Intel is not expected to launch its first hexa-core desktop processor until next year, but engineering samples of the 32nm Gulftown CPU is already out in the wild. One of the have found its way into the hands of overclocker Shamino, and he of course overclocked it to the very limit. Using liquid nitrogen and a pretty terrifying operating voltage of 2.02V all six cores were clocked to nearly 6.4GHz for a quick screenshot.
With the cores clocked at 5.9GHz the system completed one round of 3DMark Vantage Performance to measure the CPU performance. The result was 51,177 points, which you can compare to the CPU score of the current Performance Profile world record at 32,328 points.
Intel seems to have come a long way with the new manufacturing process, months before the actual launch of Gulftown and at the same time there doesn’t seem to be many problems with performance of its first six-core CPU.
