The quad squad

Matthew Elliott, Section Editor November 15, 2006

The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 chip is available for the first time today. We've reviewed three PCs--from Dell, Gateway, and Polywell--that feature Intel's first quad-core desktop CPU. We're including Apple's Mac Pro in the discussion since it also boasts four processing cores by way of its two dual-core Intel Xeon chips.

So, which quad-core system is the fastest we've seen thus far? Gateway's FX530XL posted the best application scores on the whole, thanks to its over-clocked CPU. For its part, the Mac Pro took top honors with iTunes--which is not surprising given that the app was written for the Mac OS.

Gamers will like the scores they see from the Dell and Polywell systems. The Dell XPS 710 uses a Quad SLI setup for supreme frame rates, but by the time Polywell submitted its system, it was able to include Nvidia's new Nforce 680 SLI chipset and next-generation GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards. The Polywell PC turned in stellar framerates on games like F.E.A.R and Quake 4, while also providing a better platform for the games we'll see next year.

More Resources

Editors' top desktops,

See all desktop reviews,

Full review: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700,

Alpha blog: desktops