The Intel Core i3 530 Review - Great for Overclockers & Gamers
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 22, 2010 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Final Words
I like the Core i3 530. It’s the first real alternative Intel offers to AMD’s Phenom II X2 and Athlon II X4 processors. And dare I say that it’s perfectly competitive? With Clarkdale I get the feeling that Intel is actually trying to compete with AMD, instead of run them into the ground.
If you need a fast dual-core processor, the Core i3 530 is right for you. If you need affordable threaded performance, the Athlon II X4 is a better option. Intel attempts to sweeten the deal with TrueHD/DTS-HD MA bitstreaming support, but ultimately what we have here is a chip that is truly competitive.
The i5s continue to be priced far too high, but that’s where they should be. Intel has a much larger sales and marketing budget than AMD, so put those sales folks to work. AMD (and Intel) offer better value than the entire dual-core i5 line, so it’s up to Intel's marketing to sell those more expensive chips. To those in the know, you'll ignore them almost entirely.
The i3 is the sensible solution. It’s not too perfect. You’re still better off with an Athlon II X4 if you are doing a lot of video encoding or offline 3D rendering, but it’s great for the rest of the market. You lose turbo mode but honestly, with only two cores, you don’t really need it. Instead, just be happy with the fact that you can push nearly 4GHz with minimal effort and without even swapping out the stock heatsink/fan. The lack of AES-NI support keeps the i3 from being the otherwise perfect chip for corporate use, a clever but unfortunate move by Intel.
The competitive angle is even more interesting when you realize that the majority of the dual-core CPUs that AMD sells today are all much cheaper than the Core i3. Maybe it’s Intel playing nice for the FTC, but it almost looks like the two companies have conspired to compete without stepping on each others toes.
Between $60 - $100 you have the Athlon II X2. Then at $100 - $130 you can go with either an i3 or an Athlon II X4. Between $130 and $200 you have a number of Phenom II X4 choices that make sense. And at $200 and above it’s all Lynnfield/Bloomfield. Everyone gets a piece of the pie, Intel just gets the more expensive price points (which to AMD’s credit, aren’t high volume sellers anyway).
AMD technically has the best product at one of the most important price points - $150. Maybe I’m reading too much into this but the competition here just seems...clean.
There you have it. If you want a dual-core processor at around $130, the Core i3 530 is as good as it gets. Competition without killing AMD. I like it.
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loucm - Sunday, August 1, 2010 - link
using the same motherboard gigabyte h55m-ud2hi manage to get my i3 530 @ 4GHZ stable with only 1.184 core voltage.
polarq - Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - link
Hi, I have a core i3-530 and h55m-ud2h, bought a coolermaster 212 and I'm trying to push the limits :) But with the GPU, in bios there's a possibility to change it from 733mhz, which I did, on 900 - but it still shows 733, both in bios and cpu-z.So I can freely input the value, but 733 is still lights up white in bios. Is there any possibility it was locked after it couldnt take 900? Can I unlock it again? I tried CLR_CMOS, load fail safe defaults, but nothing changed. Any advice please?
Alejo1879 - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 - link
Need Opinion For Core i3 550Hello people, i need some opinions about the intel core i3 550.
Is this CPU faster than core i3 530, i think so, but in cpubenchmark.com, in the High End CPUs - Updated 1st of February 2011 the core i3 530 is in the top and the i3 550 don't.
Intel Core i7 995X @ 3.60GHz 10,795
Intel Core i3 530 @ 2.93GHz 3,546 $124.95*
AMD Phenom II X4 B40 3,534 NA
Intel Core i5 655K @ 3.20GHz 3,525 $192.95*
Intel Core i7 820QM @ 1.73GHz 3,520 $546.00**
Intel Core2 Extreme @ 2.26GHz 3,518 NA
Intel Core2 Quad Q9100 @ 2.26GHz 3,428 $385.89**
Intel Core i7-2620M @ 2.70GHz 3,415 NA
Intel Core i5 661 @ 3.33GHz 3,295 $209.99*
Intel Core i3 560 @ 3.33GHz 3,283 $149.99*
AMD Phenom II X4 910 3,281 $204.19**
AMD Phenom II X4 B93 3,275 NA
Intel Core i5 650 @ 3.20GHz 3,120 $182.99*
Intel Core i5 660 @ 3.33GHz 3,101 $207.99*
Intel Core i3 550 @ 3.20GHz 3,026 $124.99*
IS IN FACT THE CORE I3 530 BETTER THAN I3 540, 550 AND EVEN I3 560?
PLEASE HELP.
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dayat - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
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sarp - Wednesday, January 11, 2012 - link
Ive i3 530 @2.93Ive managed to get it to 4.00GHz with 182 BClk by changing QPI, Graphics and RAM Frequencies accodringly. Sometimes my screen just freezes with a solid color and I have to restart it in order to get to Windows again. Anyway, I want to boost Intel Graphics HD 3000 performance, it's default clock is 733MHz, since Ive changed BClk to 182, to be on the safe side it is 500MHz. I wonder, how much should I increase graphics core voltage in order to get to 900Mhz with 182 BClk?
KinderJoy - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
What software are you using to overclock?