Nice review.
One thing missing from quad-core reviews is benchmarking of virtualisation systems.
It would be really good to see benchmarking stats across AMD/Intel quad-cores, as well as how they stack up against the quickest dual-cores.

Great article. I am surprised that there is software that can use 4 cores at this moment. I like the comparision with dual core CPU's.
I am in to video editing and the test with Windows Media Encoder was interesting. But the file used in the test was not so big, appr.150 MB. I want to see a simular test with bigger files. Files big enough to envolve the disk system and. Perhaps a test wich show the difference between CPU controlled disk systems like SATA and autonome systems like SCSI or FW.

Not all that related, however not entirely unrelated, it would be nice to see some legacy comparisons. I know you can look at past articles, but so much has changed between older articles and now that they aren't directly comparable anymore.

Such as, throwing in a Intel 9xx or 8xx, and some single core variants of the 64 or Intel 5xx/6xx. I'm sure there are still people running Athlon XPs and P4 'C's as well.

Not everyone has a top of the line or new generation system. After older system parts work their way off the benchmarks page people gain the "my computer is still amazing because I can't see how much it sucks" mind set.

Nice review. I would have loved to see Supreme Commander used as a multi threaded brench mark. The game in general is a multi-threaded CPU hog. So at least to me, it would have been interesting to see.

Is it nit-picking to note that a Watt-second is really a Joule? I suppose conceptually it might be easier to understand a Watt-second. Draws one watt, and is on for 1 second.

Five desktop quad-core solutions compared

I only see two quads tested.

nice review, but the quads don't seem to scale properly. maybe its the apps. should we be seeing a dramatic improvement over dual core? Hell YEAH!

Why the crowded graphs?

TR had it right when they dropped all the other CPUs from the charts and focussed on the direct comparison of the Athlon64 X2 6000 and the C2D E6700 - since as a platform, they had price parity and could therefore be considered direct competitors.

I wish they had done the same in this case for the FX-70 and Q6600. Previously articles had already established the the dualcore-quadcore comparison.

Anyway, I hold my breath - and my wallet! - for Barcelona! It'll finally give us AMD users the drop-in-upgrade advantage for quadcore that enthusiast Intel users now enjoy.

A 45nm variant of the Q6600 is looking better and better as time passes. Just can't find a good reason to own one now.
Glad to see that the FX-70 reduced that power consumption a bit, double-barreled blowtorch indeed

#35.You can run a benchmark with a command line parameter that runs a simulated game at current graphic settings. I think the command is "map /perftest". It then returns a score (higher is better with latest patch)

sorry double post

http://www.digg.com/hardware/Five_desktop_quad_core_CPU_setups_comp...

Please digg.

Nice review, but pretty early imho, I mean we're still trying to work with dual cores right now, I don't think software's sufficiently taking advantage of just two cores enough :D

But, something to keep in mind for three years down the road I guess when they might possibly be more mainstream :P

Wow, I wasn't expecting this kind of review quite so soon in 2007. Vista, 64bit, multithreaded tests... you certainly have been keeping busy.

Now we just need a real quad from AMD with competitive performance and we'll have a real race.

NICE review. That was a good mix of systems you put to the test, although the C2D6600's absence is inexcusable.

Only the extreme fringe of computer users have any use for quad core, and it is very silly to suggest that making the purchase now can be an investment for the future IMO. Buy now what you need now, buy in the future what you need in the future. In the future there will be $100 quad core CPUs. For the time being, I'm still wondering how, other than folding, to put my dual-core to good use. Sadly, even at work I just don't do enough with my computer to make dual-core noticeable over single core. Well, I take that back, Firefox now has a core all to itself to senselessly thrash with flash adds. And I guess there's virtual machines too. Hey is there any way virtual machine benchmarks can be added to the test suite?

To bad there's no new QuadFX mobos as this article really needed some hardware porn.

It just goes to show that apart from a few scientific and graphical jobs, nobody needs a quad-core system, however the 4 cores are arranged.

But AMD are hurting in the enthusiast world until Barcelona, and especially the dual-core variants thereof, ship in quantity.

And showing just how well its current products are selling, AMD has apparently (though not yet shown on their website) issued a revenue warning for Q1/07:

http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=38006 , also reported on CNBC

Or maybe AMD only uses its own products, explaining why the updated forecasts emerge only now, more than 2/3rds through the quarter. ;-)

Recent reports suggest Al-Gore approved does now include a mansion full of 130W chips - just not your mansion.

I finally read an article on some heavy tech stuff (barcelona write up @ anandtech) - sounds interesting, I'm not as skeptical now - it could be quite good.

I can imagine 2 of those on the quadfx board would be amaing - power hungry but truely amazing.

Bottom line,AMD quads are underperforming,power hungry and overpriced......and only work with one very expensive motherboard.
Hardly the stuff of dreams now are they....
Good to see TR has made the switch to Vista :-)

Great article! I really liked the power consumption info, very well thought out and some surprising results (surprising to me probably not so much to the reviewers)

Can I also suggest Supreme Commander as a test game, apparently it has Quad Core support.

1st page
"...few of us really need for cores"

should read "four cores"

No big surprises here.

Will be interesting to see how Barcelona stacks up in this mix once it hits the streets.