Maxon Cinebench 10 x64

Website: Cinebench

Maxon Cinebench is based on Maxon's popular animation software, Cinema 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. We've used the built-in CPU benchmark, which uses a 3D scene file to render a photo-realistic image of a concept bike. The scene makes use of various CPU-intensive features such as reflection, ambient occlusion, area lights and procedural shaders.



Again, more of the same - the performance increase is more of a hop than a jump. It's a few hundred points more in both cases and it goes to show the more you push from your CPU, Cinebench responds to it. The compounding effect of faster... everything adds up quite a bit.

Power Consumption

Understandably the faster memory and increase front side bus speed have an affect on the power consumption, but it's not by much, and even the QX9770 is still uses less power than the favoured Core 2 Quad Q6600. If we're talking "performance per watt" it's clear that Intel holds the lead with its 45nm technology. AMD can match the power consumption with a Phenom 9600 Black Edition on an AM2+ motherboard with Cool'n'Quiet enabled, but obviously performance isn't really comparable - it will be interesting to see what AMD produces when its 45nm Shanghai core arrives in Q3...ish.

Final Thoughts

To be frank, there's not really much to say because this puppy is a monster, but one that comes dripped in bling for a high price. With Intel dominating the high end it can charge precisely what it wants for its "enthusiast" Extreme Edition parts. "Enthusiast"? No. More money than sense and an ego to fill? Yes.

Anyone who owns one of these and doesn't drive a Ferrari to work won't have bought one - this CPU is merely a technical demo and a marketing exercise for Intel (and its partners) to flex its muscles after AMD's lukewarm attempt at competing. This CPU, while oh-so-awesome in its technology and its performance, is an economic travesty for the consumer. It's exactly the reason why we need adequate competition, and in that respect, it's like the graphics card market, for example. It's not Intel's fault, it's simple economics - supply and demand.

Any real "enthusiast" looking for QX9770 performance will be looking at the Core 2 Quad Q9450 with its identical 8x multiplier and rubbing their thighs in anticipation of a quick and dirty overclock from 1,333MHz (333MHz) to 1,600MHz (400MHz) front side bus. It's much the same conclusion of every Intel Core 2 Extreme Edition processor review - if you can get this kind of performance, by whatever means necessary, you will have to strap down your case because it's going to fly!

So while this CPU as a product is unattainable and too expensive, the way the Penryn architecture scales performance with clock speed clearly warrants considerable respect.

• Performance
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• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• 10/10

• Value
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 2/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 6/10

What do these scores mean?