Kentsfield first benchmarks

Intel packs two Core 2 Duo processors into one package. This poses several questions: How fast are four cores versus the not-exactly-a-weakling dual-core version? What will the heat dissipation and power consumption figures be like in a PC system with a quad core processor? Which applications can truly benefit from the increased core count? Is the current platform still sufficient? And finally, the question real enthusiasts are sure to pose: What can be expected in terms of maximum clock speed?

The chip doesn’t make a huge difference in gaming… but neither do Dual Cores for most out there. However, it cleans up in all of the multi-thread capable multi-media benchmarks.