Comparison i3-530 VS i3-540

[MattNo5ss]

Awesome, since you have over 100 posts be sure to look in the classies for deals before you pay full price.

 

[Airbornederekc]

I'll let you guys help me with this one too, you all havn't stirred me wrong as a community here yet =]

So as always I'm bringing back my same old "i3" discussion but this time I'm wondering if you guys can give me some insight. I've been looking at the 530 and 540 on Newegg and the only difference that's obvious from newegg's charts is the clock speed. There has to be more to it than that, which one is better? The CPU will be used almost exclusively for gaming, some next gen some misc.

Side note to the i3 530 is on-sale for a whole $5 under it's usual price lol.

Back to the original question at hand yes the only difference is the clock speed. there is a difference between the i3 and i5 series but 530 vs 540 is only clock speed.


540 has a higher multi so theoretically you can push it higher.

 

[Ronbert]

Unfortunately I can't Matt =/ They won't let me on because my e-mail address is "generic" it's a yahoo e-mail so. They said to give my Charter e-mail out but unfortunately I don't own the e-mail my Grandmother does so I'm out in the cold on this one.

 

[Parad0x420]

Unfortunately I can't Matt =/ They won't let me on because my e-mail address is "generic" it's a yahoo e-mail so. They said to give my Charter e-mail out but unfortunately I don't own the e-mail my Grandmother does so I'm out in the cold on this one.

I read that too, as I have a gmail addy.. but when I was interested in an item (new SSD) and talked to the buyer, and asked him about the same issue, he said as long as I had a confirmed paypal everything was gravy. Hope I didn't break any rules as I don't have access to the Comcast email my parent's use.. but it worked out for me.

 

[retrogreq]

you can normally set up a forward on major ISPs, just ask your parents/grandparents to go in there and have em forward to your current email.

 

[Ronbert]

Got some good news to deliver guys! He bought my stuff and gave me cash for it all! I deposited and ordered my HD5770, the money will be in the bank tomorrow and my card will be shipped ^-^ YIPPE! I'm extremely happy even though I ended up with only $300

Also just for good measure I bought a second stick of 800mhz 2gb ram with same timings because it was on sale. With this HD5770 and the 2gb stick of RAM I should see a pretty good increase in FPS neh?

 

[SamSaveMax]

Also just for good measure I bought a second stick of 800mhz 2gb ram with same timings because it was on sale. With this HD5770 and the 2gb stick of RAM I should see a pretty good increase in FPS neh?

Just a head up so that we're all in the same boat.....i3 requires DDR3 rams.

 

[Ronbert]

Just a head up so that we're all in the same boat.....i3 requires DDR3 rams.

Oh I know sam I should have stated the 2Gb is for my current setup so I can run Dual Channel. I know i3 is DDR3 only reason I got the second stick is because the price was 40 bucks for the same stick of RAM. Seemed unbeatable to me.

 

[baris_]

Have to say though that dual cores (even with hyperthreading) will not last very long against the next-generation games. Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but won't it be better to go with an i5 750?

 

[Ronbert]

Have to say though that dual cores (even with hyperthreading) will not last very long against the next-generation games. Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but won't it be better to go with an i5 750?

I'd have to disagree for the moment only because I see many people pushing DC into next gen games. Sure DC are about at the top of their game meaning they are gonna go down but as long as DC's can compete with Crysis at full I wouldn't worry to much yet.

If by soon you mean say the next 5 years which is actually pretty long in computer years rofl =p Then yeah I'd agree with you.

Ninja Edit: Wait a min, I3's are dual core eh? I didn't know that I'll go for an I5 for the sake of quad core. Because if I'm really going to go up in performance I should shoot for Quad instead.

 

[PolRoger]

Ninja Edit: Wait a min, I3's are dual core eh? I didn't know that I'll go for an I5 for the sake of quad core. Because if I'm really going to go up in performance I should shoot for Quad instead.

Uh oh... now you need to start over with a thread titled "i3 dual core vs. i5 750 quad"

 

[Ronbert]

Uh oh... now you need to start over with a thread titled "i3 dual core vs. i5 750 quad"

Nah hehe I've bothered these guys enough with my incessant nagging on which I3 to get =p This time I'll do my own research.

 

[mzs_biteme]

540....

