The Intel Core i3-530 core i3-540 core i3-550 and core i3-560 processors are the desktop processors that are codenamed as Clarkdale processors and they belong to the Westmere microarchitecture.
Some of the common characteristics and major changes in the previous core 2 processors make them substantially faster. The most important is the integrated memory controller. With the dual channel DDR3-1333 memory controller Intel has been able to outstrip the competition from AMD which was actually the pioneer in the integrated memory controller designs.
The second improvement in the Clarkdale processor is the replacement of the parallel front side bus with the high bandwidth DMI bus. The DMI Bus communicates with the chipset.
The processor consists of the two dies. The first die consists of two processor cores and L3 Cache ( Intel Smart Cache). The Second core has the Memory Controller, the Integrated Graphics Controller and PCI Express Controller – See the picture on the right. The bigger die is the Integrated graphics unit and the smaller die is encompass the two processor cores an the L3 Cache.
The turbo boost in all of the core i3 Clarkdale processors is disabled. If you are looking for turbo boost feature, you may like to take a look at the core i5 processors.
The Clarkdale processors have integrated Graphics Processing Unit that works at a core frequency of 733 MHz. While the performance of the GPU unit is decent, it still does not replace the high end external graphics cards or discrete graphics component. If you are an overclocker, you may be able to overclock it to 900 MHz, but that still not be good enough for gaming. If you are looking for a decent performance with the integrated GPU unit you may like look for the Sandy Bridge processors are released.
The good thing with the Integrated Graphics unit – you get native support for HDMI , DVI and DisplayPort.
Here is the list of the some of the commonly asked questions about these core i3 processors of the Clarkdale series.
Q. What are the relative core frequencies of the Intel Core i3-530 i3-540 i3-550 i3-560 processors
A. The Table below lists out the frequencies of the intel core i3 processors.
Table : Core i3-530 i3-540 i3-550 i3-560 processor frequencies
| SL. No. | Processor | Frequency |
| 1 | Core i3-530 | 2.933 GHz |
| 2 | Core i3-540 | 3.067 GHZ |
| 3 | Core i3-550 | 3.2 GHz |
| 4 | Core i3-560 | 3.33 GHz |
Q. What is the size of the L3 Cache memory in the Core i3-530 i3-540 i3-550 i3-560 processors.
A. All of these i3 processors come with 4 MB of cache memory.
Q. What is the TDP rating of these i3 processors.
A. All of the core i3 processors, viz., Core i3-530 i3-540 i3-550 i3-560 have TDP rating of 73 Watts.
Q. What sockets do these processors use ? Will it fit in the sockets used for the earlier core 2 processors.
A. The core i3 processors use LGA1156 socket. They will not fit into older moetherboards that were designed for the core 2 processors.
The Intel Core i3-530 runs at 2.93 MHz. Notice that the part number under review is i3-530 and not i3-530M. The M would have denoted that it is a Mobile part which i3-530 is not. The i3-530 has a power consumption ( TDP rating) of 73 Watts and, is, there for a desktop processor, not a mobile processor. The Mobile processor have typical TDP rating in the vicinity of 35 Watts.
So you are really into gaming you should look for a fast desktop rather than a notebook. The desktops have mechanism in the form of the fans and heatsinks and you generally have a processor available at much higher frequency which is not available in mobile version.
Intel Core i3-530 processor Architecture
A look at the processor architecture helps you better understand the features of the processor. Take a close look at the block diagram below, taken directly from the intel website, to understand the architecture.
The most important thing to note in the diagram is the fact that the Intel Core i3-530 processor ( or all the core i3 and i5 processors for that matter), has integrated memory controller. The memory module shown to the left of the processor connects directly to the processor. This is unlike the earlier intel architectures, where, the processor was connected to a chip, called the North Bridge and the North bridge used to communicate to the Memory. The integrated memory controller, reduces the latency in the processor to memory time making the overall performance faster. AMD was in fact, leader in the integrated memory controller based design with its opteron series of processors. Intel has just followed the suit, and, with other enhancements has suppassed AMD in performance.
The Processor connects to a chipset called Platform COntroller Hub (PCH), using DMI or Direct Media Interface. The DMI interface is faster than the Front Side Bus used in the earlier Intel architectures. However, the DMI interface is slower than the QPI ( Quick path interface) used in the intel i7 architectures.
