bit-tech.net

Intel Core i5-661 & Core i3-530 CPU Review

Comments 1 to 25 of 50

Reply
Devolve 4th January 2010, 09:09 Quote
As interesting as this article is, I got soo lost in that guys eyebrows.............wow, just wow.
Xtrafresh 4th January 2010, 09:17 Quote
Anand seems to have been able to OC much faster with an Asus board: 4,8GHz on the 661!
So there's enough room to play with these to make them the next big thing for cheap gaming rigs :D
Denis_iii 4th January 2010, 09:51 Quote
AMD should have a big price drop soon, i wouldn't mine an intel i3-530 without the gpu
tron 4th January 2010, 10:02 Quote
I am all for the naming scheme of the chips being related to their relative performance levels.

However, the "Core" brand name followed by a number is confusing to the average high street consumer. Due to the fact that it can sound as if it implies a relation with the CPUs number of Cores. Example: Core i7 can mislead one to believe it may have 7 cores.
okenobi 4th January 2010, 10:09 Quote
So it seems to me that the i3-530 is the neww E5200 in terms of price/performance. i5-750 retains the mid-range crown. Interesting reading and will be very interesting to see what happens to the market this week...
Bindibadgi 4th January 2010, 10:40 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xtrafresh
Anand seems to have been able to OC much faster with an Asus board: 4,8GHz on the 661!
So there's enough room to play with these to make them the next big thing for cheap gaming rigs :D

Yea we've seen special things from other 32nm products, but we're waiting on BIOS bugs on a few boards right now.
yakyb 4th January 2010, 10:43 Quote
one thing not covered in the article is Mediacentre performance, are these capable of running a media centre (hardware playback etc.) i very much presume they are
Lizard 4th January 2010, 10:44 Quote
Shush Bindi, shush
Singularity 4th January 2010, 10:54 Quote
Wow, the i3-530 is just... wow. That said, i'd love to see a GPU-less version of it... that would drop the power draw, and probably make if cooler (or does the GMA get no power at all when a dedicated GPU is used?)...
Bindibadgi 4th January 2010, 11:07 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by yakyb
one thing not covered in the article is Mediacentre performance, are these capable of running a media centre (hardware playback etc.) i very much presume they are

I've dropped in some extra information on page 2 about this and a few other details :)
V3ctor 4th January 2010, 11:14 Quote
Thanks for including the Q6600 :)
I can see now that he's going the way of the dodo :D I'll just O'c mine to 3.0ghz and let it stay there until Sandybridge, or Bulldozer.
NickCPC 4th January 2010, 12:21 Quote
Interesting article - but I noticed the i7-720QM/820QM mobile processors had been omitted from the comparison table?! Any reason??
tuberc 4th January 2010, 12:45 Quote
It would be nice to see the Q9550 in the benchmarks, the Q6600 is getting a little old now and alot of people are thinking of getting the a faster S775 cpu instead of changing to a new mobo right now
perplekks45 4th January 2010, 12:56 Quote
I'm still quite happy with my E6600 @ 3.6GHz on air.

Yet, a nice i5-750 wouldn't be too bad. Hmmmm... birthday on Feb 4. Where's my girlfriend again? Gotta call her. :)
dec 4th January 2010, 13:27 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by perplekks45
Yet, a nice i5-750 wouldn't be too bad.

+1

couldnt clarkdale i5's be all quads? :(
AMD needs another price cut. so does MSI's 790FX-GD70 :)
yakyb 4th January 2010, 13:38 Quote
thank s bindi

very interesting to see the q6600 dropping down the charts but i think its going to be the staple of many of the systems here for a while yet
Bindibadgi 4th January 2010, 13:44 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickCPC
Interesting article - but I noticed the i7-720QM/820QM mobile processors had been omitted from the comparison table?! Any reason??

