Within a month of our processor shootout, Intel unleashed quite something else-the QX9650, the first 45-nanometre silicon piece. Running at 3 GHz, with a 1333 MHz FSB, it has a 6 MB cache per die-a huge 12 MB in all. Built on a 45nm process, the QX9650 is much more power-efficient as compared to its older sibling. The addition of 47 new instructions under SSE4 gives a big boost to multimedia applications. Overall, we saw a nice 7 to 10 per cent boost in performance across our tests. Retailing at Rs 50,000, the QX 9650 is definitely a step in the right direction.

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