You may also like to take a note of the fact that the PCIe can directly connect to the processor, providing a faster communication with any device that supports PCI express connection. The PCH, in turn connects to the several devices including Hard Disk Drive, the USB, Ethernet, PCIe and Video.
Each of the 2 cores of the i3-530M can have run 2 threads, which mean that we can have 4 threads running simultaneously. This helps in faster performance when several processes are running simultaneously.
The integrated memory controller supports DDR3-1066/1333. It will depend upon the motherboard and the memory chipset to support the DDR3-1066 or the DDR1333.
The core i3-530M does support Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x). The hardware virtualization technology helps quick switching between two operating system. If you are a developer and you need to work on two operating systems simultaneously this is something highly desirable.
Now, few negatives about the core i3-530. The core i3-530 does NOT support turbo boost. The turbo boost technology is highly desirable at it momentrarily increases the processor speed to cated for demanding processes. If you need turbo boost performance you may like to take a look at the intel core i5 based processor. Additionally the core i3-530 does not support AES New Instructions. The AES instructions are encryption instructions which speeds up some of the security and Video related instructions.
The core i3-530 is a great processor for your clock. You may also like to consider the core i3-540 which belong to the same family with increased clock speed (3.06 GHz).
Several benchmarking data is availabel for the core i3-530 and the closest AMD rival is the Phenom II x2 550. The sysmark 2007 score for the core i3-530 has been reported to be 193 while the same score is 167 for Phenom II 550 ( 3.1 GHz). However, if you compare it with the quad core Phenom II X4 965 (3.4 GHz), then it trounces the Core i3-530. The Sysmark 2007 score for the Phenom II X4 965, has, for example been reported to be 205. So, in the end you need to take into account the prices to decide which one offers best price to performance ratio.
What is Turbo Boost Technology - Turbo boost technology is a way to increase the processor core frequency on demand. For example the the nominal core frequency of the intel i5-450M is 2.4GHz while its turbo boost frquency 2.66 GHz. So the processor will normally run at 2.4 GHz, however, should a process demand very high computing power, the processor steps up its core frequency to 2.66 GHz to cope up with the processing power demand.
Check this out
The Intel core i5-460M as well as the Core i3-380M are both 2.53 GHz processors. So what is the difference in performance ? Check this out in Core i5-460M Vs Core i3-380M Comparison.
Obviously the intel core i5 processor are more expensive that the similarly powered core i3 processors. If you expect to need more processing power occasionally ( for example, if you need to do video encoding or you often need to compile some program), the core i5 processor is more suitable for you. If you however expect to mostly do browsing, wordpress, spreadsheet and presentation kind of thing, you may like to save few dollars by sticking to the i3 processor.
You probably already made the choice when you go and purchase the notebook or the desktop. If a choice exist this article help you in making a choice.
Both Core i3-350M and Core i5-430M are similarly clocked at 2.26 GHz. Checkout the difference in performance in Core i3-350M Vs Core i5-430M
Also noticeable is the fact that the core i5 processors come in the dual core as well as quad core. The dual core i5 are similar to the i3 processors, while the quad core i3 processors are closer to their core i7 counterpart.
The Intel Core i3-330UM works on Ultra Low voltage. To consider the advantage of a processor working on low voltage you should notice the power formula that goes like P = V*V/R, where V is the voltage and R is the resistance. The power consumed by the processor is dependent upon the “core voltage” it runs upon. So of the core voltage is reduced from say 1.2V to say 1.0V, the power consumption reduces from 1.44/R waats to 1.00/R watts – this is close to 40% reduction ( I have not done pure math – but this is ball park number).
There are couple of things you should notice about Intel Core i3 U330UM, that makes it a faster processor than the similar clocked Core 2 Duo Processor at 1.2GHz. The first of them is the integrated memory controller. By integrated memory controller we mean that the processor communicates with the memory directly unlike in the core 2 Duo processor which communicates to a chip called North Bridge, which in turn talks to the memory. In core 2 Duo this leads to increases the overhead in terms of the time it takes for the processor to communicate to the memory and thereby it slows down the memory communication.
