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THE GLITCH REVIEWS

This is a review of the Intel E8600 3.33GHz Core 2 Duo Processor.

 

 

 

Intel E8600 3.33GHz Core 2 Duo Processor
 

Intel E8600
Core 2 Duo
Processor

  The Intel Core 2 Duo processor will provide enhanced performance and energy efficiency in mobile applications while bringing for the first time the benefits of energy-efficient performance to mainstream desktop computing. All Core 2 Duo chips have two execution cores in one physical processor, The E8600 comes with 6MB L2 Cache and operates with a 1333MHz Front Side Bus (FSB). It also has EM64T allowing access to larger amounts of memory and will support 64-bit extended operating systems.


Intel's E8600 Core 2 Duo is the latest in a long line of powerful dual core processors, clocked at 3.33Ghz it's also the fastest core 2 duo chip produced by Intel to date.

The chip operates with at 1333Mhz FSB (Front Side Bus) so it's only compatible with motherboards that are designed around Intel's later chipsets i.e. the G33, G35, P35, Q33, Q35, X38, P45, G45, G43, X48 or P43 chipsets, and even then a motherboard BIOS update maybe required to correctly recognise it.

The E8600 has a level 2 cache of 6MB which is a noteworthy increase from the 4MB on previous versions, but one of the most significant improvements is the fact that the whole chip has been manufactured using 45nm technology, thus significantly reducing it's overall thermal design power or TDP to just 65Watts, which means the whole chip is able to run both faster and cooler.


All this attention over lower power requirements, makes the chip a phenomenal over-clocker.

Using a 'Zalman Aero Flower' cooler and some decent silver based thermal transfer compound, I was able to increase the FSB to 400MHz and achieve a 4.0GHz stable over-clock. I did have to increase the Vcore to 1.30 volts, but this is still within the maximum 1.36volts specified by Intel.

CPU temperatures, when idle, were around 40 degrees Celsius, and rose to around 54 degrees Celsius when under full load. Again well within the maximum 74.5 degrees Celsius specified by Intel.

The above represented a healthy 12% over-clock, but there are already reports of people achieving significantly higher clock speeds using water cooling, which just goes to prove how far these chips can be pushed.

 

 

 

 

Samsung SM223BW Monitor

 

 

 

 

Intel E8600 3.33GHz Core 2 Duo Processor
 

 

Now to performance, I'm not going to dwell too long on benchmarks, as there are many other sites out there that have tested the E8600 to death, but I did perform a couple of my own tests:

Using SiSoftware's 'Sandra Lite XII.SP2c' I achieved the following results:
AT 3.33GHz
28631 MIPS
21507 MFLOPS
AT 4.00GHz (Over-Clocked)
34246 MIPS
29153 MFLOPS
These results show just how much raw power this CPU has...fantastic.

The last test is a little subjective, as factors such as hard drive, memory and chipset speeds come into play, but I have still included it as an indicator to the boost a system can gain when utilising a faster processor.

I used a zip file that contained 1,736 files totaling 34,750,464 bytes. On a standard 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo it took around 39 seconds to extract all the files, but on my over-clocked E8600 is took just 8 seconds.
A massive 31 second improvement!

Advantages:

Very fast dual core processor
Excellent over-clocker (4GHz with ease)
Still fits standard LGA775 socket
 

Disadvantages:

Requires a modern Intel chipset
Currently a little expensive

Conclusion: At a time when quad core processors are getting cheaper every month, some would argue that buying dual core chips no longer makes sense, but when you consider that most software still does not make full use of more than two cores then the move to a quad core processor doesn't seem so necessary. If you want the fastest dual core chip then the E8600 is for you and if you're into over-clocking then your not going to be disappointed with your results. Ultimately only the price tag stops this chip from getting a '5 Star Glitch Award'.

The Glitch Star Award
Glitch StarGlitch StarGlitch StarGlitch Star

 

Overall Score

80%


For more information and latest pricing visit my Processors page.
 

 

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