For what it's worth, I went to Fry's last night got i3 540/Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H (link) for ~150 (before rebate) and 2x1GB Patriot 1333 for $52.
After getting home I yanked my P965 chipset mobo running e7300 @ 3.8GHz, and swapped out with the i3. Quick install of Win 7Pro later, about 4hrs of gaming, I can say that even at stock, the i3 540 @3.06GHz (default) is faster and much cooler than the 3.8GHz e7300...
This afternoon, I decided to do some minor OC-ing.
Booted to BIOS, increased the Vcore by 0.015v, changed FSB to 166MHz, and bam, I'm running i3 540 at 3.8Ghz.. Just like that. I don't even think I needed to up the voltage, but it's somewhat of a "ritual" after OC-ing the Core 2 Duos...

Couple pics:

 

[Ronbert]

For what it's worth, I went to Fry's last night got i3 540/Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H (link) for ~150 (before rebate) and 2x1GB Patriot 1333 for $52.
After getting home I yanked my P965 chipset mobo running e7300 @ 3.8GHz, and swapped out with the i3. Quick install of Win 7Pro later, about 4hrs of gaming, I can say that even at stock, the i3 540 @3.06GHz (default) is faster and much cooler than the 3.8GHz e7300...
This afternoon, I decided to do some minor OC-ing.
Booted to BIOS, increased the Vcore by 0.015v, changed FSB to 166MHz, and bam, I'm running i3 540 at 3.8Ghz.. Just like that. I don't even think I needed to up the voltage, but it's somewhat of a "ritual" after OC-ing the Core 2 Duos...

Nice pics bro! Diggin' the set up

I would consider the I3 still because the price is unbeatable to be honest but I've been told I should stop investing in Dual Cores and move onto Quads but your post does throw me back in the crossroads >.>;

I would like an I3 but that question that went something along the lines of "Dual Cores won't compete with next gen games much longer" had jump started me thinking about it. I honestly do have to wonder how much longer they can compete then again... I3's are pretty powerful. I don't know guys as a group again what do you think...

Dual Core or Quad Core, remember I don't do any encoding just hardcore gaming.

 

[jaymz9350]

I'd have to disagree for the moment only because I see many people pushing DC into next gen games. Sure DC are about at the top of their game meaning they are gonna go down but as long as DC's can compete with Crysis at full I wouldn't worry to much yet.

If by soon you mean say the next 5 years which is actually pretty long in computer years rofl =p Then yeah I'd agree with you.

Ninja Edit: Wait a min, I3's are dual core eh? I didn't know that I'll go for an I5 for the sake of quad core. Because if I'm really going to go up in performance I should shoot for Quad instead.

Just remember the 750 is the only i5 quad, the 5xx and 6xx are duals as well. the 750 and 8xx are quads with the 8xx having HT.

 

[SamSaveMax]

Yeah, I was kind of jealous when I saw that ad ran two days after I bought my i3-530 combo there. I didn't feel like disassemble everything to do the exchange.
In the end, I'm quite happy with mine 530 at 4.34GHz

........Isn't that heasink fan blowing the wrong way?

 

[Ronbert]

Well guys how much longer do you think I'll be able to play next gen games like Crysis at max settings. I don't really play Crysis much it's for testing purposes but I do play games like COD and stuff that comes out for consoles like the PS3 and XBOX.

If I can make the I3 compete with next gen games for more than 3 years that's what I'll get because just to step up to an i5 750 is gonna cost $75 more. Remember in this build the money saved DOES count.

I'm trying to build a budget machine that can play well. Less money, more quality.

 

[SamSaveMax]

If you can......i5-750 is the best value for the money.....its power is impressive.
but then again, you need to have a separate GPU with it. So, there more cost to it as well.

 

[Ronbert]

If you can......i5-750 is the best value for the money.....its power is impressive.
but then again, you need to have a separate GPU with it. So, there more cost to it as well.

Seperate GPU? Please elaborate.

 

[mzs_biteme]

Yeah, I was kind of jealous when I saw that ad ran two days after I bought my i3-530 combo there. I didn't feel like disassemble everything to do the exchange.
In the end, I'm quite happy with mine 530 at 4.34GHz

........Isn't that heasink fan blowing the wrong way?

I'm pretty sure I can break 4Ghz without any sweat... I just dont see the reason for it. I think I'm just gonna leave it at 3.8, as it is already fast enough for Windows apps (even with "only" 2GB this thing moves!) and all the games I play (COD2, COD4, QuakeLive, SOF2, Doom3) cant get any faster, and with the newest games out there, my poor'ole GTS250 would be the limiting factor more than anything else...

On the fan, I did swap it around but it's still pushing air through the heatsink. Also, the side of the case has a small blow hole closer to the back of the case and I also have a fan pulling air out on the top.. It's all good, and very cool...