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Intel Core i5 661 Reviewed


Bosco

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whts the difference in this if its 32nm,65nm etc??

Less cost to manufacture, smaller size = more chips per wafer , Lower power consumption= less heat= longer life= lower fan noise= less environment impact (Air conditioning to cool the work space or home) . In an office environment this can add up to real money

 

Hey ccokeman, have you played WoW at all since you did your testing? :P

 

Nope! Its just not the kind of game I enjoy. Just cant see the benefit as it must be the social aspect of the game.

 

Snickers :lol:

Yooouuuu!

 

 

Ok The reason I looked at the price as a pro is that a discrete graphics card will cost you what... 50 bucks or more for something with these capabilities plus in the scientific benchmarks it compares favorably with the $189 and $195 Phenom II 955 and 965, its a good price point. The Intel board is supposed to have a street price of around $100 bucks but that just means it should be lower than that. So all things considered you get decent performance and don't have to buy the video card. At least thats the idea since this platform is meant to go in mainstream systems. Plus it would make a darn fine HTPC with the dual blue ray decode and Dolby sound abilities. Again my opinion.

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What? :unsure:

For $200 I'd certainly grab either an i5-750 or a Phenom II X4. Both just own it in almost every benchmark. If you wanted an IGP, there are quite a few 785G motherboards under the $100 mark. Besides the power consumption, I can't see any reason to grab this setup. The lower-end i3s are greatly priced though.

 

Ccoke, does the ASUS board allow overclocking the IGP? If it can't be overclocked and the HD4200 can, I'd still go with AMD's offerings.

 

From the quick read through Yes!

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They already do have something in the form of the Intel Desktop control center. But you have to look at this board as one that is not meant to be used for overclocking but as a reliable platform for the masses that dont tweak things. I do have the chip installed in a board from ASUS right now and it does have the ability to do all the tweaks we love to make so wait to see what it really can do and hold judgement on the chips overclocking cred until that one is released. It looks as though this board even can do something with the GPU clock speeds as well......

 

Thanks

Cool, I look forward to what the 661 has in it (and I've recently been shown Intel Desktop control center but it doesn't work in Win7 <_< )

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honestly, i see the price as a "pro" for when you're building a system for a relative who just needs a basic email/documents computer. Not having a discrete GPU not only saves $$ on the build itself but will make the rig quiter (unless it's passive) & the rig will use less electricity. Not to mention the fact that not having a discrete GPU means that there is just one less thing to cause problems. (And if you're the tech support guy in your family you know this is a good thing, lol)

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honestly, i see the price as a "pro" for when you're building a system for a relative who just needs a basic email/documents computer. Not having a discrete GPU not only saves $$ on the build itself but will make the rig quiter (unless it's passive) & the rig will use less electricity. Not to mention the fact that not having a discrete GPU means that there is just one less thing to cause problems. (And if you're the tech support guy in your family you know this is a good thing, lol)

but you can get an integrated GPU on a motherboard paired with a cheaper x2 550 for the the same price as just the 661

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but you can get an integrated GPU on a motherboard paired with a cheaper x2 550 for the the same price as just the 661

Yeah that's why I don't really see it as a pro. AMD has better offers in that price range when one wants an IGP. But that's for the 661. The lower end Core i3s look awesome for their price.

 

AMD is preparing to soon launch a new IGP also, so Intel won't stay at the top for long concerning IGP performance.

Edited by The Smith

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Yeah that's why I don't really see it as a pro. AMD has better offers in that price range when one wants an IGP. But that's for the 661. The lower end Core i3s look awesome for their price.

 

AMD is preparing to soon launch a new IGP also, so Intel won't stay at the top for long concerning IGP performance.

I hope you're right, and +1 to the i3's.

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