmarks?

No, I had planned on doing this, but i ran out of time, i have however worked out a system which we will use in future for this game for cpu testing, which will take frame rates across a two hour game and work out averages, this should be a good method for showing gains with specific cpus especially when a game reaches unit population caps with multiple AIs running....... (a true test of quad core).

It isnt the kind of game you run a 30 second benchmark and report back because the frame rates don't tell the true picture.

So apologies for not covering it in this review, however the time factor played a massive part, me handling this review has slowed up quite a few others (as I edit and design everything else from the team of reviewers we have).

Judas · Apr 4, 2007, 01:26 AM

2 hour benchmarks.... mmmmmmm, sounds like pure accuracy...

look forward to those...

Vampyromaniac · Apr 4, 2007, 06:42 AM

Bless you for using VDub for XviD benchmarking!

**temeteus82** · Apr 4, 2007, 09:14 AM

Zardon you used DVD in XviD benchmark??

Zardon · Apr 4, 2007, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by temeteus82

Zardon you used DVD in XviD benchmark??

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/Q6600/encoding.php this page?

That was a video file on the HD man.

**temeteus82** · Apr 4, 2007, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/Q6600/encoding.php this page?

That was a video file on the HD man.

Yeah I meant that one. How long was the duration of that clip? Trying to figure out rendering fps rate. Since I do some video editing and DVD/XviD encoding for one theatre in Helsinki. I'm wondering how long it would take on that CPU to render 1h 30 min DV clip to DVD or XviD, sound is 48 kHz PCM 16 bit.

Erroneus · Apr 4, 2007, 10:16 AM

Divx 6 has great support for mulitple cores also.

Looking forward to see what Valve has been able to do with HL2-EP2, if not more fps, better IQ.

Zardon · Apr 4, 2007, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by temeteus82

Yeah I meant that one. How long was the duration of that clip? Trying to figure out rendering fps rate. Since I do some video editing and DVD/XviD encoding for one theatre in Helsinki. I'm wondering how long it would take on that CPU to render 1h 30 min DV clip to DVD or XviD, sound is 48 kHz PCM 16 bit.

if you give me a file size (or movie length), app you want tested, and quality settings, ill try it out later for you.

Hows that for service?

**temeteus82** · Apr 4, 2007, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

if you give me a file size (or movie length), app you want tested, and quality settings, ill try it out later for you.

Hows that for service?

Well I use Sony's DVD architect to render the DVD's from DV file (avi) lenght is usually 1 hour 30 minutes. And the video is packed with normal DV codec and audio is PCM 48kHz 16 bit stereo. And usually the bitrate in video is too high for one single layer DVD so I use fit to disc to reduce video bitrate. It's usually around 8 to 9 Mbps. Audio is just the same. Got it? And its too good service!

Zardon · Apr 4, 2007, 01:43 PM

ill do my best. I only had a 1hr 45min file handy in AVI format, around 1200 megabytes. I set it to resize to fit a 4.5gb DVD and it took around 7mins.50sec-8mins.10secs to render to HD (i figured you didnt need direct to DVD tests as it would take into account DVD burner speeds etc) - there was some compression involved. First time ive used sony architect even though it is an application we have had here for testing, seems a nice app btw and runs well in vista (which I have just installed for other testing on my 52 inch 1080p HDTV so sorry if you wanted XP testing its probably much the same). It never seemed to (totally) load all four cores however, hovering around 85% cpu usage. Obviously this is not identical to your settings but it might give you a rough idea?

**temeteus82** · Apr 4, 2007, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

ill do my best. I only had a 1hr 45min file handy in AVI format, around 1200 megabytes. I set it to resize to fit a 4.5gb DVD and it took around 7mins.50sec-8mins.10secs to render to HD (i figured you didnt need direct to DVD tests as it would take into account DVD burner speeds etc) - there was some compression involved. First time ive used sony architect even though it is an application we have had here for testing, seems a nice app btw and runs well in vista (which I have just installed for other testing on my 52 inch 1080p HDTV so sorry if you wanted XP testing its probably much the same). It never seemed to (totally) load all four cores however, hovering around 85% cpu usage. Obviously this is not identical to your settings but it might give you a rough idea?

[image removed]

First thaks for doing this. Means a lot to mee.

Yeah that Sony's DVD Architect has all the things I need. I've used it since I started to do DVD's for this theatre. I think that OS isn't so big issue in here. So that gives me good view how it would go in xp. Setings are around the same what you had. So I got the idea how well it does it. It takes around 5 times longer on my rig

btw. a bit oftopic but could dh have some small video editing guide since we have that PS guide

Zardon · Apr 4, 2007, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by temeteus82

. a bit oftopic but could dh have some small video editing guide since we have that PS guide

Yes its a good idea, if you would like to help out, drop me a PM.

Apr 4, 2007, 12:59 AM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	DH Review: Intel Quad 6600 (Q6600) Read The Review Here ____________________________ With the recent release of games such as Supreme Commander which make use of more than two processing cores many of our readers may be contemplating a move to a Quad core CPU. It is fair to say they are still expensive especially when you look at the £650 QX6700. Attempting in someway to address this Intel have released the Q6600 which is meant to be targeted at a slightly lower end market. Don't be jumping for joy just yet, they still retail in excess of £500. The Q6600 offers 1066mhz FSB and 2x4MB of level 2 cache abeit at a lower clock speed of 2.4ghz (266x9) compared to the 2.66ghz its “extreme” edition brother offers. The Q6600 is also multipler locked (above 9x).

Apr 4, 2007, 06:42 AM	#5
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	Bless you for using VDub for XviD benchmarking! __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Apr 4, 2007, 10:16 AM	#9
Erroneus Get off my lawn! Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 13,419 Rep Power: 119 System Specs	Divx 6 has great support for mulitple cores also. Looking forward to see what Valve has been able to do with HL2-EP2, if not more fps, better IQ. __________________

Apr 4, 2007, 01:09 AM	#2
Arklon HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 163 Rep Power: 0	No SupCom benchmarks?

Apr 4, 2007, 01:43 PM	Thread Starter #12
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	ill do my best. I only had a 1hr 45min file handy in AVI format, around 1200 megabytes. I set it to resize to fit a 4.5gb DVD and it took around 7mins.50sec-8mins.10secs to render to HD (i figured you didnt need direct to DVD tests as it would take into account DVD burner speeds etc) - there was some compression involved. First time ive used sony architect even though it is an application we have had here for testing, seems a nice app btw and runs well in vista (which I have just installed for other testing on my 52 inch 1080p HDTV so sorry if you wanted XP testing its probably much the same). It never seemed to (totally) load all four cores however, hovering around 85% cpu usage. Obviously this is not identical to your settings but it might give you a rough idea?