Typical price: £527
What is it: The fastest desktop CPU on the market
What we think: It not only hands AMD a defeat on all of our benchmarks, but it's also a more efficient, better designed chip overall
What you need to know
Reviewed on: 14 August 2006
Tags: intel, requirements, fans, cpu
We like:
Fastest desktop CPU on the market; unlocked clock multiplier makes overclocking possible out of the box
We don't like:
Chipset politics between Intel and graphics card vendors hurts gamers who now have to pick an Intel board for ATI's Crossfire or an Nvidia board for SLI cards
CNET UK judgement:
AMD's Athlon 64 FX line has worn the desktop CPU performance crown for over a year. The king is dead. Intel's new flagship Core 2 Extreme X6800 not only hands AMD a defeat on all of our benchmarks, but it's also a more efficient, better designed chip overall
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