Intel E3-1230V2 LGA1155 Processor BX80637E31230V2

A: spent to much on an outdated mode, blame myself, but it was also over priced. B: heat sink compound was old and would not spread, I now will have to wait several days for more C: Always research before purchase

The E3-1230 v3 really is an i7 3770 for about 2/3rds of the price. Not only is it cheaper, it also doesn't have the HD4000 iGPU in it which is a waste of power consumption for most users who are probably using a discrete GPU anyway. I actually used to have a 3770k and a Z77 board. I then sold it and started using an old Q6600 PC I then got an R9 290 GPU for it and found that the CPU was a huge bottleneck. Since I already had an H77 board in an HTPC that had a Celeron G1610 in it, I figured I'd upgrade it and use the Q6600 as the HTPC. So, after accumulating $230 worth of Amazon gift cards thanks to swagbucks, I bought one of these. At first, I was planning on the i5 3570 or 3470 which were $230 and $210. I actually didn't know about the E3-12xx series until a few months ago. When I realized that the i7 3770 equivalent E3 CPU was about the same price as the i5, my mind was made up. After installing it, I immediately played Watch Dogs. It is a massive improvement over the Q6600. Before, I couldn't even run WD in medium detail without lots of lag. Now, everything is maxed out and it is running very smooth. All the other AAA games are the same. If you are going to use a discrete GPU and don't plan to overclock your CPU then the E3-12xx series is a great buy. I am using a Hyper 212 Evo cooler on it and it never passes 60c under load and stays right around 30c or less at idle (room temp is 77F). If I didn't use swagbucks, I would have paid around $300 for the CPU and motherboard. My 3770k and Sabertooth Z77 cost me around $570 for just those two parts and I am getting almost identical performance from the cheaper E3-1230 v2 + H77.

After doing some research I decided to go with the E3 1230 v2 as it is essentially an Intel Core i7 without integrated graphics (and about $100 cheaper). I could have gotten an i7 3770 from Microcenter for about $305 after taxes, but since I was using a discrete graphics card I didn't really need the integrated graphics so I bought this instead. I am using it in a very small ITX system on a Asus P8Z77-I motherboard with 2x8GB G.SKILL 1600MHz memory. The performance is pretty good, I don't really notice a big difference vs my i5 3450 on my other computer, but they're both quad core Ivy Bridges (i5 doesnt have hyper threading) so I'm guessing it's only certain applications where I'll notice an advantage with the E3 1230 v2. I will say the temps are impressive, in the same build I had been running a Sandy Bridge Pentium G630T (55W TDP) before, and this idles at about the same temp and even peak load temps are about the same (30 C Idle / 55 C under heavy load). This is very impressive considering I'm using it in a very cramped Antec ISK 300-150 case with a Scythe Kozuti CPU fan. The i5 3450S I'd run in the same build was about 5-10 Celsius higher, I'm not sure how much this has to do with the integrated graphics being absent. The one place where I was unpleasantly surprised, and this probably won't be a problem for 99% of buyers since they aren't going to be stupid and put a Xeon in a tiny little ITX case with a 150W power supply, is that the power load can get pretty high. Most of the time total system usage is about 50-60 Watts, which is what I experienced with the G630T based system (also has a Sapphire HD6670 video card). At load using the CPU only this will get up over 120 watts, which I was very surprised by as even my i5 2500k (stock clock) would never get above 90-95W at load. Again, most people this won't matter, I'll be getting a more powerful PSU for this as it's clearly too much for this little case to handle. Overall the 1230 v2 is a great processor, if you don't plan on OC'ing and have a discrete graphics card, skip the i7's and go for this, or if you're planning on an i5 just go ahead and get this for the same price.

Arrived DOA.

This processor, the E3-1230V2, is basically a locked Sandy Bridge i7 processor with slightly lower clock speeds. It has hyper-threading, a clock control utility, and is a very reliable chip. I bought two of these for workstation builds that will likely run 24/7 in an office. The temperatures stay nice and low, provided that you apply a secondary thermal paste correctly, and in 3 weeks there have been zero problems with running 24/7. Windows needed a couple of restarts, but that's a Windows issue and not a problem with this chip. If you are building a workstation or if you just want a good chip to put in a non-overclocking gaming build this chip will fit the build.

Works in my Server.

E3 sucks, thats all

Why would someone need an integrated graphics in an overclockable CPU escapes my imagination. And yes, I have a Sandy Bridge 2600k with integrated graphics for nothing which consumes more power, needs a specialty cooling solution and it's still just mildly overclocked for no perceptible reason. I had enough of that bull and took advantage of this 'hidden treasure' from Intel's lineup. Yes, it's a 'workstation class CPU' but it needs no special MoBo or ECM Memory now that it is included on every respectable Ivy Bridge ready MoBo's list. So, it's less power consumption, has no useless integrated graphics, plenty of cache for my job, runs cool, and the list just keeps going. Just look at the numbers.. it's blazing fast! If you don't need all those marketing gimmicks and know your way around PC's, look no further. Highly recommended item.