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Tthis is probably one of the cheapest and most mainstream low end processors which are available today, however that does not mean they are completely obsolete or useless for work purposes, gaming and even rendering. Why is it limiting? Because there are 2 cores and two threads most rendering applications are at a disadvantage as they might not be adequate enough which leads to slower processing, however the overclocking potential which can be achieved on air (the cheapest method with t he heatsink which comes with it) allows for dramatic performance gain. I mean can your intel i3 or i5 be easily aircooled with a 1.2Ghz overclock? What is the drawback? Besides "shorter life span", which you will eventually face if you do not upgrade this processor in perhaps 5 or 7 years' time, by which time you will most likely yo have to upgrade anyway, I guess you might also be rocking the "now-unsupported" Windows 7, I mean what the heck, throw vista at it, be hip :) Back to the drawbacks, overclocking can only be achieved on certain motherboards therefore I would urge you that if you would like to get the performance out of this cpu to look for specific motherboards that are $/£ 5-10 more expensive instead of going with whatever is the cheapest, unless the cheapest allows for overclcking potential if not don't bother and get one of the highest quality quad core i5s whether the K or the standard version depends whether or not you would want to overclock it in the future I guess that would be up to you and your new motherboard. Can this cpu handle gaming? Yes but think of this as pairing things at similar level, if you use this CPU with a 1060 it will stutter, if you use this CPU with a RX480 or 970 it will most likely result in stuttering on most of AAA games as threads won't handle the pressure of being at 99-100% all of the time. So what should you pair this CPU with & gaming (CPU wise)? Something along the lines of Reds' 270 or 270X or Greens' 660/750 TI something that has around 2gb of GDDR5 (used are most likely the cheapest option though) Do not use this for 4K unless watching a video, too much to process as it seems like stresstesting the thing at this resoluton which, needless to say, is not really a good idea full-time I mean even when the games are optimised these days they really want something more than just 2 threads to handle them even if they could "perform" that job with tweaks i.e. Far Cry 4 mess, 1440 is a long shot but it can handle most games which are not cpu intensive, 1080p is pretty much covered as well as anything below that, if its at around 98% overall, please lower your settings or overclock the thing at it will most likely stutter and have hiccups down the line. Reliability, Installation, Cooling, Pastes, Performance etc Highly reliable and possibly the best budget processor in terms of achievable performance and its a pentium, most have locked multipliers at this price range, or might have a mb more of cache to compensate, and this might be the reason why people choose to use this CPU over, for example, the g3260 and it seems to be hell of an easier installation for a first time build, if you were to go the AMD way you might find a bit of frustration trying to attach the stock cooler of something similar to FX 6300, I digress nonetheless. Cooled with air, with the original heatsink seems quiet enough as mostly I hear my case fans instead of the cpu under full load, I guess it can be as quiet as your case allows, and you might hear it whenever reading things posted on the internet on a quiet evening whilst not listening to music or anything else as this CPU does not seem to have the audacity to be annoying. Any paste is good as long as it covers the immediate area and the original that comes with it is "O.K. I guess" for the enthusiasts but more than enough for initial 9 months or so for literally everyone else. There would really be no reason for you to pass on this CPU because of its features and its potential for the price of around or less than £50, unless you have an incompatible motherboard and looking for an upgrade from something which is a couple of years old or even to swap this CPU out for same one in a couple of years time. What usually happens in lifes of young adults these days: starter pc or none - medium build - medium+ or high end - back to medium, starter or none - back to square one or something simple, at one point or another you might want to consider this CPU, its cheap and reliable and yes, it runs minecraft without a dedicated graphics card...Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Fantastic little chip.. perfect for Home Theater PC builds... And has a massive overclocking potential... grab one
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
It's running at 5.2Ghz :) Can't complain
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
easy overclock to 4.2ghz , Then emu performance with Dolphin and PCSX2 is perfect even at 1440P
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
So fast
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great product no not great amazing product
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
performs well but intel got motherboard makers to block none z board from overclocking.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Item is perfect! No problems with it!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned