Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 & E6400: Tremendous Value Through Overclocking
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 26, 2006 8:17 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Gaming Performance using Oblivion
We'll close out our gaming performing analysis with Oblivion. We ran at a setting that more or less corresponds to "medium quality", without antialiasing. This game is demanding of both CPUs and GPUs, though if you have to choose just one we would still recommend a faster GPU over a faster CPU. Remember, we are using arguably the fastest GPU setup for running Oblivion; if you're only running a single GPU, your average frame rates will be far lower. That said, let's take a look at performance:
The additional L2 cache doesn't seem to matter as much in Oblivion, but faster processor speeds definitely help out. The performance spread is 67% in the town portion of the benchmark, but only 51% in the dungeons. This likely has a lot to do with the number of creatures present in most towns, as there are far more AI calculations to perform.
The patterns we've seen in other games and applications continue here, and with some overclocking both of the slowest Core 2 processors are essentially out of reach of the fastest AM2 offerings. It will almost certainly take more than a die shrink and faster clock speeds for AMD to close the gap. Those of you who are interested in purchasing a high-performance CPU and keeping it for a while while you upgrade your graphics cards will definitely not be displeased with what you can get from Intel's Core 2 lineup.
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Comdrpopnfresh - Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - link
Unfortunately, this article goes on the assumption that the AMD chips are not overclocked. To say that the low-end intel chips offer overclocked performance that the AMD FX-62 cannot reach is absurd. With an unlocked multiplier, the FX can certainly stay above Core2's low end. The same could be said for Lower End X2's.... I'd like to see a review with them overclocked compared to Core2's at stock.... Especially since such CPUs on the 939 socket are mature and heavily supported by outstanding overclocking mobos....OcHungry - Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - link
Just be patient till advertizing budget is dried up.I wish AMD was more co-operative in paid per review market that has plagued "money buys" technology.net.
goinginstyle - Thursday, July 27, 2006 - link
Dear OC-Sharikou,AMD would have that ability if it were not for that $2.5B loan they just signed and obviously keeping your blog up and running. I hope you are banned for these types of false and mis-leading statements. By the way, where are all of these Intel ads you keep harping about?
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - link
Advertising and Editorial are completely independent and separate at AnandTech, we have a 3rd party ad agency that handles all advertising and sales. The agency is completely independent from AnandTech, Inc.The OP's points were addressed by the poster above; this article was done after response to the last one asked for more information on the E6300 and E6400. The overclockability of 90nm X2 CPUs is fairly well known, and enough reference points exist within this article to compare overclocked X2 performance vs. E6300/E6400 overclocked performance.
Take care,
Anand
bere - Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - link
Actually I think the article is missleading(not on purpose). To compare a 370FSB OC CPU with a 200FSB on DEF is pointless. I would have OC'ed all at least 2 CPU's from both sides to see what's the best buy for an OC'er.Sorry for my poor english.
jjunos - Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - link
This article also assumes you actually read it. From the article:DigitalFreak - Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - link
Again, STFU