“While in Taiwan for Computex this month someone dropped an engineering sample of a Conroe processor in my pocket. After getting home and getting some motherboards in with Conroe support, I set out to test this CPU and see what numbers Intel was preparing for enthusiasts in July,” Ryan Shrout reports for PC Perspective.
“If you didn’t know any better, the processor below would appear to be just another LGA775 Pentium processor we have played with numerous times. The fact that the face has been lapped clean should indicate that someone didn’t want us to find out where it came from, but regardless, what we have here is an engineering sample of the upcoming Conroe core processor. Intel has already officially announced the name of the upcoming desktop branding for these processors, the Intel Core 2 Duo processor,” Shrout reports.
“Loading up the latest version of CPU-Z, we see that we have a Conroe processor running at 2.67 GHz, with a model number of Core 2 Duo E6700. According to information circulating around the web, this will be the top speed grade of the Core 2 Duo processors; though there will be a 2.93 GHz Core 2 Duo Extreme Edition CPU released as well,” Shrout reports. “These processors are built on the 65nm technology that Intel has been ramping up, with a 266 MHz quad-pumped front side bus for a total bus speed of 1066 MHz.”
“In our results, the idle wattage on the Conroe is actually higher than the Intel 965 and AMD Athlon FX-62 processor — a clear indication that our reference board isn’t doing something right. Chances are our reference platform is doing something incorrectly in terms of power management, so we’ll dismiss those idle results for now. What is worth looking at is the load wattage result — 186 watts on the E6700 vs. 256 watts on the AMD FX-62 processor! Keeping in mind that the performance on the E6700 was almost always HIGHER than the FX-62, you can do that math to see that Conroe is blowing the X2 processors out of the water in terms of performance per watt,” Shrout reports.
“AMD is going to be in more than a bit of trouble come the end of July if they don’t have an answer to Intel’s Core 2 Duo product line. The E6700 sample we tested with here was able to trounce the FX-62 in many cases, and came out the leader in nearly every test we threw at it,” Shrout reports. “The Core 2 Duo E6700 tested here simply swept through the benchmarks, leaving everything in its wake; I can’t wait to run an X6800 through the paces to see how it performs.”
Full article with comprehensive benchmarks here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: It certainly seems like Apple picked the right horse for the near term at the very least.
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Related articles:
Intel’s next-gen Conroe, Merom processors to be dubbed ‘Core 2 Duo’ – May 07, 2006
Intel gets aggressive on next-gen rollout schedules: Merom MacBook Pros, Conroe Power Macs, more – May 03, 2006
Intel showcases next-gen multi-core ‘Conroe’ processors, may turn up in future Apple Power Macs – March 07, 2006
But the heat is still a factor.
Any idea when they’ll upgrade the iMac?? Whether it be Conroe or Merom.
More here guys!!
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=103982
According to the thread and pictures:
Release date by Intel in volume by Jan 2007
Air cooled, with no fan 95-100ºF
Cinebench 2003 Multiple CPU Render Test – “Daylight” – 16 seconds!
My estimation of the “Mac Pro” lineup will be like past lineups:
Single 1.6, 1.8 Dual 2 (when PowerMac G5 first released)
Dual 2, Dual 2.3, Quad (present)
Estimated future lineup:
Quad X ghz, Quad X ghz, Dual Quad X ghz $$$ (most likely $6000)
fan cooled?, fan cooled?, liquid cooled.
What’s with the advertisements for motherboards, etc.
I thought this was a Mac site.
Why don’t you shill Windows XP.
Seriously dudes, lose the inline text ads. They sucks
Ok guys my link above is for the Kensfield which is a Dual dual-core Conroe, a Quad processor.
Seriously dudes, lose the inline text ads. They sucks
Simple remedy: sudo pico /etc/hosts, arrow to the bottom and add: 0.0.0.0 macdailynews.us.intellitxt.com
control X, Y and press return.
You can learn how to block your computer from accessing servers easily online, just search for editing hosts file.
An Octo-Powered “G5”?!! Sweet! Codename: “OctoPussy”…
kicks Core Duo “2” + OS X Leopard’s sweet hiney!
And AMD + XP is available NOW! Duo 2 and Leopard? Hope you can wait for autunm, suckers!
It does not fit into Apple´s plan to release new processors in their computers as fast as Intel brings out new ones.
Watch and see that soon the Windows computer makers will be using faster versions than Apple. This is where Dell will excel. Apple has everything coordinated to fit into Steve´s trade fair schedule.
Static Mesh: I use the hosts file thingie a lot, but never thought of using it for the intellitxt junk. Thanks.
Now, about power….
My Quad draws 253 watts at idle, and I’ve seen it go as high as 340 when Quicktime is encoding several movies at once. That’s for the entire computer – the G5’s, the 7800 graphics card, 4.5GB of memory, 2 drives, and several things powered from firewire & USB. So to put this article into perspective, these 4 cores here are consuming probably close to 186 watts, about what the dual core Conroe is consuming. I’m waiting for someone to benchmark the Conroe against a Quad. I’m not too impressed with it’s power consumption and I doubt if I’ll be left in its wake either.
