Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Processor - Review

NZXT Beta - Unboxing and Specifications

NZXT has been putting out quite a few cases since 2003, and from budget to higher end models they likely have a case to suit just about anybody. Their mid-tower Beta case is aimed more for the budget-minded enthusiast with a retail price of just south of $50.00. When NZXT offered to send us the Beta case to evaluate, we were more than happy to accommodate them.

After pulling the NZXT Beta out of the box I noticed right away how light it is at just a hair over 16 lbs (7.28kg) which was a little unexpected with this being a steel case. This made me wonder about the build quality which I will speak more about later.

NZXT has listed the features and specifications for the Beta are as follows:

FEATURES:

• Fits ATX standard motherboards and power supplies
• Fits large 10.5" performance graphics cards
• Expanded cooling directly cools video cards and CPU
• Screwless installation for hard drives and external 5.25" drives
• Black internal finish for sleek look
• Meshed front panel allows for better airflow than traditional cases
• Top mounted Dual USB/Audio/ESATA for convenient usage

SPECIFICATIONS

• Case Type: Mid Tower
• Front Panel Material: Plastic
• Dimensions (W x H x D): 200 X 430 X 501 mm / 7.87" x 16.9" x 19.7"
• Cooling System:
• Front, 1 X 120mm Blue LED (included)
• Rear: 1 X 120mm
• Side: 2 x 120mm
• Drive Bays: 9 Drive Bays
• (4) External 5.25" Drive Bays
• (5) Internal 3.5" Drive Bays
• Screwless Rail Design
• Material: Steel with black finish
• Expansion Slots: 7
• Power Supply: 500 Watt PS2 ATX 12V 2.0 (optional)
• Weight: 7.28 KGS (W/O Power)
• Motherboard Support: ATX, MICRO-ATX, BABY AT

What you'll find in the box besides the case is an accessory box packed neatly within the case itself.

Opening it up reveals the contents comprised of HDD drive mount rails, 5.25" & 3.5" bay screwless plastic locks, a small bag of screws and a case speaker.

What you won't find in the box is a manual because it isn't included. However, a nice multilingual thank you note in the box directs you to the web for the manual via PDF download. This is pretty common now, especially with budget products and I personally don't mind NZXT and others keeping their costs low by skipping the hard copy print. Most people toss it after installation anyway. It's always a good idea to grab a copy of the manual if for nothing else than to confirm the polarity of the chassis wires for the power, reset buttons and others.

Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Processor - Technology

The Intel Pentium 4 processor, Intel's most advanced, most powerful processor for desktop PCs and entry-level workstations, is based on Intel NetBurst microarchitecture. The Pentium 4 processor is designed to deliver performance across applications and usages where end-users can truly appreciate and experience the performance. These applications include Internet audio and streaming video, image processing, video content creation, speech, 3D, CAD, games, multimedia, and multi-tasking user environments. The Pentium 4 processor delivers this world-class performance for consumer enthusiasts and business professional desktop users as well as for entry-level workstation users.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 / 3.2 GHz processor

Whether it's gaming, digital photography, or video editing, today's high-impact entertainment demands breakthrough technology. Get the unrivaled multi-core performance of the Intel Core 2 Extreme processors. It's not about playing the game. It's about dominating and winning the game. Designed for extreme performance, the Intel Core 2 Extreme processors feature the whole arsenal of performance-rich technologies.

The Intel Core 2 Duo Processors

The Intel Core 2 Duo processors are built in several of the world's most advanced, high-volume output manufacturing facilities using Intel's leading silicon process technology. The processor family is based on the revolutionary Intel Core microarchitecture, designed to provide powerful yet energy-efficient performance. With the power of dual cores, or computing engines, the processors can manage numerous tasks faster. They also can operate more smoothly when multiple applications are running, such as writing e-mails while downloading music or videos and conducting a virus scan.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 / 2.4 GHz Processor

General Overview:

The Q6600 Is a fantastic new chip by Intel. It provides the end user with an extremely powerful, cheap and multi-purpose chip. At one point this chip would cost you £500 alone. Now they have cut the price down to roughly £170 making it the perfect choice for enthusiasts and gamers alike. The Q6600 has four cores each running at 2.4Ghz with 8mb L2 cache which means it can do four times the work in the same amount of time compared to a single 2.4Ghz core. The Q6600 runs on a 1066Mhz FSB (FSB is the "Front Side Bus" this tells the processor how fast to run when combined with the processor's multiplier which is different depending on which CPU you buy. Increasing the FSB will increase the speed of the processor, known as "Overclocking", there is a section

in this review on overclocking for those who are interested.)

