Posted:2007-03-22 By cpu review Number of View:40809
CORE 2 DUO E6420 4MB L2 VS CORE 2
DUO E6400 2MB L2 REVIEW BENCHMARK
AND OVERCLOCK
By :cpu review
Posted:2007-03-22
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As is known from our news section, on 22 April , intel company plans to release several new inexpensive processors core 2 Duo. In the number of expected proposals we have : the processors core 2 Duo e6420, E6320 and E4400 . After the release of these new processor the cost of low-end models CPU with micro-architecture core will get in the price range $100-$200, which will make them attractive proposal for economical overclockers.
In this review we will introduce two processors : Core 2 Duo e6420 and E6320, whose cost will compose $183 and $163 respectively. These are the cheapest versions. Their basic task will become the increase of performance level in the lower part of dual core Intel CPU . Specifically, using these processors intel company plans to attack AMD positions .
The main update in core 2 Duo e6420 and E6320 should be considered the increased to 4 Mbytes cache in the second level. I.e., These processors adapts the same conroe core as in high end models . However, from technological view the processors core 2 Duo e6420 and E6320 do not contain any update . This completely usual CPU, based on core conroe, which work at frequencies 2.13 and 1.86 GHz respectively. Utilized frequency FSB is equal to 1066 MHz. In other words, these processors, with exception of L2 cache volume do not differ from Core 2 Duo e6400 and E6300.
The detailed specifications Of core 2 Duo e6420 and E6320 confirm that these processors are analogous to high end models, built on core conroe, differing only in terms of the lower clock frequency.
Core 2 Duo e6420
Core 2 Duo e6320
Processor core
Conroe
Default frequency
2.13 GHz
1.86 GHz
System bus Frequency
1066 MHz
Multiplier
8x
7x
Second level Cache
4 Mbytes
Packing
LGA775
Production Technology
65 nm
Core Stepping
B2
TDP
65 W
Supply voltage
1.187-1.325 v
Enhanced halt state (C1 E) technology
Yes
Enhanced intel speedstep
Yes
Execute disable bit
Yes
Intel EM64T
Yes
Intel thermal monitor 2
Yes
Intel virtualization technology
Yes
As it is evident from the table above, new processors do not differ from high end models core of Duo even in stepping core. At their base lies the same stepping B2 core conroe. The same information was displayed by diagnostic utility CPU- Z.
Influence of cache volume in core 2 Duo performance
Since new processors core 2 Duo e6x20 with the increased cache in the second level will be proposed by Intel on the same prices, with analogous frequency as allendale , it is interesting to check the dependence of processors performance with micro-architecture core on L2 cache volume . For this we decided to compare the speed Of core 2 Duo e6420 and Core 2 Duo e6400 in many applications.
Here is the system used during our tests:
Motherboard: ASUS P5N- E SLI (LGA775, NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI);
Memory: 2048MB DDR 2-800 SDRAM (Mushkin XP 2-6400PRO, 2 x 1024 MB, DDR 2-800, 4- 4- 4-12);
Graphic card: PowerColor x1900 XTX of 512MB;
Disk subsystem: Western digital WD1500AHFD.
Operating system: Microsoft Windows vista ultimate (64-bit).
Th results obtained from tests are given in table.
Core 2 Duo e6420 4MB L2
Core 2 Duo e6400 2MB L2
Speed advantage
3DMark06
5948
5928
0.3%
3DMark06, CPU
1797
1774
1.3%
PCMark05
6673
6582
1.4%
PCMark05, CPU
5196
5174
0.4%
Word 2007 (Document compare), sec
51
54
5.9%
Excel 2007, sec
14.4
18.4
27.8%
7 Zip 4.44, Compressing, KB/s
3023
2789
8.4%
7 Zip 4.44, Decompressing, KB/s
21076
20983
0.4%
MPEG-4 encoding, AutoGK 2.4/xvid 1.2, fps
32.16
30.91
4.0%
H.264 Encoding, Apple quicktime pro 7, sec
493
498
1.0%
mp3 encoding, Apple iTunes 7, sec
156
157
0.6%
Adobe photoshop CS3 (ps7bench 2.0), sec
105
107
1.9%
Windows photo gallery (Print), sec
31
32
3.2%
Adobe premiere pro 2.0, sec
245
246
0.4%
Windows movie maker, sec
102
103
1.0%
3ds max 8 (Space flyby), sec
263
265
0.8%
CINEBENCH 9.5, Rendering
694
693
0.1%
POV-Ray 3.7
829.1
820.1
1.1%
Quake 4, 1024x768 high quality
90.01
83.24
8.1%
F.E.A.R ; Medium quality
104
98
6.1%
Unreal tournament 2004, 1024x768
79.9
76.8
4.0%
Company of heroes, 1024x768
115.4
112.6
2.5%
Valve VRAD map build benchmark, sec
335
336
0.3%
Valve source engine particle benchmark
34
31
9.7%
Fritz 9 Chess benchmark
3106
3078
0.9%
Here is the charts:
3D 2006 : Core 2 Duo e6420 4MB L2 vs Core 2 Duo e6400 2MB L2
PCmark 05 : Core 2 Duo e6420 4MB L2 vs Core 2 Duo e6400 2MB L2
Office performance : Core 2 Duo e6420 4MB L2 vs Core 2 Duo e6400 2MB L2
7Zip: Core 2 Duo e6420 4MB L2 vs Core 2 Duo e6400 2MB L2
Video audio performance : Duo e6420 4MB L2 vs Core 2 Duo e6400 2MB L2
Other application : 3D 2006 Core 2 Duo e6420 4MB L2 vs Core 2 Duo e6400 2MB L2
Gaming : 3D 2006 Core 2 Duo e6420 4MB L2 vs Core 2 Duo e6400 2MB L2
The 22 test of different program , which work in the 64- bit operating system Microsoft Windows vista, shows that the influence of cache volume in processor performance is not very high. Although the advantage value of core 2 Duo e6420 over Core 2 Duo e6400 composed only 3-4%.