Another significant change is the Hyperthreading. Intel silently reintroduced the Hyperthreading in the Core i3 processor. With two core in the i3 and with two Hyperthreads in each processor means that there could be 4 Hyperthreads running at a time. This boosts the performance if several processes are running at a time.
Notice that the low clock speed of 1.2 GHz will still be a bottleneck if you are expecting the notebooks powered by Intel Core i3 U330UM to perform like a gaming notebooks.
However, by keeping the frequency low, it is possible to make the processor run at lower voltage which in turn reduces the power consumption and boosts battery life of the notebooks powered by Intel Core i3 U330UM. The power consumption of the Intel Core i3 U330UM is 18 Watt TDP (max.). This helps manufactures design notebooks that have higher battery life.
Now few more things about Intel Core i3 330UM – The first is the the core i3 processors does not have Turbo Boost to overclock the CPU cores. The Turbo Boost allows the increase in the frequency of the CPU based upon the demand. This is a great feature to have that balances the battery life ( when you are not using processes that demand huge processing power) with the on demand processing power at the cost of the battery life. If you are considering the Turbo boost feature consider looking at the i5 or the i7 processor.
One of the significant features in the Core i3-330UM processor is the integrated graphics card (also called Intel HD Graphics). The graphics unit is also referred to as GPU ( Graphics Processing Unit).What it means is that you will be able to play the HD graphics from, say a Blu Ray player without a significant glitch in the display. Since intel is not a basically GPU master, its GPU unit still needs some improvement.
In overall, the Intel Core i3, 330UM is a decent processor for low battery power consumption, moderate processing power and suited perfectly for home computing and traveling professionals. If you need higher processing power look for a notebook equipped with core i5 or core i7 processor.
| Quick Specification |
|
| Processor | Option of i3-380M or i5-480M |
| RAM |
4 GB |
| Hard Drive | 500 GB |
| Screen | 15.6 inch 1366 x 768 resolution
Graphics by Intel HD |
| Others | Bluetooth, Wifi, 1.3 MP Webcam |
| Pros Cons and Bottom Line |
|
| Pros | - Lenovo Brand
- Option of selecting right processor |
| Cons |
- Slightly Expensive
- Graphics Engine not good enough for gaming. |
| Bottomlline | The Lenovo’s notebooks seem expensive for new purchases. Newer Sandy Bridge processors are more cost effective.
Lenovo has poor shopping experience |
| User Reviews and Feedback |
Users generally have good review about the notebook |
The IdeaPad Z560 notebook is on sale at lenovo’s own shopping website. The base model of lenovo i.e Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 – 09143AU which comes with core i3-380M comes for $699.00 at the time of writing the review and the 091446U powered by the Core i5-480M is priced at $849.
The specification of Lenovo Ideapad Z560
The Ideapad Z560 offers processors, ranges from Intel Core i3-350M to Intel core i5-480M processor.
If you plan to purchase it at Lenovo, it will ask you to add options in successive screens. A 2 year basic home warranty is available for $49.00 which may be worth taking if you plan to use the notebook heavily.
The PC personalization option may be done away with as it does not seem to add value. It will also ask you to add several software as option, most of which can be bypassed.
The buying experience is really bad at Lenovo website. It may actually turn away many potential buyers as it walks you through 20 or so screens asking you to add options, most of it you is never neededed.
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The RAM it offers ranges from 3GB- 4GB depends on model user choose.
All four models of Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 comes with 15.6” high definition LED backlit display, which offers resolution of 1398*768p in 16:9 format.
All four models comprise of 6 cell li-ion battery and supported by Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR.
These models come with DVD burner.
The sleek and stylish all new Ideapad Z560 comes with contemporary chicklet style keyboard. It also have separate numeric keypad. The whole components are enclosed within cover having metallic outlook.
Other significant features it includes
If you are looking for a budget friendly Laptop or notebook, Lenovo Z560 integrated with enough features which can perform general computing seamlessly. However if you need laptop for gaming purpose then the lenovo Ideapad Z560- 09143BU comes with NVIDIA GeForce 310M will be recommended. Ironically, the models don’t have wifi support only Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 – 09143BU has. This is very uncommon now a days. The lenovo IdeaPad Z560 has one year warranty.