Conclusion

Well, let?s sum up a few things now. Intel?s decision to equip their Core 2 Duo processors with faster 1333MHz bus support is regarded as another move towards higher performance of this processor family. It is partially true. As we have seen today, higher bus speed will obviously boost the performance in most applications. However, unfortunately, this boost will not be as significant as we hoped: it hardly ever gets beyond 3%. But, the changes in the bus frequency are not the only thing that determined the advantage of the new CPUs over their predecessors: different clock frequencies are another reason. For example, the nominal frequency of the top Core 2 Duo E6850 model has now risen to 3.0GHz, while before today the maximum frequency of the existing Core 2 Duo processors used to be only 2.93GHz. This also affects the performance, and together with the faster bus it brings in more confident victory of the top Core 2 Duo CPUs. In other words, the launch of the Core 2 Duo CPUs with 1333MHz bus will become another part of the progress CPUs on Core micro-architecture are making. Although we all wish that they were moving at a little bit faster pace towards the promising Penryn family.

Higher bus frequency is not the only nice thing about the new processors. They are based on the new G0 stepping of the Conroe core that boasts better frequency potential. As a result, the FSB Wall has been pushed farther back and the overclocking results have improved significantly. For example, our overclocking experiments revealed that the new processors can work at 3.6-3.8GHz with traditional air-cooling onboard. Therefore, Core 2 Duo E6850, 6750 and 6550 should become very popular among overclockers, especially since Intel is going to price them very affordably. According to the preliminary data, Core 2 Duo E6850 will sell for $266, Core 2 Duo E6750 - for $183, and Core 2 Duo E6550 ?for $163. This attractive price tag will certainly help Intel stimulate the transition to systems with 1333MHz bus.