Intel has introduced the Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800, the company's twelfth quad-core processor offering.
Running at 2.93GHz – the fastest native clock speed yet reached with the Intel Core microarchitecture for the quad-core desktop – the QX6800 is for gamers, digital design professionals and enthusiasts, said Intel.
Some of the year's high-profile game titles such as Crytek's Crysis, Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander and Flagship's Hellgate London have undergone substantial joint engineering efforts with Intel to use more than two processing threads to their advantage, highlighted Intel.
The Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800 is also appealing to media users and developers; Adobe, Cakewalk, DivX, Sony Creative Software and other developers have delivered applications that use all four cores, enabling media professionals to capture creativity quickly and reliably, noted Intel. According to the company's figures, the Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6800 is up to 65% faster than the Intel Core 2 Extreme dual-core processor X6800 on video encoding.
The QX6800 is produced on Intel's 65nm process, key to enabling the 8-megabyte cache. A 1066MHz system bus is supported and the processor is available now at a cost of US$1,199.
Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800
Photo: Company