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
Integrated Graphics - Slower than AMD, Still Perfect for an HTPC
Intel was very careful to seed reviewers with the Core i5 661, it provides integrated graphics performance equal to if not better than the best integrated graphics from AMD and NVIDIA.
The same, unfortunately, can’t be said about the Core i3 530. With 81% of the GPU clock of the 661, the i3’s graphics are obviously slower. It’s not a huge drop, but it’s enough to be noticeable and enough to be slower than AMD:
| 1024 x 768 | Batman: AA | Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 | Dawn of War II | Dragon Age Origins | HAWX | World of Warcraft |
| Intel Core i5 661 (HD Graphics) | 35 fps | 21.6 fps | 15.0 fps | 41.5 fps | 53 fps | 14.8 fps |
| Intel Core i3 530 (HD Graphics) | 28 fps | 17.5 fps | 9.5 fps | 34.4 fps | 45 fps | 12.5 fps |
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 (790GX) | 35 fps | 29.3 fps | 12.1 fps | 35.6 fps | 58 fps | 21.1 fps |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 (GMA X4500) | 15 fps | failed | 1.4 fps | 16.8 fps | 26 fps | 11.7 fps |
The i3 does retain all of the sweet TrueHD/DTS-HD MA bitstreaming support that makes Clarkdale the perfect HTPC platform. If you don’t need the extra CPU power, the Core i3 530 could make for a great HTPC.
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kwrzesien - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
When is that Gigabyte board going to be available? I've already bought two 530's from Microcenter for $99 each and one GA-H55M-U2H board from Newegg to go into Antec P180's. I'm really hoping to get the USB3 ports and triple-power USB that is on the -USB3 model. It's been announced since mid-December and is only Gigabytes website but absolutely no signs of it in e-tail yet.Rajinder Gill - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
Hi,We'll ask about this first thing Monday morning and get back to you with an answer if possible.
regards
Raja
kwrzesien - Monday, January 25, 2010 - link
Raja,Thanks for looking into this! Still no sign on NewEgg as of this morning. I need to order by tomorrow to get my friend's build out, maybe I should just look for USB3.0 PCIe cards...
Thanks,
Kirk
Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - link
Hi.I'll paste the response I got back from GB this morning:
We have 4 H57/H55 models on the NA marketing currently. The model name and selling price of Newegg are listed below:
"H57M-USB3: $10+ up than H55M-USB3, wait for posting from Newegg.
H55M-USB3: $109.99, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...&cm_...
H55M-UD2H: $104.99, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...&cm_...
H55M-S2H: $89.99, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...&cm_...
"
Hope this helps!
Raja
kwrzesien - Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - link
Raja,THANKS! Really I just couldn't wait so I ordered another UD2H and a $40 USB3 card, the second build can get upgraded with USB3 later. Looks like the H57M-USB3 would be a better price overall but then you do loose two USB2 ports from the back panel - I hope they include a 2-port slot adapter on the USB3 model because they sure don't in the UD2H model, which already has 2 internal USB2 headers.
Shadowmaster625 - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
An AMD motherboard, with a northbridge and IGP is cheaper than an H55 motherboard that has no northbridge. I want to know why, and that should be the #1 question when it comes to i3, and yet you didnt even address this issue.Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
I mentioned this in an earlier comment. It's the same reason that AMD motherboard prices didn't go down when we moved from the K7 to K8 - chipset prices remained the same.The H5x chipsets, despite most of the logic being shifted onto the CPU package, are no cheaper than the previous generation G4x chipsets. Both AMD and Intel have made it very clear that as they integrate more functions onto the CPU, they aren't going to lower chipset prices. Instead, profit margins go up.
It's a fairly new platform so I'd expect average prices to drop as production ramps up, but that's the main reason the boards aren't any cheaper. I believe you can buy H55 boards for less than $90 on Newegg now, and then there's this ECS board that sells for under $80 (under $70 with MIR) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...cm_re=In...
Take care,
Anand
tno - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
I have a Q9300@3/X48/4890 based system. I'm a pretty average user, and the hardest work my CPU does is the occasional HD encode, and the systems hardest daily toll is gaming on one screen with an HD video on the other. I have not seen any slow down or deficiencies in my system, and don't feel limited in the slightest. I haven't played the newest, most stressful games around, but on the whole, I don't see a big case for making the jump to Nehalem or Clarkdale. Indeed, I feel comfortable sitting on my rig till Sandy Bridge.So, am I nuts? Am I missing some hugely compelling reason to make the jump? Is it the efficiency? Or is this tock really not as big a deal as the last tock (Penryn)?
tno
Taft12 - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
If you're a "pretty average" user, why did you buy a "pretty high end" motherboard and video card if you don't even play new games?? Shoulda gone for something half the price and upgrade twice as often :)tno - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
My wife was on a bunch of away rotations and so I was home alone and bored. That lead to a series of purchases that were in tune with the lifestyle of a guy with time and cash to spend. Then my wife came home and suddenly the time and the cash went away. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife, but it was a fun time and had she been away much longer I'd be cruising with some wicked water cooled i7 rig.