IntelG3258 4 Pentium 3.20 GHz 3M Cache 2 Core Processor (BX80646G3258)

Unlocked 20th Anniversary Intel Pentium CPU. Don't underestimate the power of this chip. I'm running stock with an SSD and my boot time is 5 seconds. Very responsive for all my apps on Windows 7. Also many apps don't take full advantage of multi core chips so single thread performance is very important and this dual core chip does well on both. I am not over clocking at the moment due to having the CPU in a small form factor case with limited PSU wattage however from articles I've read this chip can reach speeds of processor 2-3X its price right now. Frankly at stock spec's this is a good overall CPU for all applications and has room to grow if you like. Some reviews are saying it can reach speeds close of the I5 2550 which has been one of the standards for gaming CPU's for some time as a strong mid road processor. Also it beats my 100watt Athlon A8 3850 by a significant amount at a lower price tag. Intel is giving AMD some strong competition with this APU chip which has integrated graphics built in. For productivity use I don't think the value can be beat on this chip, and if you want to push it some are reporting speeds as high as 4.4Ghz in turbo mode running stable. Regardless I think most would be hard pressed to find a better value in a CPU right now, if you already have some DDR3, all you need is an inexpensive motherboard and can have a very nice performing build for not a lot of cash. Its also worth noting the low power draw of the new Intel chips. Mine is running at 95 degrees Fahrenheit in a SFF case with a low profile fan. For most of my applications I'm not even touching the power of this chip and its great for media center builds that you don't want using a lot of power but you still want to have your apps and HD multimedia respond quick and smoothly.** Update: I now have this in a Corsair ITX Gaming case with an R7 260 and OC to 4.3Ghz(Boost) on an ASUS H97I-Plus. This puppy screams and runs Crysis 3 at 60fps solid with vynch on my 720P. Dirt gets 200+ FPS, so far nothing I have thrown at it doesn't play. Im sure for newer games at higher res you might want a faster GPU but this setup is fantastic for an inexpensive gaming rig. Trick on the ASUS board / CPU Z is reporting just the stock clock, ASUS utility reports the turbo boost which is all that works on my H Series board after talking to ASUS for a number of hours. I confirmed with Intel CPU burn in that the test runs much quicker with the turbo boost and the burn in shows stable performance. I have not tried to push it even though Im only at 43 degrees Celsius at 4300mhz per core! Anyways, for my use I don't need to push it further as the system is like lightning compared to my AMD PC's. This processor has brought me back to the Intel camp and I'm excited that it performs better then my AMD A8 3850 quad core chip. Those saying you need 4+ cores are wrong, this chip is a great value. Can you buy a more expensive one that's faster sure, but for someone on a budget the value is unprecedented.This chip is targeted to those who want to get a lot of performance out of a little dough. Its a solid 5 stars for me.

Practically speaking, this is supposed to be a value processor. Sure, it's enjoyable to tinker with and if that's what you're looking for, you absolutely won't be disappointed. This processor overclocks incredibly well compared to most other processors on the market today.But if you're trying to get the most bang for your buck, and you have to spend ~$30+ on an aftermarker cooler to get a decent overclock, well, you're probably close to an i3 money-wise, which gives you hyperthreading, a faster memory controller, and some additional instruction sets. It depends on your application as to how beneficial each of these features are, compared to the higher clock speed you can get with the g3258. For most users, I would say if you're looking into aftermarket cooling for this processor, you're probably getting a better value by spending a little extra on the processor itself (probably an i3 or fx-6300) instead of spending it on a heatsink. If you can find a good deal on an aftermarket cooler, or if you've got one lying around, you could probably squeeze some extra performance out of this guy without completely ruining the value proposition. Suffice it to say I do not understand the builds I see online that have this thing paired with a $100 liquid cooler.Fortunately for this processor, you don't need an aftermarket cooler to get a decent overclock. I have it running stable at 4.0ghz at stock voltage. Prime95 temps maxed out around 65-70 with the stock heatsink. I haven't tried to push it further, I'm pretty content with the performance as it is now.As far as specific applications go, I can only speak to what I'm using it for, which is light gaming. I've got it pared with an r9 270 (slightly overclocked as well) and 4gb of ram. This build should be able to play anything you throw at it. Maybe not at ultra high settings, maybe not at 1440p, but it certainly gets the job done without breaking the bank. As a general indication of the performance, the 3dmark firestrike score is 5013 (6152 graphics, 4156 physics, 2411 combined).The obvious contender to this cpu is the Athlon x4 750k/760k. Judging based on the benchmarks I've looked at (3dmark, passmark, etc), there's really not much to choose between the two. Looking around the web, tomshardware and the like show the pentium coming out slightly ahead in most games. Honestly though, I think either one would work for this application. The athlon cpu is ~$5 more but the overall build might be slightly cheaper. However, I really don't know how well the athlon overclocks using the stock heatsink. This is something that would definitely be of interest if anyone was seriously comparing the value of these two cpus. It is also worth noting that you can now find non-z intel motherboards that can overclock this processor, so that definitely helps keep the build costs in check for the pentium.If you're looking at a super low budget for a gaming pc(<$500), you may want to take a look at the ~$40 haswell celerons, paired with something like a gtx 750 (or better if you don't mind your cpu being the bottleneck while you save up for something better). You might be stuck on lower settings and fly a little too close to 20fps for the most demanding games, but just about anything should be playable. I bring this up because this pretty much wipes out the pentium k as a short-term solution. If you're saving up for an i3 or better and plan on upgrading in maybe a year or so, you should be going for a celeron (The 1840 is $44. How ridiculous is that?) instead of the g3258.I am 100% satisfied with this processor's performance. It's a good processor at a good price. As long as you have a well thought-out idea of what you want before you decide to buy it, I don't see how anyone could be disappointed with this thing.

I bought this chip for my first computer build. I paired it with an msi z97 motherboard and overclocked it to 4.2 ghz on the stock cooler no problem. While also maintaining fair temperatures on the stock cooler. The only gripe to have about this cpu for gaming is that it hithces and stutters very bad on most open world games running at 60fps as a result of only having 2 cores with no hyperthreading. For example running GTA V on a GTX 960 at 1080p 60 fps causes the cpu to freeze every 5 seconds consistently, but capping it at 30 fps fixes the problem. The witcher 3 performs a little worse as even turning down the resolution to 720p and capping it at 30fps couldnt stop the hitching. An fps like Battlefield 4 or Black ops 3 run reasonably well. On a 64 person match on bf4 though, the cpu gets a little taxed and the frames drop a bit, but not at a severe level. So using this cpu on games that arent particulary cpu intensive will work just fine. The gpu to pair with this card would be a gtx 750 ti, a gtx 950, or a gtx 960 would be the max before the cpu starts bottlenecking them. As far as regular computing like watching 1080p videos and heavy webbrowsing, this chip performs like a champ with stock clocks. So if anyone needs to build a nongaming or nonediting computer for themeselves or their parents, then this cpu is the way to go. I also built this in May 2016, so if anyone is worried about this being an older generation, dont be. It works very well for its $70 price. Its a great value and i would definitely reccomend it for first time builds of regular computers and entry level gaming computers.