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Intel Core i3 530 and i3 540 Review
Everest Ultimate »Test Systems
| Test System | |
|---|---|
| Motherboard: | AMD: ASUS M4A79T Deluxe Intel LGA1156: ASUS P7P55D PRO Intel LGA775: ASRock P45X3 Deluxe |
| Cooler: | Scythe Katana III |
| Memory: | 2 x 2048 MB G.Skill Perfect Storm PC-16000 DDR3 @ 1333 MHz 7-7-7 @ 1066 MHz 7-7-7 for C2D E7000 |
| Graphic card | VTX ATI Radeon HD 5850 |
| Harddisk: | Samsung HD161HJ 160 GB |
| Power Supply: | Enermax Liberty 620 W |
| Software: | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
| Drivers: | Catalyst 9.12 Hotfix |
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
Specifications
In the table below you can review detailed specifications of Intel Core i3 540/530 and other models that will show up later in the performance graphs.| Intel Processors | Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 | Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 | Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 | Intel Core i3 530 | Intel Core i3 540 | Intel Core i5 661 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of cores | Dual | Dual | Dual | Quad | Quad | Dual | Dual | Dual |
| Core codename | Wolfdale 4M | Wolfdale 4M | Wolfdale | Yorkfield 4M | Yorkfield 4M | Clarkdale | Clarkdale | Clarkdale |
| Socket | LGA 775 | LGA 775 | LGA 775 | LGA 775 | LGA 775 | LGA 1156 | LGA 1156 | LGA 1156 |
| Core speed | 2930 MHz | 3060 MHz | 3000 MHz | 2500 MHz | 2660 MHz | 2930 MHz | 3060 MHz | 3330 MHz |
| L2 Cache | 3 MB | 3 MB | 6 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB | 256 KB/core | 256 KB/core | 256 KB/core |
| L3 Cache | - | - | - | - | - | 4 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB |
| Process Node | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm | 32/45 nm | 32/45 nm | 32/45 nm |
| Core die size | 82 mm² | 82 mm² | 107 mm² | 164 mm² | 164 mm² | 81+114 mm² | 81+114 mm² | 81+114 mm² |
| TDP | 65 W | 65 W | 65 W | 95 W | 95 W | 73 W | 73 W | 87 W |
| Price | $ 116 | $ 145 | $ 150 | $ 168 | $ 170 | $ 125 | $ 140 | $ 210 |
| AMD Processors | AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE | AMD Athlon II X4 630 | AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE | AMD Phenom II X4 925 | AMD Phenom II X4 945 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of cores | Dual | Quad | Triple | Quad | Quad |
| Core codename | Callisto | Propus | Heka | Deneb | Deneb |
| Socket | AM2+/AM3 | AM2+/AM3 | AM2+/AM3 | AM2+/AM3 | AM2+/AM3 |
| Core speed | 3100 MHz | 2800 MHz | 2800 MHz | 2800 MHz | 3000 MHz |
| L2 Cache | 512 KB/core | 512 KB/core | 512 KB/core | 512 KB/core | 512 KB/core |
| L3 Cache | 6 MB | - | 6 MB | 6 MB | 6 MB |
| Process Node | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm |
| Core die size | 258 mm² | 168 mm² | 258 mm² | 258 mm² | 258 mm² |
| TDP | 80 W | 95 W | 95 W | 95 W | 125 W |
| Price | $ 91 | $ 102 | $ 105 | $ 140 | $ 150 |
May 13th, 2024 14:32 EDT
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