I3-530 vs i3-540

[samwelaye]

Hey all, I am currently building a mid-range gaming rig. Not sure on what videocard im going to use, probably gonna wait and see till toms does a best for the money on the gpus for may. However, I am pretty positive i'll be going with a core i3 because most games dont use over 2 cores anyways, and those that do can use hyperthreading. i dont really want to spend much more money to get the i5-750 so im pretty set on the i3

now the question is: should i go with the i3-530 or the 540?
the 540 is clocked slightly higher, but thats not really what matters. what matters is that the multiplier is a bit higher than on the 530, which makes overclocking the chip a bit easier (so people say)

i'll probably be overclocking this processor if i can see a boost in the fps ill be getting in games, if not then ill leave it alone at stock. so do you guys think that the 20$ extra is worth it to be able to have a 133 mhz higher clock along with higher multipliers for overclocking? thanks much

PS not really relevant to the whole 530 v 540 issue, but i need to choose a mobo to go along with it. P55 (not h55) and supporting sli/crossfire is the only real requirement. Also not too expensive of a board and it should be able to overclock the i3 fairly decently.

thanks much!

 

[Raidur]

If you're overclocking go for the 530. The multiplier isn't going to open up that much headroom unless you're going for the limit, and the i3 530 already hits 4ghz on stock or near stock voltage.

As far as the motherboard, you'll be paying a little extra if you want a good 8x/8x mobo.

$190 Asus P7P55D-E

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131621
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Budget: Notice this is a micro ATX, meaning you'll have less PCI slots, less room, and probably more heat. (luckily this motherboard has features like a standard motherboard, ie: lots of SATA/USB/RAM slots)

$140 Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD4 **MICRO ATX**

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128404

16x/4x are going to be much cheaper, and TBH could run up to 5870 crossfire decently, according to this.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_5870_PCI-Express_Scaling/11.html

However, if you plan on getting something much stronger than a 5870 in that 4x slot you'll run into issues.

 

[samwelaye]

Best answer selected by samwelaye.

 

[samwelaye]

thanks a bunch! yeah i wont be overclocking THAT high so the 140$ board looks pretty good too

 

[daship]

I got a brand new Gigabyte H55M-S2H and a i3 540 for sale for $120. Brand new never opened. PM me if interested.