Intel Core i3-540 3.06GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor

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Fantastic Processor! Overclocks simple (just make confident you look at the internal iGPU) None

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The integrated graphics seriously pulls its weight. Blu-Ray and video games, no difficulty.Good for multi-tasking background tasks. I'm actually pleased with this chip. I tend to play with a computer until I break it, and I've enjoyed throwing tasks at this CPU and have it throw them proper back at me in no time. none. As always, read evaluations and benchmarks when selecting a CPU. Purchased to form the CPU *and* GPU of an HTPC. And this device sings! Intel has certainly below-advertised the abilities of this chip. Blu-ray playback is excellent, video playback is superb, resolution goes to 1080p and looks terrific on the major screen. It was going to be the HTPC or a blu-ray player, and I'm so pleased I went with an HTPC.Gaming is lovely too, if you're still happy playing a game that is a year or older, you can get some fantastic gameplay utilizing just the integrated graphics. GTA4, Fallout three, Bioshock, Dead Space, Portal, you can get extremely satisfactory frame rates and great visuals, provided you don't go nuts with the resolution. I have a gaming personal computer for maximum graphics, but this is terrific for that casual game you wanted to play, or to revisit a game you haven't played in a although.

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A very basic processor with great overclocking potential. I've been ordering these for all new office machines and haven't had any problems with them. The price/performance just can't be beat by AMD's current offerings.

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Works fantastic!!! None

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Rapidly for what it is. Cool. Quiet. Stable. Integrated chip graphics work terrific for day-to-day tasks. None if you use this for what it is intended for. I built my wife her own PC so we could stop getting arguments about sharing mine. She plays very basic games (Plants vs Zombies), surfs Facebook, shops on the web, sends email, and looks at cute-overload. This chip does all that with ease. She's extremely pleased with the performance. I score 10 points. Just make certain you are making use of this chip for what it was intended for. This is not a performance gaming processor.

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Works great in a little PC I built for family use

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I located the I3 can be overclocked to a factor of 22% and still stay below 160 degrees with the default factory cooler. Wow, was I unimpressed with the video output on the I3 working on an Asus P7h55-M pro mother board. The 1 gig shared memory for the video was not worth it. Intel genuinely requirements to rethink this choice. I bought a 1 gig ATI radion video card with duel controllers and I am now considerably haoppier. Wish I went with an I7 processor from the get go Obtain an I7 and a great video card and forget Intels built in processor

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Using this chip in a MSI GD-80 board. Overclocked easily to 4 GHz. Great little chip for a budget build for playing less demanding games like Starcraft 2 or even just surfing the net, or watching movies

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Great processor for somebody on a budget

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One of the best processors for a budget build.

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overall its a great low budget CPU for Media center user. Intergreted Video could be a bit better visually (colors) but it gets the job done and well

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Bought 4 of these for my company and it works great.Pretty fast and my coworkers are very happy with their new PC built with this i3. i3 would be pretty darn good enough for office use or some games when your boss is not around =)

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For an entry level CPU, there is not much more you can ask for. The price is right and Intel quality will always be reliable.

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I am very pleased with this CPU. I overclocked to 3.83Ghz without any extra voltage! But the stock cooler started to top out around 80 degrees so I'm happy with 3.66Ghz (tops out around 72 degrees). The price of the CPU is very similar to the sandy bridge CPU's but I was on a budget (motherboard is cheaper) as well as I didn't want to deal with the SB south bridge issue.Overall this is a very good CPU for the price and overclocked it is unstoppable.

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This processor is a great value processor, bought to replace my lga. I noticed a considerable speed increase, this coupled with my SSD and speedy ram makes for a great value gaming and photo/video editing computer.

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Great processor, as stable as Intel can be. Very good performance to price value. However, with the low price point of AMD quads, I would hold the red flag on budget builds for now. Works great on the familly computer I built a little while ago.

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Best intel CPU you can buy near 100$. Paired with a Gigabyte H55M-UD2H, it works perfectly.

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Good quality and very inexpensive CPU, leaving room for overclock. On-board graphics from Intel is awesome. Drivers are easy to update, very stable, and fast enough for web/email, video viewing and even small video editing jobs. Stock fans runs cool and quiet. Great product.

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This is one of the best dual core processor you could get for the price, low wattage, great performance for everything, even multitasking, also games!

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Just what I would expect from intel. Had my last one for 10 years and it's still solid. So, I'm very pleased with this product and would use it in another build.

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Bought this for my uncle's build. He is an average user doing pretty average stuff such as web surfing, office works and video watching. This CPU is perfect for that.The only problem you can find with this processor is the fact that it is not a quad core and it will be an "old" technology faster then a same pricing quad core.Note : This CPU overclock very well.

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Got this Core i3 for my Hackintosh build, and its fast! especially when overclocked.. I've managed to get 4.4GHZ (Prime Stable 9hrs), and when it comes to gaming, even some cpu intensive applications it beats the Phenom II processors, it even outperforms a Core i7 920(stock speed) on all games when OC'd, which is pretty impressive considering I only got it for $110.. I could also push it further, but I decided not to go over the 1.4V, otherwise I doubt I'll have any issues getting it over the 4.5GHZ mark..Anyway I'd highly recommend it, especially if your into gaming and know how to overclock, why spend money on a quad core processor, when you could invest it on a faster GPU, and you will not run into the bottleneck issues, at least not with it overclocked.. also not many games utilize all four cores, infact I don't think any game does at the moment..

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this is a nice little cpu , perfect for a entry level build , runs cool , haven't tried overclocking it yet

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Using one of these in a server rebuild. Uses less power than previous C2D setup. Consumption at the wall dropped about 30W b idle as integrated video really helps cut the power usage.At the same time you could get a decent video card, OC this and have a reasonable gaming platform. Very flexible chip and great value.

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Bought one for a new system build and it works like a top. I also installed a Corsair H50 water cooler and promptly got it to a stable 4.12 Ghz at decent voltage.The processor will work through 100 passes of IntelBurnTest on it's maximum settings - that's a free Gigahertz in processor speed.I put mine in an Asus P7P55D-E LX - can't say enough good things about this board - it has it all. Best thing in this build is that when i7 prices drop  like a rock I can just pick one up and plug it in and double my computing power for next to nothing - you gotta like that!