i5 6xx stock fan noise

akirarat · Post by **akirarat** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:30 pm

I'm thinking about getting a i5 66x for a HTPC. Is the stock fan noisy? My other computer is C2D E6600 and the stock fan is somewhere above a whisper and I would consider that too loud for a HTPC setup. Anyone have experience with this?

MtnHermit · Post by **MtnHermit** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:56 pm

I have an i3 530 w/ a stock HSF. I've never heard it. It's in a mATX case on the bottom shelf of a coffee table. Since the whole rig idles at 34W, not much reason for any of the 3 fans to spin fast.

Curious, what feature does a i5 66x offer to warrant paying double over the 530?

m1st · Post by **m1st** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:30 pm

I haven't heard the C2D stock HSF in a while, but if memory serves me correctly it is about equal to the HSF that came with my i3-530. This would all depend on what board you use, however, since the board will dictate at what speed the fan will run.

@Hermit, the i5-661 has a small semblence of Turbo Boost (nothing compared to what the Lynnfields enjoy) and a faster-clocked integrated graphics core. I didn't think that was enough to warrant a doubled price tag, either, so I got the i3-530.

ces · Post by **ces** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:59 pm

MtnHermit wrote:Curious, what feature does a i5 66x offer to warrant paying double over the 530?

I believe that the 530 does not have turbo. Is that correct?

I would assume that the 66x overclocks better. Though who knows.

MtnHermit · Post by **MtnHermit** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:45 am

ces wrote:I believe that the 530 does not have turbo. Is that correct?

Correct. But TB is only one multiplier step. So if stock was 22X, then TB would be 23X. To me that was marketing hype with almost no benefit. With a good MB I should be able to get the 530 to the equivalent of ~35X by upping the FSB.

I would assume that the 66x overclocks better. Though who knows.

It should, Intel bins all their chips. So before a chip is cut from the wafer, a series of test are run to determine performance characteristics. The very best chips go to the highest price tiers. But is that worth double?

The i5's have some features (VT-d???) that when I researched Clarkdale I didn't even know what they did even after reading the description. Perhaps the OP has a use for one of those.

MtnHermit · Post by **MtnHermit** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:47 am

Triple Post

MtnHermit · Post by **MtnHermit** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:57 am

Triple Post

akirarat · Post by **akirarat** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 2:03 pm

> Curious, what feature does a i5 66x offer to warrant paying double over the 530?

i5 650, 660, 661 comes with a GPU chip next to the CPU in the same die, so I don't need to buy an extra video card. I just need to get a mobo with HDMI out and a i5 6xx chip and I'll be all set.

It's good to know the noise is tolerable.

ilovejedd · Post by **ilovejedd** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 3:40 pm

akirarat wrote:> Curious, what feature does a i5 66x offer to warrant paying double over the 530?

i5 650, 660, 661 comes with a GPU chip next to the CPU in the same die, so I don't need to buy an extra video card. I just need to get a mobo with HDMI out and a i5 6xx chip and I'll be all set.

It's good to know the noise is tolerable.

The (relatively inexpensive) Core i3-530 also has the same 733MHz Intel GMA HD iGPU as most of the Core i5-600 series. The only one different is i5-661 which has its GPU running at 900MHz.

The only differences between the Core i3-500 and i5-600 series are:
Core i3-500 does not support VT-d (it does support VT-x, however)
Core i3-500 does not have TurboBoost (somewhat superfluous given the ability to overclock)

While VT-d support seems like it would be useful (imagine actually being able to use various PCI/PCIe peripherals such as video cards and TV tuners inside a virtual machine), the only hypervisor I know of that can currently make use of it is Xen.

Quite frankly, given the price difference, I don't see any benefit in going with the Core i5 Clarkdales.

akirarat · Post by **akirarat** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:53 am

ilovejedd wrote:
Quite frankly, given the price difference, I don't see any benefit in going with the Core i5 Clarkdales.

That's a good point. I actually checked newegg for i5 5xx but they only stock 600 series.

MtnHermit · Post by **MtnHermit** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:17 am

akirarat wrote:That's a good point. I actually checked newegg for i5 5xx but they only stock 600 series.

That's because the 5xx's are i3's. I got my i3-530 from Newegg in Jan.

Core i3 link

loimlo · Post by **loimlo** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 11:58 am

Intel stock cooler's life really depends on how low volume you've managed to reach in a silent system. If you were close to a silent system, you'll find Intel cooler's fan rattling all the time regardless of high or low RPMs. It's just disturbing sound characteristics across the board despite low dBA. That said, if your system is average, then you may never notice the rattling sound as other noises like HDD or PSU will be noisier than Intel cooler.

psyopper · Post by **psyopper** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:01 pm

Alternatively you can bank all that extra overclocking ability in the 530 as reduced voltage instead, particularly in a HTPC. I've got vCore down to 1.00v stable right now. I also have my OCZ 1066 kit down to 1.3v. I haven't stress tested it yet, but in my daily use for the last 3 days I haven't seen a single problem.

I wish I had a kill-a-watt to see how much power I'm drawing.