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Intel Core i3-530 review

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The new Core i3 processors use the LGA 1156 socket

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Verdict

A capable and efficient processor, but launch prices aren't low enough to excite

Review Date: 4 Jan 2010

Reviewed By: Darien Graham-Smith

Price when reviewed: £80 (£92 inc VAT)

Overall Rating

Features & Design
4 stars out of 6

Value for Money
3 stars out of 6

Performance
5 stars out of 6

The Core i3-530 is the most lightweight and affordable of Intel’s new 32nm Westmere CPUs for the desktop. Based on the Clarkdale desktop design, it fits into the familiar LGA 1156 socket, and (like all Westmere CPUs) incorporates two physical processor cores, allowing it to present four cores to the OS via Hyper-Threading.

See further details of Intel's new Westmere CPUs

This economical specification, coupled with the reduced transistor size, translates to strikingly low power demands: our test system, sitting idle at a Windows 7 desktop, drew a minuscule 32W, peaking at just 75W under 100% CPU load. Mobile Arrandale models aren’t yet available to test, but Intel promises their power drain will be even lower, helping prolong battery life.

With its core clock speed of 2.93GHz the Core i3-530 scored 1.58 in our benchmarks — a respectable performance, on a par with a Core 2 Quad Q8400. There’s no Turbo Mode here, though, as found in the Core i5 and Core i7 ranges, to provide an extra lift to single-threaded applications.

Predictably, the on-chip Intel HD Graphics engine isn’t the most powerful GPU in the world: the focus is on media playback rather than gaming, with dedicated hardware for Blu-ray decoding (including picture-in-picture), visual enhancements and Dolby True HD and DTS-HD 7.1 audio.

Still, you do get DirectX 10 support, and in our tests we were even able to play Crysis at an almost-bearable 23fps — albeit at 1,024 x 768 with Low detail settings.

With a slated launch price of around £80 exc VAT, the Core i3-530 is hardly expensive, but in terms of bang per buck it merely matches AMD’s triple-core Phenom II X3 720.

And while AM3 motherboards can be had for as little as £30, boards based on Intel's new H55 chipset – required to make use of the onboard GPU – start at around £70.

Still, when it comes to power efficiency the i3 leaves AMD standing, and looks set to come in a good £40 below the cheapest Core i5.

And with the 32nm process yielding more CPUs per wafer than ever before, there's huge scope for future price cuts. As and when those arrive, Core i3 could be an ideal choice for a lightweight home PC, a media centre or even – given Westmere’s hardware-accelerated AES encryption – a business desktop.

Author: Darien Graham-Smith

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Comments

User comments

Price when reviewed: £92 inc VAT

Buy it now: £304.95

Inflation in the UK is at Weimar rates?

By Phoomeister on 7 Jan 2010

Early adopters premium? if not, then it's dead in the water.

By pinero50 on 8 Jan 2010

Price vs efficiency & performance

At £80 it is an expensive dual core - as much as a Triple core and some Quad cores
– the Athlon II X3 425 costs £53 and the X4 620 costs £75.
Unfortunately the CPU requires an equally expensive Motherboard and the prices of RAM has not fallen significantly since the release of DDR3!
CPU £80
Board £80
3GB DDR3 £45
HDD £35
Case+PSU £25
DVDRW £15
Thats £280 for a base unit, without an Operating System, software, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, web cam or any other external equipment such as a printer, scanner, card reader...
Compair this,
AMD Athlon II X2 250 AM3 3Ghz 2Mb £51
Asus AM2+ AMD GeForce 7025 mATX DDR2 Audio & Ethernet £34
- You would save £75 and get a better Graphics card!
Although the i3 can use Hyper Threading the CPU performance would not be significantly better (noticeable) for most applications.
It might play Games, but not very well; the graphics are built into the CPU core, but you can buy a motherboard with better built in graphics, and for a lot less than an LGA 1156 board.
The CPU is energy efficient, but this is only noticeable when the CPU is busy!
When the CPU is not being used much, which is most of the time the average computer is on, there is little difference in CPU energy consumption between many processors, including the Athlon II X2, the X3’s, Q8400, Q8300...
It is only when it is in use that the energy efficiency is noticeable. So the reduction in your electric bill would not offset the initial outlay for a very long time.

How long?
Well, an i3 CPU running flat out might save 50W over an Athlon II X2:
So the CPU would need to be running at 100% for over 15 months before you started to save on overall costs.

By skgiven on 8 Jan 2010

Over an Athlon II X2 250 it would only save about 20W to 30W running at 100% - 2 to 3 years!

By skgiven on 8 Jan 2010

Pricing

I don't know where Phoomeister got £304 from. Typing core i3 into a well known search engine will show it available for under £100. Not much of an early adopters premium. A 4GHz overclocked bundle with memory and motherboard was going for £350

By tirons1 on 11 Jan 2010

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