Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 vs Core i3 3220

older Released January, 2007

Reasons to buy the Intel Core2 Quad Q6600

More cores

older Released September, 2012

Reasons to buy the Core i3 3220

	Much higher clock speed 3.3 GHz		Much newer manufacturing process 22 nm
	Has a built-in GPU Yes

The Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 versus the Intel Core i3 3220: a match up across generations, wherein the i3 is newer by at least 5 years. Will the older Q6600 stand a chance? Let's take a closer look.

The older Q6600 is a quad core with a base speed of 2.4GHz. Interestingly enough, it has quite a large 8MB L2 cache, but which isn't hyperthreaded. It has an older manufacturing process at 65nms, and a high TDP of 105W.

On the other hand, the 3220 is a dual core clocked at higher 3.3GHz, which is hyperthreaded. It only has 1MB of L2 cache, but is equipped with a much newer L3 cache of 3MB. It's part of Intel's 22nms manufacturing process, and has a low TDP of 55W.

Surprisingly, the dual core 3220 trumped the quad core Q6600 in all benchmarks, most notably with a 3,000 point lead in the 64-bit Geekbench test, and a 2,000 point lead in PassMark. This comparison shows that the newer processors are indeed a worthy upgrade. In conclusion, this match up between generations leaves only one winner worthy of recommendation: chuck the Core 2 Quad Q6600 in favor of the newer Intel Core i3 3220.

	Performance
	Benchmark performance using all cores
Core2 Quad Q6600 5.1 Core i3 3220 5.3 Pentium G2020 4.3
PCMark 8 Home 3.0 Accelerated, PassMark and 1 more

	Single-core Performance
	Individual core benchmark performance
Core2 Quad Q6600 3.9 Core i3 3220 6.4 Pentium G2020 5.7
PassMark (Single Core), Geekbench 3 Single Core and 1 more

	Integrated Graphics
	Integrated GPU performance for graphics
Core2 Quad Q6600 0.0 Core i3 3220 4.4 Pentium G2020 4.4
Fire Strike

	Integrated Graphics (OpenCL)
	Integrated GPU performance for parallel computing
Core2 Quad Q6600 0.0 Core i3 3220 4.9 Pentium G2020 6.1
CompuBench 1.5 Bitcoin mining and 4 more

	Performance per Watt
	How efficiently does the processor use electricity?
Core2 Quad Q6600 4.8 Core i3 3220 7.1 Pentium G2020 7.1
Fire Strike, CompuBench 1.5 Bitcoin mining and 11 more

	Value
	Are you paying a premium for performance?
Core2 Quad Q6600 n.d. Core i3 3220 7.2 Pentium G2020 8.7
Fire Strike, CompuBench 1.5 Bitcoin mining and 11 more

7.4	CPUBoss Score
	Combination of all six facets
Core2 Quad Q6600 3.9 Core i3 3220 7.4 Pentium G2020 7.8

Winner
Intel Core2 Quad Q6600

CPUBoss recommends the Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 based on its .

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Reasons to consider the
Intel Core2 Quad Q6600

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More cores

Twice as many cores; run more applications at once

Reasons to consider the
Intel Core i3 3220

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Much higher clock speed

3.3 GHz

2.4 GHz

Around 40% higher clock speed

Much newer manufacturing process

22 nm

65 nm

A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running processor

Has a built-in GPU

Yes

Somewhat common; A separate graphics adapter is not required

GeekBench 3 (Multi-core) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core2 Quad Q6600

4,490

Core i3 3220

5,399

GeekBench 3 (Single core) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core2 Quad Q6600

1,306

Core i3 3220

2,501

GeekBench 3 (AES single core) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core2 Quad Q6600

102,800 MB/s

Core i3 3220

173,000 MB/s

GeekBench (32-bit) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core2 Quad Q6600

4,161

Core i3 3220

5,351

GeekBench (64-bit) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core2 Quad Q6600

4,541

Core i3 3220

5,707

GeekBench

Core2 Quad Q6600

5,918

Core i3 3220

8,919

PassMark Data courtesy Passmark

Core2 Quad Q6600

2,970

Core i3 3220

4,229

PassMark (Single Core)

Core2 Quad Q6600

924

Core i3 3220

1,764

summary	Core2 Quad Q6600	Core i3 3220
Clock speed	2.4 GHz	3.3 GHz
Cores	Quad core	Dual core
Socket type
LGA 775
LGA 1155
features
Has a NX bit	Yes	Yes
Supports trusted computing	No	No
Has virtualization support	Yes	Yes
Instruction set extensions
SSE2
MMX
SSE4
AVX
SSE3
SSE
SSE4.1
SSE4.2
Supplemental SSE3
AES
Supports dynamic frequency scaling	Yes	Yes
power consumption
TDP	105W	55W
Annual home energy cost	25.29 $/year	13.25 $/year
Annual commercial energy cost	91.98 $/year	48.18 $/year
Performance per watt	1.19 pt/W	2.69 pt/W
Typical power consumption	85.31W	44.69W

details	Core2 Quad Q6600	Core i3 3220
Architecture	x86-64	x86-64
Threads	4	4
L2 cache	8 MB	0.5 MB
L2 cache per core	2 MB/core	0.25 MB/core
Manufacture process	65 nm	22 nm
Max CPUs	1	1
Clock multiplier	9	33
Operating temperature	Unknown - 62.2°C	Unknown - 65.3°C
overclocking
Overclock popularity	278	50
Overclocked clock speed	3.52 GHz	3.43 GHz
Overclocked clock speed (Water)	3.6 GHz	3.46 GHz
Overclocked clock speed (Air)	3.52 GHz	3.43 GHz
integrated graphics
GPU	None	GPU
Label	N/A	Intel® HD Graphics 2500
Number of displays supported	N/A	3
GPU clock speed	N/A	650 MHz
Turbo clock speed	N/A	1,050 MHz
bus
Architecture	FSB	DMI
Number of links	1	1

Intel Core2 Quad Q6600

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Intel Core i3 3220

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Intel Core2 Duo E8400 vs Quad Q6600

AMD A6 5400K vs Intel Core i3 3220

Comments

Showing 5 comments.

N9 Cyclone (03:33 AM, January 14, 2019)

such a retarded comparision, they both don't even fit into the same motherboard.. Getting a Core I3 isn't worth it unless you have an extra $100 to spare for a new motherboard Not only this there is a 5 year difference between the 2, why even bother comparing these 2 cores?

marekculik07 (01:44 PM, February 14, 2017)

do you even english

Guest (03:51 AM, October 20, 2015)

Neat, a write-up on the comparison. That's pretty cool.

nigeru_faggimus (03:48 AM, July 22, 2014)

wut o.o

kksami (04:08 AM, April 21, 2014)

is video card is important to graphic user

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Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 vs Core i3 3220