Core i3 530 processor review - Introduction

Intel Core i3 530 processor review

A couple of weeks ago Intel unleashed a new dual-core processor  series onto the market,  armed with high clock frequencies and an integrated graphics unit for a good 2D experience on that monitor of yours, and sure it can even handle a little gaming as well. Obviously we are talking about the dales series processors, in specific Clarkdale - a derivative of in the Nehalem family of processors.

Now you'd be saying, um Hilbert didn't we review these processors already ? Um, yes ! And no. See on the 3rd earlier this month we took an in-depth peek at the Core i5 600 series processors. Intel that day also released the the Core i3 series processors, exactly the same thing, yet clocked slight slower and with Intel's Turbo mode' stripped away. The end result however is a processor that is priced much more attractive-- yet for a dual-core processor offers much more bang for buck at a mainstream or HTPC. And that processor was not seeded towards Dutch press, hence the review today.

The Intel Clarkdale processor lineup includes the 32 nm fabrication node Core i3 530 and 540 models, as well as the Core i5 650, 660, 661, and 670, which will be featured with Hyper-Threading, 4MB of L3 cache and support for dual-channel DDR3-1333 memory. 

So let's head onwards to the next page where we'll startup a little overview on the Clarkdale series processors, a photo-shoot and then head onwards into the test session where we'll throw some performance models at the processor to see how well it can hold up with all the dual, triple and quad core processors out there.

Next page please.