It's hard to believe 15 years have Secret Tutoring (2018)passed since I tested the Pentium 4 series for the first time. At this point I honestly don't remember many of my experiences with the P4 range, if not because of its age then because it was a pretty rubbish series. I do have many fond memories of testing the Core 2 Duo series however.
Six long years after the Pentium 4, we reviewed the first generation Core 2 Duo processors with the dual-core E6000 range and then the quad-core models a year later. To this day the Core 2 Quad Q6600 might be the most popular enthusiast processor we've seen. In fact, almost all Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad chips were notoriously good overclockers and many users still claim to be running overclocked LGA775 processors.
Today we are going to take a look back at the Core 2 CPUs and compare them to the current generation Haswell Celeron, Pentium, Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 parts.
Along the way we will be testing processors such as the 2009/2010 Nehalem Core i5-760 and Core i7-870, as well as the Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2700K Sandy Bridge chips, comprising almost 10 years of Intel mainstream CPUs.
| Year | Process | Price | Base / Turbo | Cores / Threads | Socket | |
| Core i7-4790K | 2013 | 22nm | $339 | 4.0GHz / 4.4GHz | 4 / 8 | LGA1150 |
| Core i5-4670K | 2013 | 22nm | $242 | 3.5GHz / 3.9GHz | 4 / 4 | LGA1150 |
| Core i3-4350 | 2013 | 22nm | $138 | 3.6GHz | 2 / 4 | LGA1150 |
| Pentium G3220 | 2013 | 22nm | $64 | 3.0GHz | 2 / 2 | LGA1150 |
| Celeron G1820 | 2014 | 22nm | $42 | 2.7GHz | 2 / 2 | LGA1150 |
| Core i7-2700K | 2011 | 32nm | $332 | 3.5GHz / 3.9GHz | 4 / 8 | LGA1155 |
| Core i5-2500K | 2011 | 32nm | $216 | 3.3GHz / 3.7GHz | 4 / 4 | LGA1155 |
| Core i7-870 | 2009 | 45nm | $562 | 2.93GHz / 3.6GHz | 4 / 8 | LGA1156 |
| Core i5-760 | 2009 | 45nm | $205 | 2.8GHz / 3.33GHz | 4 / 4 | LGA1156 |
| Core 2 Quad Q9650 | 2008 | 45nm | $530 | 3.0GHz | 4 / 4 | LGA775 |
| Core 2 Quad Q6600 | 2007 | 65nm | $530 | 2.4GHz | 4 / 4 | LGA775 |
| Core 2 Duo E8600 | 2008 | 45nm | $266 | 3.33GHz | 2 / 2 | LGA775 |
| Core 2 Duo E6600 | 2006 | 65nm | $316 | 2.4GHz | 2 / 2 | LGA775 |
The only mainstream processor series missing is the Ivy Bridge architecture, though we decided to skip it as the performance leap from Sandy Bridge to Haswell wasn't significant. Fifth-generation Broadwell processors are also missing as they are not available yet and with Skylake arriving soon it seems this series is being skipped entirely.
Obviously today's processors are going to be faster than those that are almost a decade old. What we feel is of interest is finding out just how much faster they are in modern applications such as Photoshop CC, x264 HD encoding, and Excel workloads. We'll also look at gaming performance, albeit with an unrealistically powerful discrete GPU that we could've only dreamed of a decade ago.
Finishing up the benchmark phase we'll also compare power consumption to gauge how much more efficient modern day CPUs really are.
Haswell System Specs
| Sandy Bridge System Specs
|
Lynnfield System Specs
| Core 2 System Specs
|
The Core 2 series wasn't blessed with big memory bandwidths and back in the day AMD had one over Intel here with its Athlon64 range which peaked at around 9GB/s. As you can see below, we struggled to get 7GB/s out of the Core 2 Duo E8600 and Core 2 Quad Q9650.
The jump from the Core 2 range to the first Core i5 and Core i7 processors was massive as the i5-760 managed 17.1GB/s and 19.2GB/s for the i7-870. The Sandy Bridge Core i5 and Core i7 processors didn't improve on this with roughly 18GB/s.
However, by the time Haswell came around Intel was pushing well over 20GB/s on this mainstream platform. This means even the cheapest Haswell desktop processor has roughly 4x the memory bandwidth available when compared to the fastest Core 2 processors.
Get the official Atari 7800+ Console for 50% off
California just scored a major privacy win against facial
Social media campaign aims to highlight persecution of LGBTQ people
Social media campaign aims to highlight persecution of LGBTQ people
Apple iPhone 17 Pro leaks highlight major new design change
The internet is desperately trying to reunite this lost teddy bear with its owner
Waze Carpool is nothing like using Lyft and Uber — and that’s the point
The major companies censoring for China (that we know about so far)
How to Balance Video Games with Real Life
Of course Amazon workers are looking at Cloud Cam footage
Alienware M16 Gaming Laptop deal: Save $560
Could Bosch's new EV tech actually add driving range?
This is what Mr. Darcy would have actually looked like — and it's not pretty
The 'Riverdale' Luke Perry tribute is heartbreakingly beautiful
This fat bear's before and after photos are stunning
Elizabeth Warren drops the perfect response when asked about same
Let's break down the common self
New children's book tells the story of iconic artist and activist Keith Haring
This is the fattest of the extremely fat bears
17 costume fails that are scary for all the wrong reasons
NYT Strands hints, answers for February 23Wordle today: The answer and hints for February 20, 2025MagSafe cases for iPhone 16e: Save 50% at Best BuyMapQuest is letting you name the Gulf of Mexico whatever you wantBest coffee machine deal: Save $100 on Breville Barista Express Impress'Monster Train' sequel announced, with surprise demo out nowBest Garmin vívoactive 5 deal: Save $70 at Best BuyGovernment plane swoops over fuming volcano, captures vivid footageNYT mini crossword answers for February 20, 2025Some UFOs may be hidden from our national leadersHP announces a security flaw (and fix) for many laser printersWordle today: The answer and hints for February 20, 2025Best Kindle deal: Save $60 on Kindle Scribe Essentials BundleBest Kindle deal: Save $60 on Kindle Scribe Essentials BundleiPhone 16e's C1 chip is a big deal for future iPhones, too6 things we want to see in 'Avatar: Seven Havens'NYT mini crossword answers for February 22, 2025DOGE dividend checks: What Elon Musk said, how real they actually are.NYT Connections hints and answers for February 23: Tips to solve 'Connections' #623.iPhone 16e's C1 chip is a big deal for future iPhones, too Touching video from BBC urges people to not give up hope and to stay home Twitter's quarantine house meme is full of terrible roommates and hard choices Hinge launches 'Date From Home' feature to help users do just that Donald Trump indictment response: See his Truth Social meltdown How to access ChatGPT plugins, the 'eyes and ears' of OpenAI's chatbot Melania Trump's odd mask PSA contradicts her husband's actions Skype has a Zoom Wordle today: Here's the answer, hints for March 30 Nonprofit files complaint against OpenAI's GPT 'Quordle' today: See each 'Quordle' answer and hints for March 26 What it means to be immune to coronavirus Rise of AI: The internet isn't owned by users anymore Trump says he will look into pardoning 'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic FightCamp review: We're all anxious right now and this at Queen sends message of 'enduring appreciation' to healthcare workers around the world The 7 best YouTube cooking channels to up your culinary game 'Succession' Season 4, episode 1: Logan's phone call scene, explained Part of Twitter's source code was found on Github 10 things to fantasize about doing once coronavirus is over I ran a half
1.9763s , 10133.34375 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Secret Tutoring (2018)】,Feast Information Network