I Downgraded - i7 to i3,

[WingZero30]

It's nice to hear about i3. The poor chap is probably the loneliest out of the three i core brothers as we keep hearing about i5 and i7 and not much about i3.

 

[Rizo-UK]

Turn HT on when playing BFBC2, there's a significant performance increase for me with my i3 @ 4.2Ghz (This is as far as I'm overclocking on stock cooler).

Please tell me how that is possible with a stock cooler?

Whats the VCore?

The max i could get was around 3.67ghz with decent temps, but then i like my temps below 65oC

 

[antipesto93]

Well i have a pretty bad batch (1.4v for 4.2ghz)
and on my thermaltake frio, heavy load temps do not exceed 55c
I dont think its very safe on the stock cooler

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

My Q6600 runs all the games I play fine at 1680X1050. I upgraded from an overclocked E4500 at around 3GHZ to a Q6600 at around the same speed for under £30.

I was looking at a Core i3 but decided it was not worth the hassle TBH.

An Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 or its AMD Bulldozer equivalent is probably what I will replace the Q6600 with.

 

[Tomcat825]

What temps would you get on an i3 540 with a Megahalems at 4.2-4.6 then, as my Arctic Freezer keeps mine at 4.2, @ 45 max on 2 instances of WoW on ultra with background FPS set to 100%. 40-42 with a single instance.
28 idle

 

[antipesto93]

What temps would you get on an i3 540 with a Megahalems at 4.2-4.6 then, as my Arctic Freezer keeps mine at 4.2, @ 45 max on 2 instances of WoW on ultra with background FPS set to 100%. 40-42 with a single instance.
28 idle

Well i have had it on a Silver Arrow/Cogage arrow and on a Thermaltake Frio,
Idle temps are 22 and load temps are 55,
When i say load i mean HT on, OCCT LINX test (So very high load)

a freezer 7 pro is fine as it is such a little chip that does not really have a high output at all (I think its half an i7)