Jason Dunn
12-19-2007, 08:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3184' target='_blank'>http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3184</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Intel has once again re-energized the overclocking community with the recent release of the Core 2 Extreme QX9650 quad-core processor, the first of many new mobile, desktop, and server CPUs fabricated using their radically new 45nm process technology. Early results have highlighted Intel's extremely conservative approach in assigning processor power specifications and because of this, users looking to push their systems beyond rated speeds are finding they have a lot more headroom than normally expected. Our overclocking trials have met with great success, as exploiting this processor's hidden performance margin is easier than ever imagined...these new materials, along with the right process recipe, have cut gate leakage by a factor of more than 10x while simultaneously delivering an astonishing 30% decrease in transistor switching energy. The result is a cooler running, more energy efficient, and high-performance processing powerhouse.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/4675_max_OC.png" /><br /><br />Sweet mother of overclocking! 4.6 GHz on a 1700 mhz bus with four cores? That's 18.4 Ghz of processing power if an application is optimized to use all four cores. <picks jaw up off floor> That's, um, impressive. ;-) This article provides a good overview of overclocking - worth a read and a bookmark!