Overclocking:
Overclocking is the art of making your PC parts run faster than they are rated by the manufacturer. For overclocking the CPU this is usually done through the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) which can be accessed by pressing a key that is stated on screen when you first turn on your computer. It is recommended for those who are looking into overclocking to thoroughly read some guides on the internet, or you may end up frying your chip completely. (and overclocking voids warranties so you won't get a refund either.) However if you are careful and know what you are doing you can increase the performance of your pc much more than it normally operates at. The Q6600 is based on the Core 2 archetecture (aka Conroe) which is much more effective than the old Pentium 4 netburst archetecture. Due to the better efficiency you can reach extreme overclocks on the Q6600, as much as 50% overclock on air (Usually stable at around 3.2Ghz with B3 stepping or 3.4Ghz with G0 stepping. See "Steppings" for more information) and around 100% on water (You can reach speeds faster than 4Ghz with watercooling! That's 16Ghz of power in total over all four cores!)

Installation:

The installation of the Q6600 or any Socket 775 CPU (See the "Socket Type" heading for more detail on what a socket is) is fairly simple. All you need to do is lift the small lever on the side of the base that the chip sits on which will release the clamps that hold the CPu in place, then place the cpu onto the slot(Socket 775 CPU's have no pins on the bottom, they are all on the motherboard now so it's quite hard to actually bend the pins, unlike on old processors where they could easily get bent and you'd either have to carefully bend them back perfectly or buy a whole new processor.) making sure the processor is the right way round, to find which way the processor goes there is a small black tab in one corner that shows you which way it goes. All you have to do after that is place the heatsink on top of the processor (Don't forget to add thermal paste if there isn't any already on the bottom of the heatsink, it usually looks like a gray paste. Your CPU may overheat if you don't have thermal paste) and twist the four locks into place to hold the heatsink onto the motherboard. After that you're all set to go and fire up all four cores!

Steppings:
The Q6600 comes in two different steppings. Steppings are the different revisions of the chip's archetecture to further imrpove efficiency. Now about the two different steppings: the B3 stepping and the G0 stepping. What's the difference you ask? The B3 stepping has a TDP (Thermal Design Power, or how much power the CPU uses in watts) of 105w. The G0 stepping has a TDP of 95w which means lower temperatures, and obviously lower power consumption. This also means that the processor can be more easily overclocked.

Socket Type:

As explained before the Q6600 and many other chips are Socket 775 or less commonly known as Socket T. There are quite a few different sockets such as socket 478, socket AM2/AM2+ (for AMD chips.) Considering the Q6600 is Socket 775 we will focus on what that involves for now. Socket 775 is different from other sockets due to the fact it has a "Land Grid Array". What that means is the processor no longer has pins, all of the pins are spring loaded on the motherboard to make it much harder to accidently bend the pins and require a whole replacement of the CPU. (All older processors have the pins located directly on the chip.) The "775" refers to how many pins the socket has to make contact between the motherboard and the CPU. Due to Socket 775 having more pins that most other sockets it provides better power distribution to the processor, which means your system is more stable especially when overclocking.

Performance:
When using multithreaded applications (Applications that can use more than one core at the same time) the Q6600 provides extremely fast calculations, but even if the program is not multithreaded it still provides extremely fast speeds. Even better performance than those of faster pentium 4 chips due to superior archetechture which maximizes the efficiency of transferring and calculating data. The Q6600 is the perfect chip for gamers and enthusiasts alike due to it's speed, large cache, four cores and great overclocking potential. Games will run at full speed with no hitches, feel like encoding that DVD you like so much so you can watch it on your PC? No problem. The Q6600 will do that faster than almost all other CPU's. The Q6600 really is one of the best performing chips you can get.

Conclusion:

In conclusion the Q6600 has to be the best chip you could possibly buy. It's cheap, fast and provides more potential than first meets the eye for those who wish to unlock it's true power. A must have for anybody who wants the most out of their PC.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 / 3 GHz Processor

This is the processor I am using day in and day out and it is by far the best piece of hardware I have ever owned. Not only does it work perfectly and stay cool, it over-clocks like no tomorrow.

I have my little E8400 running at 4.0Ghz on air-cooling which was a lot easier to set-up than I first thought it would be. I was truly amazed at just how much juice this processor could put out without seemingly batting an eye-lid. Of course you will require some pretty good cooling to pull this off, but you can get coolers like the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro or the Xigmatek HDT for around £20 which will be much better than Intel's original cooler that comes with the retail processor package.
Other processors I have owned have complained immensely when put under the pressure I put this Intel CPU under. Some of them have died; some of them
just became unstable. The E8400 though laps the pressure up, it begs for more.

I was never a fan of Intel products; some would say I was an AMD fanboy. So when I purchased this and saw how amazing it was, my opinion changed immediately. They truly are gifted engineers to create a piece of hardware that can get me excited and happy about a product so much that I come here and write a review about it.
The only problem I had with this processor was monitoring the temperatures. It seems to say the temperatures are much higher than they are in reality. For some reason there seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding the temperature probes this chip uses. Now I never did find out if it was my processor, or the software I was using, it doesn't seem to have affected the lifespan of the processor so I am happy.