Not omitted, just don't have a direct comparative. Mobile products don't really compare to desktops - it's an entirely different usage model because mobile CPUs come packaged within a full laptop.
gagaga 4th January 2010, 13:50 Quote
So the i3-530 totally beats an E8400 on performance, for 1/3 less in price yet only gets 6/10 for performance and 8/10 for value? Both seem way off to me.

Also ... for tests with integrated GPUs please do a second set of power consumption tests without the additional GPU and with a much smaller (450W?) PSU to reflect the scenario that those of us not into gaming face. I've been using integrated GPUs since the Athlon 64 + ATI days and have never needed more - it's hard to judge the power figures when much of the reading is down to PSU inefficiency at tiny partial loads and GPU overhead.

Otherwise, great write-up. Thanks
gagaga 4th January 2010, 13:53 Quote
@perplekks45

Just read your comment and giggled ... i've got mine trained too. It's a while since mine bought me a Intel 80GB G2 SSD so I think I deserve another toy...
Neogumbercules 4th January 2010, 14:05 Quote
Great article! Those new CPUs seem to be pretty great. However, all this article reaaallly did was solidify my purchase of a i5-750. Maybe I missed it, but was the on chip GPU tested at all?

Oh yeah, and anyone else remember Intel's excuse of saying the hyperthreading feature was the only reason a CPU would be called an i7? What ever happened to that?

Someone seriously needs to get Intel a better cpu-naming-guy. If it were me:

i3 - 1156 budget CPUs, model numbers indicate performance

i5 - 1156 midrange CPUs, model numbers indicate performance

i7 - 1366 CPUs, model numbers indicate performance

To reduce confusion put something like "HT" in the title for ones that have hyperthreading instead of giving them the same name of CPUs that exist on entirely different sockets. Intel is either clearly trying to deliberately confuse the consumer into buying the the two useless lynnfield models by calling them i7s, or their naming schemes are under the command of some PR marketing robot.
retrogamer1990 4th January 2010, 14:27 Quote
Nice article, though I wish intel would make the names less confusing
rickysio 4th January 2010, 14:49 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xtrafresh
Anand seems to have been able to OC much faster with an Asus board: 4,8GHz on the 661!
So there's enough room to play with these to make them the next big thing for cheap gaming rigs :D

They did get to about 6.5GHz, though not on air.

Well, I'd just drop some cash on a better cooler (Still using stock, plan on getting Xigmatek HDT-SD964 due to height issues.), OC my G0 Q6600 to 3.0GHz and wait for SandyBridge.
NickCPC 4th January 2010, 14:53 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickCPC
Interesting article - but I noticed the i7-720QM/820QM mobile processors had been omitted from the comparison table?! Any reason??

Not omitted, just don't have a direct comparative. Mobile products don't really compare to desktops - it's an entirely different usage model because mobile CPUs come packaged within a full laptop.

I'm talking about Page 3: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/01/04/intel-core-i5-661-core-i3-530-cpu-review/3
There is a "complete" list of all the new Core i-series (i3,i5,i7) which also includes mobile processors which are as yet unavailable. The Core i7 720QM/820QM are part of the Core i-series, and they are available now; surely they should have been included on the feature table?! (Sorry I didn't make which table I was referring to clear in my first post.)
javaman 4th January 2010, 15:16 Quote
you need to review the AMD athlon II X3 425/435. Its the gem in AMD's crown....if other review sites are to be believed. With current prices, the i5 platform sits too close to the 965 platform in terms of cost for a new build.
Bindibadgi 4th January 2010, 15:48 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickCPC
I'm talking about Page 3: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/01/04/intel-core-i5-661-core-i3-530-cpu-review/3
There is a "complete" list of all the new Core i-series (i3,i5,i7) which also includes mobile processors which are as yet unavailable. The Core i7 720QM/820QM are part of the Core i-series, and they are available now; surely they should have been included on the feature table?! (Sorry I didn't make which table I was referring to clear in my first post.)

Oh, yes, true to the table, I'll add them when I have time :)
Log in

You are not logged in, please login with your forum account below. If you don't already have an account please register to start contributing.



Discuss in the forums