Sandra Prior

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500

Dual-core gaming delight.

You can argue the toss regarding the pros and cons of quad-core CPUs. We don't doubt their unmatched multi-tasking and multi-threaded clout. But when it comes to gaming, the benefits are less obvious. You can count the games that make proper use of a quad-core chip on the digits of one RSI-worn metacarpus. Dual-core still delivers the best bang for your buck if gaming is your main focus.

With that in mind, the new dual-core variants of Intel's 45nm Penryn CPU family look like a no-brainer. For the most part, that's how it turns out. The top E8500 model is clocked at an impressive 3.l6GHz, which translates into single and dual-threaded performance to match any processor on the planet. It's also impressively efficient compared to the outgoing 65nm generation of Core 2 Duo CPUs from Intel. Despite running a few hundred MHz faster than the old 2.93GHz X6850 dual-core chip, the E8500 consumes 30 watts less under full load.

It's also significantly quicker in every benchmark than the X6850. Part of that is no doubt thanks to the faster frequency, but the addition of 2MB of cache memory, now a borderline-silly total of 6MB, doesn't hurt. The same goes for the faster 1,333MHz bus. It's all gravy.

Of course, Intel would also claim that the various tweaks made to the Penryn architecture boost the dock-for-dock performance of its latest cores, too. You know, the new Radix 16 divider, enhanced SuperShuffle Engine and all that jazz. In practice, it's effectively impossible to isolate each of the upgrades and deduce exactly how much benefit they bring.

What we can say, however, is that the overall performance advantage of the E8500 over the X6850 is always above 10 per cent and sometimes as much as 20 per cent. That's despite the dock speed differential of just eight per cent. And remember, the E8500 is less than $300. At launch a little over 18 months ago, the X6850 was the world's fastest PC chip and cost a cool $900. That's progress for you.

The good news doesn't end there. We can also report that the E8500 is every bit as good an overclocking chip as you would hope; hitting 4GHz on air cooling is a cinch. Up the volts a bit, and even higher speeds are possible. All of which just leaves one lingering doubt. The full-fat, 12MB cache Q9450 quad-core chip can be had for just $50 more. Sure it's clocked a little lower at 2.6GHz. But for any system that's remotely multipurpose, the Q9450 is probably a better all-round bet.

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