Processor Intel Core I3 3240: specifications and reviews

Quite an interesting approach for buyers to choose a processor for creating a gaming platform - the Core I3-3240 chip, many prefer to bypass, considering it a representative of the budget class with an overestimated cost (10,000 rubles). And only two hardware cores somehow confuse the fans of productive and resource-intensive games. Overview of this processor, its technical characteristics and feedback from owners will dispel all the myths that the crystal has managed to build. A potential buyer is advised to listen not only to reviews, but also to pay attention to the results of tests in games, because these are the indicators that determine the performance of processors.

Market positioning

The processor Core I3-3240 manufacturer Intel offers just in the gaming segment, guaranteeing the buyer that the device is able to work with fast data processing, including graphic textures. There can be no question of any budget segment - the company's pricing policy simply does not allow it. Do not forget that the platform used to create the crystal is proudly called Ivy Bridge, which means that the logic and technology of the processors of the corporate segment with high performance is used.

The integrated graphics core in Intel HD Graphics 2500 is an analog of budget graphics cards, which allows undemanding users to create a simple gaming platform on the workstation's base. And when it comes to performance, do not forget about the clock frequency of working cores, because 3400 MHz is a worthy indicator.

Technical characteristics of the Core I3-3240

Chasing the frequencies of the processor bus (especially this is popular among fans of AMD products), many do not pay attention to the amount of data transferred between the crystal and the motherboard bus. For Intel Core processors, this parameter is indicated directly in the marking itself - 5 Gt / s (for each stream). The Intel Core ^™ I3-3240 product has 2 threads for each core, which means that the total data transfer is approximately 40 gigabytes per second (one way).

Yes, there are questions to the built-in cache memory - 128 kilobytes (versus 256 KB for the same AMD) looks poor. However, the second level cache has 512 KB, and the third one is limited to three megabytes. Such indicators are sufficient not only for the operation of gaming applications, but also for resource-intensive programs for video processing and 3D modeling.

About technologies

The processor Intel Core I3-3240 OEM, as noted earlier, is built on the Ivy Bridge platform, which means that the crystal supports work with 64-bit systems, has hardware protection from malicious code and provides functionality for the virtual environment of Intel Virtualization. Standard support for dual-channel DDR3 memory of 1600 MHz is present in this case. Complaints only work with the maximum amount of data - it is limited to 32 gigabytes (the senior representatives of the Intel Core I5 / I7 line limit is increased to 64 GB).

Positively responded by the owners and the heat release of the crystal - only 55 watts for such a processor is a low indicator. Accordingly, buyers do not need to worry about overheating when the entire system is running at maximum load. It is quite possible to put a passive cooling system and enjoy complete silence in the computer.

Testing the game processor

If you compare the Core I-3240 gaming chip with the representatives of the older Core I5 / I7 models, then a regularity will be found out - in synthetic tests, the performance take-off will be proportional to the cost of all devices. That is, the I3 processor is 30% weaker than the representative of the Core I5 line (the price is the same) and twice as slow as the Core I7 (the cost is different too). This is the manufacturer's policy, and it will not be possible to change it even by overclocking.

It's quite another thing in gaming applications. As the comparison shows, in resource-intensive productive toys it does not matter which figure stands in the labeling of the Core I line - 3.5 or 7. Everything depends directly on the video adapter, RAM and hard drive. The processor has the potential, and it's unreal to reveal it all in games.

The change of platform must be justified

Many owners of gaming computers based on the LGA-775 platform believe that replacing systems with four cores (we are talking about Intel Core Quad) is irrational. After all, following the basics of mathematics, 4 - more than 2, and if you put a powerful processor, then it should have more hardware cores. This is incorrect reasoning. Any crystal (and even server Xeon), built on the basis of the platform of the previous generation, is inferior to the performance of the new technology, including the Intel Core I3-3240 processor. Characteristics of frequencies may be similar, but the technologies and speed of operation differ radically.

To make sure that the platform of the past generation has outlived its and can not fully work with gaming applications, you can conduct testing. To do this, you will have to use an expensive video adapter, which should make the processor work at the limit of its capabilities (NVIDIA Quadro will cope with this task perfectly). The testing will surprise many users - the vaunted representatives of LGA-775 with 4 cores (by the way, AMD processor with 6-8 cores too) are working at maximum, but they are not able to increase the number of FPS higher than Intel Core I3.

Resource-intensive professional programs

Only the video encoding and 3D modeling applications can overwhelm the performance test. Such programs are clearly not for the Core I3-3240 processor. The characteristics of the on-chip cache are clearly below the ideal. Neither overclocking, nor installation of more productive computer elements will not help the processor to show a decent result.

This does not mean that the crystal is not at all able to make the usual video encoding in Sony Vegas or Nero Video. Everything will work, but for a very long time. Support for office applications, processing of graphic bitmaps and complex mathematical calculations of questions during testing did not arise. The processor quickly coped with all the tasks.

The last argument of kings

Everyone was interested to see how, in one price category, the unreasonably expensive Core I3-3240 loses to a monster with 6 cores. And this is quite possible in synthetic tests. All without exception, testing programs will show the obvious superiority of the same crystal FX-6300 - in working with RAM, the overall system performance, the frequency of the core and overclocking potential, hardware encryption, etc. But for some reason, a similar comparison is not carried out in Game applications and work with video editors.

Any resource-intensive game (Rezident Evel 5, DIRT or FarCry 3) will immediately show the potential buyer who is the king in the processor market. To escape from blame the owners of 6-8-nuclear systems will succeed only after dispersal of the crystals. Here, the economical Core I3 processor will have to give up positions in some games (which are created for platforms with a large number of cores). AMD's representative in testing will be decapitated by a synthetic test, encoding video in HD-format (x264 Benchmark HD). Overclocking here is impotent - Intel representative with a huge margin will break out ahead.

Owner feedback

For most potential buyers, the main role in choosing products on the computer market is played by reviews. Core I3-3240 is not so popular in the processor market, as the manufacturer would have liked. Stops many users the cost of goods. The Core I3 has only two cores, but its price is higher than that of any AMD competitor with 4 cores. Therefore, it turns out that with a large budget, customers prefer the 5th model of the Intel processor, and those who want to save look towards the competitor.

To change the situation on the domestic market today, most likely, will not succeed, because Intel will not reduce the price of its products, and there is no one to write positive reviews about a powerful dual-core processor. Here all the hope for test labs, which carry out a comparative review and publish results in the media.

Finally

The result is predictable: in the price-quality ratio of an inexpensive representative Core I3-3240 there are practically no competitors in the market of computer processors. It is a pity that few of the potential buyers can guess this. Once again chasing the big frequencies and the number of cores, users forget about the technologies and the speed of data transfer.

It was, is and will be, you can recall at least AMD Athlon 5200+ processors, when the seller told customers about the mythical frequencies of 5200 MHz. Any advertising is sales, especially if it's a computer hardware issue. You need to compare, look for reviews, conduct testing and listen to reviews. Only in this way will it be possible to acquire a truly productive device.