Intel's Core i3-530 - The Budget Powerhouse?

[Rob Williams]

When Intel launched its Westmere-based line-up this past January, one of the more interesting models released was the Core i3-530. The big reason was its budget $120 price tag. But if there's one thing that can make a budget chip interesting, it's overclocking, and fortunately, there's huge potential where this chip is concerned.

You can read our full article here and discuss it here.

Just a note that I wasn't able to include unlocked X2 555 performance comparisons in here as I wanted, due to time. The past couple of weeks have been rather demanding, and so will the next one be. I'd like to revisit that idea when things calm down a bit, and perhaps expand on it as well.

 

[Optix]

Yay! More 530 info!

Too bad about not being able to test an unlocked 555. In the end I think I'll end up going with Intel anyway. The memory controller seems stronger since AMD rigs can have problems running anything above 1333 from what I have read.

I can't wait to read this but will have to until things calm down at work.

 

[Doomsday]

Awesome man! its max. TDP is 2W less than an E8400 at Idle!! This definitely is a very good Budget CPU!! for the Intel builders though, lol!

 

[Optix]

One site had it humming at 4.5 on the stock cooler with close to 1.4 vcore. No mention of the temperatures they were getting though or at least I didn't see it.

Combine that with the fact that most P55 boards will accept it given a BIOS update and you have a winning combination if paired with a budget screamer like Gigabyte P55M-UD2. What has been a pain in the butt lately is the price of DDR3 memory modules.

It's pretty bad when DDR3 prices keep climbing to the point most 4GB kits cost more than the CPU itself.

Not good for budget builders.

My only feedback on this article is that there are no benchmarks of games while the chip was overclocked.

A great read though, Rob. I'm thinking I'm looking at my next chip.