Intel Chip 3.4 4 BX80646I54430

Used in an ITX build for my previous concrete contractor boss who enjoys video games. He wanted to play World of Tanks and his current Dell laptop with a first generation i3 couldn't get it beyond 20fps on minimum. Now he is seeing steady 30fps and more at low mixed with some medium settings, using the iGPU. He is quite pleased.Stock fan and inside a Cooler Master Elite 120, this runs average of 40-45C, idle being higher 30's. A stock fan isn't to be expected as a workhorse anyway. Though at these figures, that isn't even close to getting hot. During World of Tanks play it doesn't speed the CPU fan at all, but I hadn't any method of testing the temp during game play, but certainly not a drop of lag on the appropriate settings.Most often those looking for self builds are convinced of a CPU that can be overclocked. Don't fall victim for this whatsoever. Keep in mind the 60fps v-sync standard that most play by, as that is to match the 60hz produced by your television. Currently these CPU's can handle a large binary workload in gaming sessions, without much sweat.To give proof OCing is needless, let me share some game benchmarks that I have taken the time to research.Under Windows 8(which shows nearly identical performance of Windows 7):*Please keep in mind the i7 has hyperthreading which is also needless in games**The machines are identical but the CPU was the only difference -- also using discrete graphics, not iGPU for these benchmarks*Skyrim using an i3-3220 received 185FPSSkyrim using an i7-3770k received 234FPSDiablo 3 with i3-3220 @ 193.5FPSDiablo 3 with i7-3770k @ 226FPSDirt 3 with i3-3220 @ 102Dirt 3 with i7-3770k @ 109Of course you could find charts and graphs showing in other games there is a larger difference between the two, but do not forget for one second the i3-3220 is a dual core and the i7-3770k is a quad core with hyper-threading.Why do I use the i3 in this i5 review? To prove that the perceived gap existing between i5 and an i7 is almost non-existent in the gaming world.The added benefit of the i5 over an i3 is the additional two cores. That is the major point of moving to an i5 from an i3. If you are always going to limit yourself to nothing more than casual gaming, web browsing, photo editing, and watching netflix than an i3 would by far be more than enough for you, but if you intend to continue gaming with newer titles and also want to encode/edit video, the i5 is easily the better choice. For an i7 to be fully utilized is hard to do, considering the lack of hyper-threading programs and most people who can use an i7 are most likely having it encode/decode video and editing seriously large files in Photoshop. Now add onto all of that, the i7 can already do extremely heavy lifting, where is the point of overclocking it? So in turn, where is the point of overclocking a k version i5?If you are into video editing, then you are probably jumping into the i7 anyway. If you are casually into gaming and typical computer use, the i3 fits well. If you want a very flexible purchase that lasts longer than an i3 and can game as well as an i7, then grab this i5.I speak vaguely of i3, i5, and i7, as each generation has been fairly similar(not identical) in terms of performance for the XXXX series.The major changes from gen2, gen3, and now gen4 are focused a lot upon the integrated graphics, but also the change in how the transistors are produced on the chips, which leads to the shrunken die size.Overall, if I drug out something otherwise simple, I apologize, but I do feel that other consumers without the time to enhance their knowledge of upgrades, generation gaps, and performance differences of what they are buying. I have no credentials aside from my self employment building computers and studying computer science major and physics minor, but when it comes to real word performance compared to singular CPU benchmarks no amount of certification nor "expertise" can deny that the i5 is easily the best all around choice for each generation of iSeries.Go with overclocking if you want to wag around your e-peen or if you have an actual need for it. But if you do some research, you can easily find that the i5-2400(2nd gen, non-oc, socket LGA 1155) gives only a few less FPS than an i7-3930K(3rd gen, OC, no iGPU, socket LGA 2011)... though on paper these two processors are far apart. So again, real world even an i5 from two years ago can match a 6 core hyper-threaded overpriced i7 from last year, which means this currently reviewed i5 would by and far be the best bang for your buck.Save a few bucks, save the trouble of learning OCing, and get a very solid series of CPU compared to anything AMD offers.The bottleneck that is felt within computing currently is that the data storage level. An i3 first generation would boot to windows using an SSD in easily a fraction of the time it would take an xeon, i7, i5 or combination to be thought of if these were using a typical hard drive. So if you are considering upgrading your CPU because your self thought is the sluggishness of the computer, then perhaps consider if you have an SSD using AHCI as the controller interface. If you have an SSD but you don't know your computer is set to IDE, then the SSD will perform like mud. Having an SSD doesn't make your computer awesome... having an SSD installed properly will make it awesome.I hope this helped.

When this item was delivered, it was dirty and the heatsink was filled with ants. I wouldn't buy it again, or accept it as a gift, either.

I got this as part of a budget build that I was doing. This particular CPU went into an ASUS B85M-G motherboard with no issues, even though I hated the small manual with small drawings as instructions that came with the Intel chip. I used the stock heatsink that came with the chip but I added Artic silver to the chip for better heat transfer. Although I would recommend that if you are planning to do anything high end that you should add a better heatsink than the stock.I added Kingston Technology HyperX 8 GB (2x4 GB Modules) 1600 MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Kit with no issues into the board in addition I added the EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1024MB GDDR5 DVI mHDMI Graphics Card 01G-P4-2650-KR along with a Seagate Barracuda 3 TB HDD SATA 6 hard drive. After connecting all the cables and turning on the machine, I had no issues with compatibility or hardware problems. I am using Windows 7 Home premium as the OS.The CPU runs fast and is efficient and is perfect for my budget build. Although not as fast as the more expensive chips, this is one of the best priced CPU's for its capabilities and speed. I have had no issues with anything hardware related and all these hardware pieces played nicely with each other.

I recently upgraded my 1st generation i3 system to a 4th generation i5 system using this chip. This involved a new motherboard, new faster memory, and this new CPU, I re-used my SSD.Pros- faster than 1st gen i3- it worksCons- not dramatically faster than 1st gen i3- does not support wqhd on dvi-d interface like every other graphics processor- intel documentation and support makes the Taiwanese chinglish support look good. Typical FAQ answers provide no answer, but say "it depends, check with your computer manufacturer". I had to figure out the issue with dvi-d based on another customer's comment, not information from Intel

First of all, english is not my first language so forgive my gramatical or spelling mistakes1. I'm not an expert on computer hardware, i just know the basics. Saying that i believe that this is a pretty solid processor. It has a great performance on games and it works smoothly doing multitasking. Of course there are processors better than this one but if you have a budget (like me) think this one of your first choices.2. The assembly was just too easy. I used to build computers when they were developing pentium 3 and pentium 4. I remember that it was pretty complicated but now... peace of cake. The cooler works fine and it's pretty easy to put it. Of course if you want to Overclock you'll need something better. Right now the temperature goes between 37°-42°3. It doesn't consume too much energy. My 600W power supply is more than enough.Considering all this, i think that it worth the money... works fantastic for beginners to medium users.

I upgraded an old PC with this CPU, a new motherboard, and new RAM. I kept the old power supply, because I didn't want to buy a new one. The problem was that the PSU is only 250W, not nearly enough for this CPU and the spare graphics card I had that I wanted to use.I've found that the integrated graphics in this i5 can more than handle what I need, and I don't need the graphics card. I use it as a sort of half workstation/half media center. I have a main screen on my desk (1366x768) and a second 1280x720 monitor, as a workstation. But at the push of a button (on an HDMI switcher,) I can switch the secondary monitor to my 1080p screen in my living room to stream netflix and such.The old parts could hardly run quickbooks, let alone a youtube video. Now it can do so much more, using less than 200W of power!