I will probably never sell this processor, even when I upgrade my computer. I will likely just hide it in a draw in some bubble wrap, so in the future I will find it and be reminded of the good old days. I have no idea where technology is heading now, but when I change this processor to a new one I am sure it will not make its way into my heart like this E8400 did.
I am using this processor with an Abit IP-35E motherboard which is considered a budget board but works superbly with this processor. I am also using a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 to cool the processor which works great too, although the size of it can be a problem in some cases.

So if you are looking for a processor and this one is in your budget, consider it. I know there are Quad Core processors and other such fancy equipment now, but if you are looking for something to love rather than something to use and abuse, the E8400 should be at the top of your list.

Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 / 2.5 GHz Processor

We are now in 21st century and most interesting changes for this period are in computer and mobile phone industries. Life is moving very fast and there is no scope for traditional thinking. So we are getting unexpected technology now days. We have some popular brands in computer technology and they are still getting good response from overall market.
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In this category we have some good dual core processors and they are still very popular with good processing speed and low price. Sometimes ago we got Pentium4 models from Intel and they were long run processors in the line. Celeron series processors are still popular in low budget category. The time is changing very fast and multicore processors are getting
more popularity due to its performance and speed. We cant ignore latest product in dualcore category as they are mandatory for latest applications.
If we have a look on some applications like commonly use Adobe Photoshop, which is now available with CS4, it require atleast 2GHz processor with 2GB RAM. But the reallity is that we cant get such a good performance with 2GHz processor and even 2 GB RAM also.
So If we use latest versions of applications then we definitely need some fast speed and multicore processors.
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Here I am going to discuss about a budget processor from Intel and it is still getting good response with its fast speed performance and low price features. This processor, Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 GHz has some latest features which may be as per your choice, like its new 45nm technology and low poer consumption with about 65 W.
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The new technology with 45 nm is most important feature for this processor as it may be a good choice for hot climatic reasons. Due to this feature, this processor generates very less heat and the problem of computer crash due to high temperature doesn't happen with it. High temperature is a main problem in Asian countries, so this processor can be a good budget choice for these countries.
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Next important features are its fast clock speed with almost 2.5 GHz and front side bus speed of about 800 MHz. One more feature that is important is its 2 MB of L2 cache size.
Now have a look on above features and its performance. The 2,5 GHz speed is good enough for any regular applications with Windows Vista operating system of Macintosh Leopard latest version. 2 GHz and more speed processors with multicore processors are good for this purpose.
This processor also has more than 2 GHz clock speed and 2 processing cores. The next feature of front side data bus speed also require for high speed data transfer. We are getting here 800 MHz of data speed and this is s still very popular for any processor and RAM. If we have same speed RAM with 800 MHz speed than we will get best performance with this processor.
L2 cache performs well to provide smooth running speed with temporary data storage and 2 MB speed is good but not best for multicore processors. But for Windows Vista operating system, atleast 2 MB is necessary.
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Processor is a perfect solution for almost all regular applications and games, for Microsoft office, internet access; Photoshop's all versions and almost all regular games. If we have a good combination with 4 GB of DDR2 RAM with 800 MHz of speed, then we will get superb performance will almost all regular applications and some advanced versions also. It will perform extremely good with Adobe Photoshop CS3 and even with CS4, excellent performance with Autodesk AutoCad 2D application and all regular applications.
For good performance with 3D application, this processor can be a better choice if you have good graphics card installed. We cant get adequate performance even with good quad core processors also without having proper graphics card. So this processor is a good budget choice for some 3D applications also with proper combination of graphics memory. It performs an average performace with Google Sketchup and 3ds max with regular graphics memory. If we have good graphics memory like nvidia quadro then it will performs extremely good.
So have a fun with this for your routine work with high speed performerswithout putting so much of pressure on your pocket. Recommended.

Intel Desktop Board DG33FB Motherboard

The Intel Desktop Board DG33FB Classic Series is built in the ATX form factor, supporting a range of processors including the Intel Core 2 Quad processor and Intel Core 2 Duo processor. This board can support up to 8 GB of dual channel DDR2 800/667 MHz SDRAM. Premium features such as support for Intel Viiv processor technology, Intel High Definition Audio (enabling 5.1 surround sound), Intel PRO 10/100/1000 Network Connection and 1394a deliver stability and new features for consumers to enjoy a great digital entertainment experience. This Intel Desktop Board comes with the software required to meet Intel Viiv processor technology brand verification requirements, which simplifies the task of building a PC based on Intel Viiv processor technology.