Intel's Core Duo meets the desktop

Test Setup:

We ran two sets of benchmarks on the Core Duo T2600 in order to answer a couple of unanswered questions. First, we benchmarked at its default 2.16GHz clock speed to find out how fast the chip was at its factory settings, and then also tested at 2.6GHz in order to compare the Yonah architecture in a clock-for-clock shootout with AMD's Athlon 64 FX-60.

Intel Core Duo System Setup:

AOpen i975Xa-YDG (Intel 975X/ICH7 chipset); BFG Tech GeForce 7800 GT OC video card (operating at 425/1050MHz); 2x512MB Corsair XMS2-5400UL DDR2 memory (running with the 3:5 (667MHz) memory divider at 4.0-2-2-8); Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB SATA Hard Disk Drive; LG 16x DVD-ROM drive, OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU; Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2; Intel Inf 7.22 platform drivers; NVIDIA Forceware 78.03.

Processors:

• Core Duo T2600 - 2.16GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache;
  
• Core Duo T2600 - overclocked to 2.6GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache.

Note: With the Core Duo T2600 running at its default clock speed using the 3:5 (667MHz) memory divider, the memory isn't actually running at 667MHz - it runs at only 553MHz. This problem is removed when the front side bus is overclocked to 200MHz.

AMD Athlon 64 System Setup:

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard (NVIDIA nForce4 SLI chipset); BFGTech GeForce 7800 GT OC video card (operating at 425/1050MHz); 2x512MB Corsair XMS-3200XL Pro memory (running at 400MHz DDR 2.0-2-2-10); Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB SATA hard drive; LG 16x DVD-ROM drive, OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU; Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2; NVIDIA nForce 4 standalone platform drivers version 6.70 WHQL; NVIDIA Forceware 78.03.

Processors:

• AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 - 2.6GHz, 1GHz HTT, 2x1MB L2 cache;
  
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ - 2.4GHz, 1GHz HTT, 2x1MB L2 cache;
  
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ - 2.2GHz, 1GHz HTT, 2x1MB L2 cache;
  
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 - 2.8GHz, 1GHz HTT, 1MB L2 cache;
  
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 - 2.6GHz, 1GHz HTT, 1MB L2 cache.

Intel Pentium Extreme Edition System Setup:

Intel Desktop Board D975XBX (Intel i975X/ICH7R chipset); BFGTech GeForce 7800 GT OC video card (operating at 425/1050MHz); 2x512MB Corsair XMS2-5400UL DDR2 memory (running at 667MHz DDR 4.0-2-2-8); Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB SATA Hard Disk Drive; LG 16x DVD-ROM drive; OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU; Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2; Intel Inf 7.22 platform drivers; NVIDIA Forceware 78.03.

Processors:

• Pentium Extreme Edition 965 - 3.73GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 2x2MB L2 cache, Hyper-Threading Technology Enabled;
  
• Pentium Extreme Edition 955 - 3.46GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 2x2MB L2 cache, Hyper-Threading Technology Enabled;
  
• Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz - 3.73GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache, Hyper-Threading Technology Enabled.

Intel Pentium D System Setup:

Intel Desktop Board D975XBX (Intel i975X/ICH7R chipset); BFGTech GeForce 7800 GT OC video card (operating at 425/1050MHz); 2x512MB Corsair XMS2-5400UL DDR2 memory (running at 533MHz DDR 3.0-2-2-8); Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB SATA Hard Disk Drive; LG 16x DVD-ROM drive; OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU; Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2; Intel Inf 7.22 platform drivers; NVIDIA Forceware 78.03.

Processors

• Pentium D 950 - 3.4GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2x2MB L2 cache;
  
• Pentium D 940 - 3.2GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2x2MB L2 cache;
  
• Pentium D 930 - 3.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2x2MB L2 cache.

We have used our Pentium Extreme Edition 955 processor with its unlocked multiplier to represent these three Pentium D 900-series CPUs. The Pentium D 900-series features the same Intel Presler core using an 800MHz FSB and Hyper-Threading Technology is disabled.