X-bit labs

The Youngest of Yorkfields: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Processor Review (page 7)

Category: CPU

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 02/08/2008 | 07:42 PM ]

Overclocked Test Platforms

Having obtained such unexpected overclocking result for Core 2 Quad Q9300, we were very interested to test this processor’s performance not only in nominal but also in overclocked mode. It will be competing against similarly priced Intel CPUs - Core 2 Quad Q6600, Core 2 Duo E8500 and Core 2 Duo E6850 - overclocked to their typical speeds.

• Core 2 Quad Q9300 was overclocked to 3.5GHz obtained as 7.5 x 467MHz. We used the maximum memory divider of 2:1. As a result, Cell Shock DDR3 SDRAM worked at 1868MHz with 8-8-8-24 timings.

• Core 2 Quad Q6600 was overclocked to 3.6GHz set as 8 x 450MHz. We used a lower multiplier in order to clock the memory at 1800MHz frequency.

• Core 2 Duo E8500 overclocked to 4.3GHz. We got this frequency with the nominal multiplier as 9.5 x 453MHz and hence could have the memory working at 1812MHz.

• Core 2 Duo E6850 remained stable only at 3.7GHz obtained as 8 x 463MHz. we had to lower the multiplier in order to clock the memory at 1852MHz.

Besides the above mentioned overclocked CPUs, we also included the results of the upcoming Core 2 Extreme QX9770 that should appear in the market together with other Yorkfield processors. As you know, this CPU works at nominal 3.2GHz frequency and supports 1600MHz bus.