Monday, August 17th 2009
Intel Preps Sub-$150 Core 2 Quad Q7600
Intel's counter to sub-$150 quad-core and triple-core processors from AMD, the Core 2 Quad Q7000 series is close to being formally announced. First surfaced in January, the Q7000 series quad-core processors differ from the Q8000 series with regards to cache size. It features a 1+1 MB (2 MB) L2 cache, and an 800 MHz front-side bus speed. The first in the series that is surfacing now, is the Core 2 Quad Q7600. This entry-level quad-core processor from Intel is clocked at 2.70 GHz (13.5 x 200 MHz). The processor further has a skimpy instruction set, with lack of support for SSE4.1, which most 45 nm Core series processors from Intel feature. Targeted mostly at home and office users, and tentatively priced within the $150 mark, the Core 2 Quad Q7600 will hit stores soon.
Source:
INPAI
52 Comments on Intel Preps Sub-$150 Core 2 Quad Q7600
Granted its not the best indicator or benchmark, but more cache = faster clock/clock than the same architecture with less cache - especially in memory intensive tasks. It wouldn't surprise me that a 3.6-3.7Ghz Q6600 will beat this chip at ~4.0+ghz.
This should make for one hell of an easy overclocker, big time pity about the cache tho, the 6mb quads do well, but 2/3 less than that ...... owch.
I think you are right about the Q6600, or something like a Q9300 even at 3.6GHz. Of course they would have costed more also. This chip is not targetted at people that already have a Q6600. It is aimed that the people that are still clinging to their netburst processors, the P4 or PD people that just want a cheap system, and heard that they need a quad-core to run Vista...
This is going to compete with the x4 810 and X3 720. The street price on the Q7600 should be around $125-130, remember. The street price on the Q8200 is already $150, and this processor will be possitioned at a lower price point.
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Look at this another way: quad core is now becoming the "standard" CPU from Intel... beginning with this "celeron" quad. Prices next year once s1156 has taken off will be well under $100.
At 45nm, perfect for a cooler machine, SFF, or HTPC. I would like to stick one of these processors in a Zotac. pden.zotac.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=145&category_id=7&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 Just imagine!
Even though some processor instructions sets are "disabled", it still has all the Q6600 features. So it is a great cpu for anyone wanting to "upgrade" to a quad at a discount. Q6600's are discontinued,
NOTE, Intel wouldnt "disable" feature sets if it was a bad performer. It must be pretty quick... for intel to decide to handicap it for the low-end.
IMO, they should call this the Penium Quad Core...
(E8400 and up from intel, PII x2's by AMD
not a worthy chip imo if this is priced at anything over $110
That would have been a fun CPU to play with, although going for Dual to Quad and getting less cache, would have been iffy. So far I've gone up with Duals of E4300 2MB, E7200 3MB and E8400 6MB.
Those who wonder how much cache really affects performance read this:
www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=1&artpage=4200&articID=945
Good temps, good price, great clocking ability (400x13.5 anyone?)
for a budget encoding system or a mid range gaming system, this would rock!
BTW guys cache *does* help with gaming - its around a 10% difference clock for clock, between a 4MB conroe and a 6MB wolfdale - but when you get a bitch like this can should clock 500MHz higher, its irrelevant. (and cheaaaaaaper)
Unless your CPU isn't the bottleneck - i definitely agree with you there - but if we are talking about pure CPU performance i.e. "I wanna get a 5870X2, will my QXXX bottleneck it?" type of performance, then cache makes up to a few hundred MHz worth of difference.
But right now, I mean unless you're running dual cards an E5200 is enough for games.
This chip will definitely be fun to OC - especially if you have a disposable income and a MB that doesnt like anything past 450FSB on a quad. But they could make a M O N S T E R if they released this chip with even 6 MB of cache...
One day Intel will see the light and separate "gamers without a ton of cash" into their own market segment, and release something like this with 12MB of cache. AMD has already something like this with the 720 and 550 chips.
For encoding and rendering, i agree. For gaming i can cite otherwise - i went from a Q6600 with 2x4MB of cache to a wolfdale Xeon with 1x6MB, and my games got faster. Why? cause even those that do support quad cores, still get most of their performance from the first two threads.
Sub $150 indeed - i'm guessing around $130 USD on places like newegg.
I too dont beleive VT will be in there. I just have that feeling it'll be missing on such a budget chip - i stand by my previous comment that this is a quad core celeron
Which is why I say this won't be a bad chip for even gaming. It won't be breaking any benchmark records, but it at a decent clock speed(3.6GHz) it would be hard to tell this processor from a higher end quad during actual gameplay.