Introduction

First of all, I would like to thank Links for providing processor samples the the rest of hardware used in this review.

Last month we took a look at the Core i5 661 processor and went through the Westmere architecture and all of its new features and technologies. When Intel initially presented the Westmere architecture and Clarkdale processors in the Core i5 600 series it turned out they were unbalanced in performance and heavily overpriced in stores. Announced as the "Nehalem" architecture for masses in the end it ended competing with some higher end Quad core processors at price points not for the masses. In spite of that, Intel managed to seize the lime light and prepared the terrain for lower end derivatives of the Core i5 600 family.

Intel Core i3 as Intel calls it is based on the same Clarkdale core as the Core i5 600 series. They are physically identical and the only differentiation between those two processor families is the lack of Turbo Boost technology in Core i3 models and lower core clocks, and if you've read our Core i5 661 review you saw that Turbo Boost makes a very small difference with dual core processors such as Clarkdale. So the Core i3 series keeps all the good stuff that makes Clarkdale such a performance competitive processor and offers it at much lower and acceptable price point. In fact Core i3 500 models could bring much higher price/performance ratios than the Core i5 600 processors, and could become the "carriers" of Clarkdale based processors.



This time we have Core i3 540 and its little brother Core i3 530 lined up, but before we dig in I would strongly advise you to read some basics of Westmere architecture covered in Core i5 661 CPU Review and W1zzard's Core i5 661 GPU Review. This review will not go in depth on the Westmere architecture or Clarkdale core, but rather focus on the Core i3 540 and 530 as products. Also you should note that this review focuses on the CPU part of Clarkdale and IGP features and performance will not be tested.

Packaging and Contents

The Core i3 540 and 530 models come in a retail package that includes a short installation manual, Intel Core i3 case-badge, Intel-certified aluminum heatsink, and of course the processor. Intel offers a 3-year warranty for all retail processors, including Core i3 series.

Core i3 540 and 530

As stated in the intro, Core i3 is based on Clarkdale core and Westmere architecture, same as Intel Core i5 600 series and in fact the same applies even to the new Pentium G6950 processor. They are all physically identical processors based on the same Clarkdale core, and you might be asking yourself "what's the deal, why not buy the cheapest one?". The deal is in the list of features enabled, rather than implemented, in specific series. The most expensive and fastest Core i5 600 series support a complete list of features and technologies implemented in the Clarkdale core. Performance wise the most important ones are by far Hyper Threading and Turbo Boost, and that's exactly where differentiation in the series happens. Unlike Core i5 600, the cheaper and slower Core i3 500 series come without Turbo Boost feature and lower clocks for the CPU core. The new Pentium processor on the other hand comes without Hyper Threading and Turbo Boost making it a simple dual core with fixed maximum clock. Our chart below presents all the differences between models and series of Clarkdale processors.


As you can see, Core i3 lost only Turbo Boost which doesn't make that big of a difference, but keeps the most important Hyper Threading feature, enabling it to process four threads on two CPU cores at the same time. Also supported are AES instructions for data encryption, and the QPI link speed which is used for CPU-IGP communication is lowered from 2.40 GHz to 2.13 GHz. On paper this should lower some memory bandwidth, but in real world it has no effect on processor performance whatsoever. Core i3 500 also has the same amount of L2 (256 KB per core) and L3 (4 MB shared) cache memory, the GPU core in the IGP part of Clarkdale is clocked at 733 MHz and most processors carry the same TDP at 73 W (Core i5 661 excluded).



Now that we covered the major differences between the two series it's time to introduce the only two representatives of Core i3 series to date, the Core i3 540 and a bit lower clocked Core i3 530 models. As you can see from CPU-Z screenshots, Core i3 540 is clocked to fairly high 3.06 GHz and 530 is clocked just 130 MHz slower making it 2.93 GHz. Except for clocks these two are identical in every other way. The both have same list of supported features, specifications and TDP.
The CPU die on both parts is made in Intel's latest 32 nm process node and combined with an updated 45 nm IGP that packs integrated memory controller, PCI-E bus controller and Intel's graphic core. Together they make Clarkdale with a total core die size that measures 195 mm², of which 81 mm² makes up the dual core CPU part and 114 mm² IGP part.

End frequencies of both models are products of 133 MHz BCLK and processors frequency multiplier. Faster 540 model has a multi of 23 and slower 530 model comes with multi of 22. These values are locked upwards, and can only be lowered if the motherboard BIOS enables it. So no matter if you're running single threaded or multi threaded applications, core frequency will always be at 3.06 GHz and 2.06 GHz respectively. There's no need to cry over lack of Turbo Boost as it adds negligible performance increase in most cases, and you get a significant price drop over i5 600 to compensate. If you're an overclocker let me just confirm your thoughts - they are spot on. These processors are very overclocking friendly and don't cost a small fortune like i5 600 processors.



Core i3 540 is currently priced at $140 and i3 530 at $125 making them replacement parts for mostly unsuccessful Core 2 Duo E7000 series, and probably E8000 models as well. It doesn't stop there because Hyper Threading makes these processors a serious threat for Core 2 Quad Q8000 series at significantly lower price. AMD's Phenom II X2 might get a retirement signal from here on, and the future is not looking bright for some triple core models as well. Fortunately for AMD it has a very strong quad core lineup in this price segment, and the real question is can the new i3 500s match up against them.

Test Systems

Below you can see the entire list of programs used to test our processors. Most of the tests make good use of multithreading, but just like real-life situations, there are some tests that prefer higher clock frequencies over number of cores or size of L2/L3 cache buffer. Since we will be using Windows 7 64-bit from now on as base for processor benchmarks, some of them are used in 64-bit versions as well.

Benchmark Suite

• Everest Ultimate v5.30 - Read/Write/Copy/Latency
• PC Mark Vantage v1.0.1 64-bit
• 3D Mark Vantage v1.0.1 Performance preset (CPU and Total score)
• wPrime v2.0 1024M
• SuperPI 1M

• dbPowerAmp R13.2 - .flac to 320 kbs MP3 Lame
• BonkEncoder v1.0.14 - .flac encode with LAME MP3 192 kbs
• I'm Too Audio Encoder v2.1.78 - WMA encode with LAME MP3 128 kbs

• x264 benchmark HD V3.0
• Handbrake v0.9.4 DVD rip to .mkv (Standard High preset)
• Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate v5.1.26 - .mov 1080p encode with H.264/MPEG4 AVC .mp4 preset
• DivX Converter 7.2 - AVI encode with Home Theater preset

• Photoshop CS4 Retouch Artists Speed Test
• Cinebench R10 64-bit
• Blender 2.49
• POV Ray 3.7b 64-bit

• 7zip v4.65 64-bit - 32 MB mutithreading
• WinRAR Benchmark v3.91 64-bit
• WinRAR real life compression ~ 1 GB folder

• Crysis Warhead v1.2 64-bit
• Modern Warfare 2
• Warhammer II v1.5
• DiRT 2
• GTR Race ON!
• Resident Evil 5 benchmark

• Prime95 for maximum heat and power consumption