Thus, among all results are clearly separated office tasks and games. In applications of this type the influence of cache volume in the second level proves to be the highest. Both in contemporary games and with typical office , superiority Of core 2 Duo e6420 over Core 2 Duo e6400 can reach imposing 6-8%. . Thus, Valve source engine particle benchmark, which shows the performance of processors with calculation of physical model , indicates 10 percent of superiority for new CPU over the old one. But the most interesting result is in Excel 2007. The difference reaches here an imposing value : 27%.
But, there are programs, that do not depend on the volume of L2 the cache . They are in particular : rendering or some sound processing , video and images tasks. But, the introduction of valuable core conroe in the low-end processors core 2 Duo series e6000 without increase in their cost should be considered as completely positive step from intel.
Overclocking : processors core 2 Duo e6420 and E6320
The low-end models processors are especially attractive for overclockers, which attempted to obtain high performance systems with the smallest possible expenditures. Specifically, here we must check the new processors overclocking capability.
For tests we assembled special system, in which it was necessary to replace the motherboard. Sure here we can use for example : ASUS P5N- E SLI ,but as u know such motherboard suffer from defect ( FSB hole ) , then we used : ASUS P5B deluxe, which is capable to get in FSB 500 MHz or even above , which with the overclock of low-end processors core 2 Duo plays important role. For heat removal from processor we used the cooler zalman CMPS9700 LED. Also, during our overclocking experiences in order to remove excess problems (memory related), we used (in this case Corsair dominator TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF) with worked in synchronous regime (with FSB). The operational stability of system in the overclocked state was checked with the aid of well recommended utility ORTHOS.
First for the test we will check the processor core 2 Duo e6420. The special feature of this CPU is the 8x multiplier, which makes it practically ideal object for overclock. Such processor can be overclocked practically to the limit on large quantity of motherboard, in this case the possibility to increase FSB frequency above 500 MHz will be hardly required.
First of all we decided to look, at what frequency will be able to work the Core 2 Duo e6420 at its regular voltage , which for our concrete copy was equal to 1.325 v. So we find that the max FSB frequency in which the processor preserves stability , under the overclocked conditions was equal to 370 MHz. In other words, without increase in voltage the processor is capable to stably operate at 2.96 GHz frequency , which exceeds regular by 40%.
The second experiment was with the same processor but with Vcore set to 1.6 v. as is known, processors core 2 Duo react to voltage increase, their overclocking potential in this case considerably increases. In this case FSB frequency was possible to raise up to 465 MHz.
As a result, the frequency of overclocked processor with stability reached 3.72 GHz, ( exceeded rating by 75% ). This is very good and imposing result, which makes Core 2 Duo e6420 with attractive overclocking object . It is possible to speak, that processors core 2 Duo e6420 are capable of being overclocked not worse than their high end fellows. And this is completely regular.
The second test was with processor core 2 Duo e6320 with default multiplier 7x. Reaching maximum clock frequencies for this conroe core can require from motherboard in this case the ability to work with FSB frequency higher than 500 MHz. witch is in most case pretty difficult
Our Core 2 Duo e6320 with default voltage 1.3125 v without increase in supply voltage could overclock to 3.29 GHz, ( the frequency FSB was equal to 470 MHz). Further increase in voltage did not improve this result :-( . Even with voltage set to 1.6 v (and with necessary increase in the voltage of motherboard north bridge for achieving higher FSB frequencies ) our Core 2 Duo E6320 copy refuse to clock higher.
It is obvious that in this case we exactly encountered the already mentioned effect ( FSB wall ). Specifically, this factor did not let us overclock processor above 3.29 GHz. Thus, the overclocking possibilities of our core 2 Duo e6320 proved to be not as good as in previous CPU. However, to make final conclusions about overclock, being based on overclocking results from only one processor, is completely wrong . Yes even FSB wall characteristic is individual, it strongly differ from one CPU copy to another . In other words, the probability to overclock core 2 Duo e6420 to higher frequencies is pretty high ....
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