Intel Core 2 Duo E6320/6420: The Long Awaited Low-End

In this article we'll examine performance and other characteristics of two processors that came out relatively recently: Intel Core 2 Duo 6320 and Core 2 Duo 6420. It is easy to notice that they are only distinguished from the older C2D E6300/6400 by a complete and full-sized, as in high-end models, 4MB shared L2 cache. However, besides explicit differences, there is one less evident – the newer stepping technology. In theory this could have lead to a change in such an important characteristic as power consumption. Well, let's see the test results...

Hardware and software

Test bench configuration

• RAM 2 x 1024 MB
• Samsung HD401LJ (SATA) HDD
• Boxed coolers
• Cooler Master RS-A00-EMBA PSU

* - "2 x ..." means per core;
** - for AMD processors this is memory controller bus clock rate;
*** - measured differently for Intel and AMD processors; impossible to compare directly.

Software

1. Windows XP Professional x64 edition SP1
2. 3ds max 9 x64 edition
3. Maya 8.5 x64 edition
4. Lightwave 3D 9 x64 edition
5. MATLAB R2006a (7.2.0.32) x64 edition
6. Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0
7. SolidWorks 2005
8. Photoshop CS2 (9.0)
9. Visual Studio 2005 Professional
10. Apache HTTP Server 2.2.4
11. CPU RightMark 2005 Lite (1.3) x64 edition
12. WinRAR 3.62
13. 7-Zip 4.42 x64 edition
14. FineReader 8.0 Professional
15. LAME 3.97
16. Monkey Audio 4.01
17. OGG Encoder 2.83
18. Windows Media Encoder 9 x64 edition
19. Canopus ProCoder 2.01.30
20. DivX 6.4
21. Windows Media Video VCM 9
22. x264 v.604
23. XviD 1.1.2
24. F.E.A.R. 1.08
25. Half-Life 2 1.0
26. Quake 4 1.3
27. Call of Duty 2 1.2
28. Serious Sam 2 2.07
29. Supreme Commander 1.0.3220

Testing

Essential foreword to charts

Our test method has two peculiarities of data representation: (1) all data types are reduced to one - integer relative score (performance of a given processor relative to that of Intel Core 2 Duo E4300, given its performance is 100 points), and (2) detailed results are published in this Microsoft Excel table, while the article contains only summary charts by benchmark classes. We will nevertheless focus your attention on detailed results, when needed.

3D modeling suites

One can't describe advantage of 6320 model over the older 6300 as fantastic. Moreover, 6320 has lost to the much less expensive Core 2 Duo E4400. In general, the fist result is not impressive at all: was it worth piling up another 2 megabytes of cache in order to get a 3% gain?

CAD/CAE

Everything said about the previous diagram can be carried over to the current one. Even increased cache was not enough for C2D E6320 to surpass E4400. In general, CADs that we use in our tests clearly gravitate towards AMD processors. That is why A64 X2 4400+ gave in symbolic 2 points to C2D E6420, being at present almost a hundred dollars cheaper.

Digital photo processing

Judging from comparison between C2D E6300 and E6320, Adobe Photoshop is rather tolerant to processors with Core 2 Duo with half-size level-two cache. And Athlon 64 X2 5000+ has finally found a worthy rival from the Intel camp, a little more expensive, indeed, yet a bit faster.

Compiling

At last we have seen an application in which E6320 managed to beat E4400 (even if by a symbolic single point). However, the application is quite specific and will doubtfully be of any interest to home users.

Web server

A rather usual situation: 6320 still looses to 4400.