The new PCMark Vantage program simulates the use of real-world applications and gives scores for the following categories:

• PCMark
• Memories
• TV and Movies
• Gaming
• Music
• Communications
• Productivity
• HDD

For a detailed description of each one of these tests, please download and read the PCMark Vantage Reviewer’s Guide.

You can see the results for each category below. We are not going to compare the results for the Memories and HDD suites.

On the overall PCMark Vantage score Core 2 Duo E8400 and Core 2 Quad Q6600 achieved a similar performance level, while Phenom X3 8750 and Phenom X4 9550 also achieved a similar performance between them. Core 2 Duo E8400 achieved a score 6.82% higher than Phenom X3 8750 and 10.37% higher than Phenom X4 9550, while Core 2 Quad achieved a score 3.86% higher than Phenom X3 8750 and 7.31% higher than Phenom X4 9550.

TV and Movies benchmarking favored the number of cores available, but Phenom X3 8570 and Core 2 Duo E8400 achieved a similar performance. Core 2 Quad Q6600 achieved a score 9.09% higher than Phenom X4 9550, 17.17% higher than Phenom X3 8750 and 20.24% higher than Core 2 Duo E8400.

On PCMark Vantage’s gaming benchmarking the two Intel CPU’s achieved a similar score while the two AMD CPU’s achieved a similar performance between them. Here Core 2 Quad Q6600 was 8.99% faster than Phenom X4 9550 and Core 2 Duo 8400 was 9.21% faster than Phenom X3 8570.

On Music benchmarking it seems that clock speed is the major player. Core 2 Duo E8400 was 10.63% faster than Core 2 Quad Q6600, 15.02% faster than Phenom X3 8750 and 16.87% faster than Phenom X4 9550. Core 2 Quad Q6600 was 3.97% faster than Phenom X3 8750 and 5.64% faster than Phenom X4 9550.

On Communications benchmarking it also seems that clock speed is the major player. Core 2 Duo E8400 was 11.86% faster than Core 2 Quad Q6600, 12.01% faster than Phenom X3 8750 and 18.25% faster than Phenom X4 9550. Core 2 Quad Q6600 achieved the same performance level as Phenom X3 8750, being 5.72% faster than Phenom X4 9550.

On Productivity benchmarking Core 2 Duo E8400, Phenom X3 8750 and Phenom X4 9550 achieved a similar performance. Core 2 Quad Q6600 was 4.62% faster than Core 2 Duo E8400, 4.99% faster than Phenom X3 9570 and 5.68% faster than Phenom X4 9550.