bit-tech.net

Overclocking Intel's Core i3 530

Comments 1 to 23 of 23

Reply
Ph4ZeD 3rd March 2010, 09:59 Quote
Was 4.07GHz really the top overclock you could get with this chip? That seems quite poor in comparison to the E8x00 chips considering the 530 is 32nm.
SlowMotionSuicide 3rd March 2010, 10:01 Quote
What's with the crazy amount of TIM on page 2?
SchizoFrog 3rd March 2010, 10:10 Quote
I'm still fairly confused as to the actual value of Core i3 and this review does little to help. Especially with comments like this one on the first page.

'Is it £100 worth of upgrade over that aging Q6600 or E-series Core 2 Duo CPU?'

How do you get £100 worth of upgrade from a Q6600 when you would need a new Motherboard, Memory, the CPU itself and maybe even a new cooler too? You are easily looking at the £250 mark and maybe even up to £350 and at the end I still find it difficult to understand if the results are 'THAT' much better from a Q6600 to warrant what would be pretty much a new build.
Claave 3rd March 2010, 10:17 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by SchizoFrog
I'm still fairly confused as to the actual value of Core i3 and this review does little to help. Especially with comments like this one on the first page.

'Is it £100 worth of upgrade over that aging Q6600 or E-series Core 2 Duo CPU?'

How do you get £100 worth of upgrade from a Q6600 when you would need a new Motherboard, Memory, the CPU itself and maybe even a new cooler too? You are easily looking at the £250 mark and maybe even up to £350 and at the end I still find it difficult to understand if the results are 'THAT' much better from a Q6600 to warrant what would be pretty much a new build.

This isn't a review, it's an overclocking guide. For the review, see http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/01/04/intel-core-i5-661-core-i3-530-cpu-review/1
You'll find comparisons to the Q6600 there, but yes, you're right to say that going from a Q6600 to a Core i3 requires a new motherboard, memory and possibly a new cooler.
Cyberpower-UK 3rd March 2010, 10:42 Quote
4GHz seems a little conservative on 661. I've had them to 4.5GHz without ludicrous temperatures on good air cooling. I wouldn't call that a crazy amount of TIM, on core contact CPU coolers like the Fenrir you need to use a bit more to fill the cracks, I find it's better to goop the cooler rather than the CPU.

And no, I wont be upgrading my home system from Q6600 to i3 or i5, they may clock well but going from native quad to HT dual core seems like a retrograde step.
aron311 3rd March 2010, 10:57 Quote
Would be helpful if the test rig was in there with the power consumption graph :)
Redkachina 3rd March 2010, 10:58 Quote
I was torn between the PII 965 and i3 530 but in the end I choose Phenom because I can still keep my cooler and also its backward compatibility (RMAing my AM3 board so back to Am2+).
Bindibadgi 3rd March 2010, 11:11 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by aron311
Would be helpful if the test rig was in there with the power consumption graph :)

Yes my fault, I'll drop in a test setup page now.

EDIT: LOL it was on Page 1, I completely forgot.

As for 4GHz OCs, we wanted to demonstrate something completely stable and not out of the reach of everyone with any board. We haven't used expensive OC boards - we've used basic UD2s. This guide is meant to lead people into overclocking and not make them feel they are unable achieve it themselves.
logan'srun 3rd March 2010, 11:24 Quote
You consider Prime stable after 6 mins? Please tell me you ran that longer than just 6 mins?
mi1ez 3rd March 2010, 12:49 Quote
page 3- CPU-Z
3.6V?!
Bindibadgi 3rd March 2010, 12:53 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by logan'srun
You consider Prime stable after 6 mins? Please tell me you ran that longer than just 6 mins?

No it was just a screenshot to demonstrate it. I wasn't waiting hours, again! ;)

mi1ez - it's read wrongly. :D
SteveU 3rd March 2010, 13:52 Quote
EDIT: Fixed, thanks!
Lehmann 3rd March 2010, 17:15 Quote
It would be nice if you added folding smp client to these test
dark_avenger 3rd March 2010, 23:14 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lehmann
It would be nice if you added folding smp client to these test

+1
would be nice to get PPD comparisons
phatkt 4th March 2010, 22:22 Quote
Great article.
Thanks for the overview now I know what to aim for.

I've just grabbed a i3 540 and Gigabyte ga-H55M-S2H board and with some help from another bit-tech article I'm on my way.
rehk 12th March 2010, 16:17 Quote
nice article.

buying an i3 530, gelid tranquillo cooler for it and a gigabyte h55m-ud2h motherboard with some g.skill ripjaw ram.

gonna be a huge upgrade from my current core 2 duo at 2.5ghz
Bindibadgi 12th March 2010, 16:27 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by rehk
nice article.

buying an i3 530, gelid tranquillo cooler for it and a gigabyte h55m-ud2h motherboard with some g.skill ripjaw ram.

gonna be a huge upgrade from my current core 2 duo at 2.5ghz

Please post how you get on in the hardware forum :D You can attach pics in the user cp.
tech778 24th March 2010, 16:26 Quote
I have several questions:
1st GA-H55M-UD2 exist! It is therefore a GA-P55M-UD2 or GA-H55M-UD2H?
2nd Consumption is measured with what Matherboard?
3rd The performance tests used to Matherboard?
4th For the i5-750 was used to Matherboard?

Sorry, used Google translator
Spiny 13th April 2010, 18:18 Quote
Nice builds

out if interest, do you select components that are on the windows HCL?

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx

Having been bitten by stuff not on there early in Vista's life I'd want to choose from there.

Alternatively, do you select from the motherboard manufacturer's memory compatibility list?
ippo 26th April 2010, 17:56 Quote
Hi guys. I'm newcomer in this forum and i rly need some help cause i am rly noob on OC :)
I use and i3 540 on P55M-GD45. My current ami bios version is 1.1 old. The newest is v1.5 But the update process is kinda confusing me since i have to run win Me or 98 OR try to flush it so i just don't bother.
But the thing is i tried to OC and the results are kinda like this : Bus speed 162 with 23x CPU clk Ratio, QPI Ratio @ 22x and Vcore : +0.123 (Default Vcore is 1.025) and all other untouchable on auto !
So, when i try to get over 162 bus speed and changes only on Vcore my OC fails.
Can u tell me what else should i change to get higher ? Do i rly have to update bios ?
Currently i am at 3.75GHz and rly wanna go at 4GHz at least.
So i get something like this http://img717.imageshack.us/i/20468304.png/
crazyceo 30th April 2010, 20:26 Quote
I've never trusted my manual overclocks before........UNTIL NOW!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys for putting this together as I've overclocked my i3-530 together with the H55M-UD2H to 4.07 using the (185X22) and it runs PUUURRRRRFFFIIICCC!!!!!!!!!

It's stable, quiet and fast as hell.
seanbean 19th May 2010, 23:10 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyceo
I've never trusted my manual overclocks before........UNTIL NOW!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys for putting this together as I've overclocked my i3-530 together with the H55M-UD2H to 4.07 using the (185X22) and it runs PUUURRRRRFFFIIICCC!!!!!!!!!

It's stable, quiet and fast as hell.

Hi Crazy - what CPU cooler are you running with that?
Snips 15th September 2010, 08:50 Quote
Just got the same results as crazyceo. I bought a H50 to cool but I hadn't used it yet and achieved it just with the ever reliable Artic Cooling Freezer Pro7.

Where can I post photos?
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

More About...