HAL,
I disagree to some degree. If you notice that the new processors are compatible with each other’s socket and chipset. Apple probably mandated that. Look at how a test CPU can be put into a mac mini and still work. Apple can simply upgrade the chipset software and keep the motherboard with each upgrade of CPU.
Apple can simply upgrade the chipset software and keep the motherboard with each upgrade of CPU.
The problem with that is so can millions of savy Mac users, that’s going to eat into Apple’s hardware sales quite a bit.
I would love to upgrade my duallie 2 to a Quad for a few hundred bucks.
“The problem with that is so can millions of savy Mac users, that’s going to eat into Apple’s hardware sales quite a bit.”
Not if Apple solders the chips into the motherboard like they have with the Macbooks and Macbook Pros.
Not if Apple solders the chips into the motherboard like they have with the Macbooks and Macbook Pros.
All right you are, didn’t have my coffee this morning.
These will be available in Macs within a month or so. The MacBook Pros will get Meroms in September.
Ok, going by Cinebench multiple cpu rendering scores.
Kensfield (Quad core Intel) – 1649
PPC Quad (dual Dual Core 2.5 Gz) – 1016
This means the Kensfield Quad processor is about 60% faster than the PowerMac G5 Quad.
Of course a Octo-Core Mac Pro would be really smoking.
“Cinebench 2003 Multiple CPU Render Test – “Daylight” – 16 seconds!”
Anybody have any data on how a G5 compares in this test? I need to see if its much faster than a G5.
Mark
Mark, the G5 scores just a bit lower than a corresponding Core Duo in this test.
Power Mac G5 2Ghz dual-core: 552
MacBook Pro 2Ghz Core Duo: 563
The 2Ghz Core 2 Duo (MacBook Pro) will probably score at least a 715, while the 2.66Ghz Core 2 Duo (new workstation Mac) will probably score at least a 925 – not far from the quad-core G5 PowerMac score!
Power Mac G5 2.7Ghz dual CPU: 734
Yo Mama Mac Core 2 Duo 2.65Ghz: 925 (estimate)
Apple was wise to switch.
Nobody is even talking about the fact that the Core 2 Duo has SSE4 support – finally a 128bit vector processor, much closer to altivec power than SSE3 is.
My Duallie 2 does the “Daylight” test in 45 seconds. 🙁
I noticed that the 2.67Ghz Core 2 Duo is scoring 825 in windows, so let would probably get more like at 850 in Mac OS X – not 925 like I guessed before.
Cinebench scales well but not perfectly. It would probably get more like 1550 in a quad-core configuration. The quad-core G5 2.5Ghz scores at least 1100 in all the results I’ve found, indicating more like a 32% performance improvement (not 60%, static mesh) if you take the 2.5Ghz vs 2.67Ghz difference into account. Still, that’s a sweet improvement.
Hey the Kensfield processor has a whopping 8 MB cache!
That’s gotta be where most of the performance is coming from.
No reponse yet on a PPC Quad and the timed “Daylight” Cinebench Mulitiple CPU yet, anyone?
Static Mesh:
My MacBook Pro 1.83Ghz does it in 42 seconds, and my hardware OpenGL score is 2495. Not bad for something purchased months ago for $1699…
Static Mesh,
judging from the 1100 score we’re seeing, the rendering time is probably about 20 seconds for the quad G5.
…indicating more like a 32% performance improvement..
So a small speed bump, basically they are still catching up to the G5 processors.
I figure a Quad PPC could do the Daylight test in about 17-19 seconds, based upon a mythical Quad 2 ghz doing it in 45/2 seconds.
The processors will be cooler for sure, thus no liquid cooling for the single Kensfield Mac Pro’s, but performance wise they won’t be a great leap over present PPC Quad machines as I totally expected.
They are adding more cores and trying to make them cooler, not faster, because they can’t.
Programmers must be burning the midnight oil trying to figure out how to multi-thread their apps. Expect some heavy price tags for new Quad optimized software from the likes of Adobe.
judging from the 1100 score we’re seeing, the rendering time is probably about 20 seconds for the quad G5.
Yea we are on about the same page for that for sure.
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Ok, Kensfield is just like the Dual Core’s, just catching up to the similar G5 processors.
My MacBook Pro 1.83Ghz does it in 42 seconds, and my hardware OpenGL score is 2495. Not bad for something purchased months ago for $1699…
Yea and my dual 2 Ghz was $3000 3 years ago and now just matches your MPB in CPU performance, so now I’m good for another 2-3 years, the life of your MPB, and I still 3D game better too.
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Laptop + performance = no value.
Static Mesh:
“So a small speed bump, basically they are still catching up to the G5 processors.”
We’ve already seen that the Core Duo beats the G5 at the same clock rate. Heck, my 1.83Ghz MacBook Pro is even edging out your dual 2Ghz G5 workstation in the Cinebench rendering test.
The Core 2 Duo beats the G5 by more than the Core Duo already does, at the same clock rate – and the Core 2 Duo will be available all the way up to 2.93Ghz (“extreme edition”) right away.
As awesome as the G5 is, the Core Duo is a little bit better and Core 2 Duo is better still.