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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
107 Comments
View All Comments
MadMan007 - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
The Clarkdale CPUs are that much less efficient, likely because of the off-die but on-package memory controller not to mention only 2 'real' cores. It's more like having a fast-connected Northbridge in a traditional FSB arrangement than the on-die memory controller of Lynnfield. ardocp did their Clarkdale review with set speeds and no Turboboost and Clarkdale needed a lot more clockspeed to equal Lynnfield. That's why the i5-600 CPUs make little sense unless you desparately want the combination of certain features and integrated graphics, they are too close in price to the i5-750.StormyParis - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
95 euros for Gigabyte 13566 UD2H, vs 80 for their 785G. That's 20-25 US dollars. At least, both have DVI and HDMI, contrary to Intel Atom 510 board (what were they thinking ?)Calin - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
I would still prefer integrated graphics from AMD/ATI - but did you saw (or felt) any graphical issues with the integrated graphic from Intel?I'm waiting for the next IGP from AMD/ATI, based on what the current competition is, it should be much better than what Intel has now.
Egowhip69 - Thursday, January 28, 2010 - link
Picked up one of these things... along with a gigabyte ga-h55m-ud2h board.Having AWFUL issues with random reboots. Changed the Memory, PSU, HDD, you name it... then I uninstalled the intel graphics and changed the chip to an i5... no problems.
Just to check, I threw the i3 back in... but no intel drivers... no reboots on a 3 day burn in... added the drivers back... reboot within 45 min.
Both on Win7 pro 64bit, and Xp pro 32bit.
Intel's drivers are VERY immature at the moment...
bupkus - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
Anand, does the table showing the results of the 4GHz i3 530 overclock include a graphics overclock as well?Calin - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
The game results with the 4GHz overclock are obtained with a heavy-duty video card, there's no way the integrated graphics would get such results.What I'd like to know is - was the integrated graphic chip active during that 4GHz overclock? And how much could one push the i3 with active (eventually downclocked) internal graphic?
Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
Correct. The IGP wasn't running, only the Radeon HD 5870. I haven't tried to figure out the max overclock while pushing both the CPU and the GPU, I'd guess it'd be relatively similar though. The two chips are physically separate, so as long as you can adequately remove the heat of the GPU you should be fine.Take care,
Anand
notty22 - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
Your going to catch some flak for deeming this a overall better gaming cpu , in a chart comparing it to a amd 965.nerdtalker - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
The i3 is creeping surprisingly close to the i7 920, too close for my comfort, in fact./goes and overclocks i7 920 even more
kwrzesien - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
/goes and turns down the thermostat