Come November, Intel will officially launch their Quad-Core processors based on the Kentsfield core. They are essentially based on the Core Architecture that is gaining popularity and recognition these few months through the Intel Core 2 Duo Processors. Simply put, the Kentsfield CPU is putting 2 of the Core 2 Duo cores onto a single processor, giving an effective of 4 independant Cores. Hence the offical name of Core 2 Quad.

The Engineering Sample is Made in Malaysia, week 33 of 2006

Since the Core 2 Duo spot a 4MB of shared L2 Cache between the dual cores, the Core 2 Quad naturally spots a double serving, 8MB of L2 Cache- 4MB shared between 2 cores each! November is just one month away so it's ripe timing for us to do a preview on this upcoming luxury. Our main test setup will be run on the Intel D975XBX Motherboard while we await a proper D975XBX2 media sample for further testing. Meanwhile, you can take a sneak preview with us at the D975XBX2 "Bad Axe 2" right here.

I used a Scythe Ninja Tower Cooler fitted with a silent Noctua 120mm 1.2K RPM Fan for cooling.

Above, you see the QX6700 side by side with the X6800