Intel Core 3.7 4 LGA 1156 BX80646I54590

Purchased for my wife's computer to replace a Pentium G-4460, which was a nice CPU, but it finally met its nemesis with Fallout4. The Pentium was maxed out and causing stutters and freezing in Fallout, so it was time for an upgrade. I considered a couple things when making the upgrade 1) Current and future gaming needs, and 2) Value.From a value standpoint, the Pentiums were the best for most games, but from a "need" standpoint, it became clear that it was not getting the job done anymore. .Speaking of meeting needs, this CPU is specifically listed as meeting the recommended specifications for VR. I expect this to be able to handle VR titles for the next 4-5 years because the cost of VR 'sets is so high that they are treating development of VR games like they are developing for a set platform (like a console). The foundation of that platform is THIS processor (or any of its 4-core equivalents). I expect that they will not increase the recommended hardware for about the typical length of time for a modern platform lifecyle (ie PS2,PS3,PS4) - a lifecycle which is currently 4-5 years.Finally, after the upgrade, The GTX 660 is now the bottleneck in my wife's system. No more stuttering and the CPU runs cool and quiet and never surpasses about 55% load in fallout4. My biggest factor in getting this CPU was that I already had the motherboard because it was an upgrade, but this is also the best value CPU in the U.S. at this price segment. It beats anything AMD has in single-threaded performance, while still retaining a price-point that competes with AMD's high-end FX-series 8-core CPU's. Generally speaking, this beats any FX-CPU in most games (and saves $$ on the power bill).Regardless of whether you are building from scratch or upgrading, this is a good buy.

Excellent in every way imaginable. If you don't need to overclock, but still want ample performance--this is the way to go... Most likely.See, the complicating factor is what you're doing with your computer. and I can't possibly cover every usage scenario. This CPU is powerful enough to game on (though CPUs aren't a bottleneck for gaming, for the most part), multitasking is a breeze for this baby, it runs efficiently (which is the only reason to consider Intel over AMD), and... Well, that's about all I can say. She works like a charm, but its up to you to determine if she's the charm you need. And that's the real problem with the i5 CPUs... It's not simple to say who they're for.That said, this CPU is great, and has no real drawbacks. If you don't need overclocking, you're not on a budget, and you don't need hyperthreading (and let's be honest, most PC builders don't), this is the best value CPU.

First off I'd like to say I've had this processor for about 4 or 5 months now, no problems.This processor is great, I've used it with Radeon HD 7850 (2GB XFX), and it was pretty good with that card, but then I got a (somewhat faulty) EVGA GTX 970 FTW+ and this thing doesn't hold back. This processor doesn't bottleneck at all! I can handle GTA 5 with a pretty decent set of settings, I use Nvidea upscale resolution INSTEAD of Anti-Aliasing, because with the downscaling for the RES, you actually don't need Anti-Aliasing. It's pretty much already done. This processor is also pretty good calculations wise, I used Photoshop and quite a few other studio art programs on this computer, and this processor doesn't chug or choke. Great processor, expecially for the price.Would highly recommend this processor, or the i5 4690k, both really good cpu's.

I should have spent the extra $20 or so and gotten the K version for overclocking. I see a lot of complaints about the fan noise, but I can't hear it at all with my case closed, even sitting right next to it. The little stock cooler has no trouble at all dealing with the CPU even under heavy strain.

Bought this processor as an upgrade to my Athlon X4 860K that I got for Christmas in 2015, since the Athlon was already choking in games like Overwatch (it managed to bottleneck a GeForce GTX 950, and that's not a high-end graphics card in the slightest). Alongside a new motherboard (ASRock H97M Pro4, which I have also reviewed), and a new XFX Radeon RX 470 RS XXX Edition graphics card, this processor just chews through everything I throw at it, and never complains. The one reservation I have with this, and it's minor enough that I didn't knock off a star, is the stock cooler: being a non-K processor, it'll work just fine for cooling this i5, but it's noisy under load and the pre-applied thermal paste isn't that great (you'll see a decent improvement in idle temps by applying aftermarket paste, I recommend Arctic Silver 5). That said, an aftermarket cooler isn't really necessary, since you can't overclock this processor anyway.If you're looking for the latest and greatest from Intel, I'd honestly recommend going Kaby Lake at this point mostly for the upgraded I/O and connectivity options, but if you're someone in a situation such as mine where you want a great upgrade that will still last a good while without having to spend extra on new RAM and the like, you absolutely cannot go wrong with this.