Processor Intel Pentium G3220: reviews, characteristics review

Choosing a decent processor based on Intel for many potential buyers turns into a headache, because this manufacturer's performance and cost are very dependent on each other. Naturally, it is not always possible to choose a crystal that is suitable for its power in a limited purchase budget. In the focus of this article, one of the most productive processors of an inexpensive segment is the Intel Pentium G3220, which has enough power to cope with any given tasks. Feedback, review of characteristics and comparison with analogues in the budget category will give buyers the opportunity to make the right choice.

Advertising - the engine of progress?

Marketing research, abundant advertising and the conclusion of unknown test labs led to the fact that in the minds of potential buyers there was a picture that the most productive processor a user should have is a crystal based on Intel Core i7 / 5/3. All other lines are for some reason considered an office version, like Celeron. Even the Intel Pentium G3220 in numerous reviews on foreign resources is equated to the lowest class.

Only a few users notice the catch - numerous tests, where expensive processors win an irreproachable victory, are produced by synthetic programs and resource-intensive applications for video processing or 3D. And most Russian citizens have a powerful crystal only for games, because with the rest of the applications installed on the computer, the same Celeron will cope.

Intel Pentium G3220 processor specifications

Haswell architecture for the Socket LGA1150 interface is considered the most optimal for building a gaming computer in terms of the "price-quality" ratio. After all, 22-nanometer technology has only recently appeared on the domestic market. Thanks to these parameters, the performance of the Intel Pentium G3220 processor in games is not inferior to the crystals based on the previous generation Core i5 (40 nm). Two separate cores, a clock speed of 3000 MHz, a large amount of cache memory of the 2nd and 3rd level and an integrated graphics core are the key to high performance of the processor in question.

Yes, there is a negative, but it is he who receives the least attention when buying - a limitation in working with RAM. Support for dual-channel mode at 1333/1600 MHz is a weak link in working with applications. However, most buyers can not afford to buy expensive memory (2133 MHz and higher), and accordingly, for them there is no point in looking at more productive processors.

First meeting

The product is on the market in two versions: an Intel Pentium G3220 OEM (without a cooler) and boxed BOX with a proprietary cooling system. Users who previously encountered Intel products prefer the latter option, and newcomers who do not trust the brand can sell an expensive cooler in the store that they do not need. Fans of overclocking also prefer the purchase of a cooler from another manufacturer, but this processor is unlikely to get into their attention.

A standard cardboard box of gigantic sizes, a lot of waste paper in it, a proprietary Intel sticker, the processor itself and a cooling system are the usual equipment of any computer device, which no one today surprises. Once again, the manufacturer was greedy and did not provide the buyer with a thermal paste (the competitor AMD has recently solved this with a question). On the other hand, many computer owners provide the ability to assemble the system to the seller, so the presence or absence of thermal paste is of least concern to them.

Direct Competitor

It is quite difficult to find a comparison of a similar product from AMD and the Intel Pentium G3220 processor. Reviews in the media affect only devices with six and eight cores. Only a few people look at the price. Naturally, all comparisons occur in synthetic testing programs. A direct competitor in the budget category for the dual-core Intel Pentium G3220 processor under consideration is the 4-core AMD FX-4300.

In an affordable price category, the competitor looks much more attractive than his opponent: increased clock speed of the cores, increased cache of the third level (from 3 MB to 4 MB), support for dual-channel memory mode with a frequency of 2133 MHz. Top-at-first-look characteristics of AMD processors still inferior to the representative of Intel in working with resource-intensive applications and games.

Comparisons in synthetic tests

The overall performance of all processor cores is the main criterion in any testing. Therefore, it is not surprising that 4 or 8 crystals at a frequency above 3000 MHz show high efficiency. In 3DMark Vantage and SiSoftware Sandra applications, the AMD product demonstrates a clear superiority over the Intel Pentium G3220 processor. In fact, FX-4300 wins even the legendary Core i5 with a lower core frequency.

Undoubtedly, such indicators lead many newcomers to the conclusion that Intel products have an overestimated value and are not worthy to be considered as a purchase for building a gaming computer. But in fact in the life of the processor is a completely different task. Bandwidth, technology and the speed of a single core are the main criterion in the work of applications and games. Why not test in real programs that are used daily by users around the world?

Complete superiority over the opponent in games

High-end games such as Batman, Far Cry 3, Hard Reset, Hitman, Just Cause 2 and the like, have become a real test for performance that the Intel Pentium G3220 processor was able to demonstrate. The AMD owners' feedback, containing the negative for this test, can be understood - all the games listed are designed for the architecture of processors with two cores. But do not forget that software developers do not rush to migrate to a multi-core platform. The reason is quite simple - 90% of existing computers in the world are built on the basis of a single- or dual-core platform, and if you release a paid product for a more productive system, then the purchasing power will be too small. Normal business is nothing personal.

Work with the software

Resource-intensive applications have very different requirements: the bandwidth and power of one core are the key to productivity, both for office programs, and for video editors, graphics and 3D modeling. The joke, said by one of the developers of Microsoft that the Intel processor can only surpass the Intel Xeon processor (the server chip), can be better for understanding that there is no place in the professional market for AMD products.

But if we are talking about the processor Intel Pentium G3220 OEM, then one drawback still found in software testing. It's about encryption. All cheap AMD competitor line has hardware support for AES, which allows you to work with protected data in a multi-threaded mode (including scanning protection keys). In Intel products, this option is implemented only on the 4-core Core i5 / i7 platform. The apparent shortcomings of the manufacturer led to the fact that some developers gave their preference to the inexpensive products of the competitor.

The struggle for the office segment

The presence of integrated graphics on the processor, and not on the motherboard, as it was on older Intel platforms, caused many fans of the company to switch to AMD products, because the competitor did not succumb to the market trends and left the video controller on the motherboard. When buying an office computer, the end user focuses on the minimum cost, so many customers give preference in the budget segment to AMD products.

After the inexpensive Intel Pentium G3220 processor with integrated graphics appeared on the market, the market for office computers was divided into two camps. An important role in the choice of the system was played by the power consumption, which is exactly half that of the Intel product, compared to the AMD processor. But as specialists note in their reviews, this segment has already been lost for cheap novelties based on the Pentium.

Weak link

Conducting on the processor Intel Pentium G3220 review and comparison with AMD products, it turned out one unpleasant news - an inexpensive Intel chip is not designed for overclocking. In any tests conducted, whether it be games or software, to increase the core frequency by more than 5%, no one succeeded. The Pentium processor, unlike its more productive counterparts with 4 cores, can not overclock. The joys of AMD fans have no limits - any budget representative in the same price category demonstrates the best performance.

The conclusion here is one: the Intel Pentium G3220 product will be of interest only for those customers who are not going to raise the processor's performance in the future by increasing the frequency of the cores. (As practice shows, such people are about 95%). And this means that the purchasing power will remain the same.

Finally

Inexpensive, economical and powerful enough with integrated graphics, the Intel Pentium G3220 processor can be considered the best purchase in the budget segment. Games, office programs and all sorts of editors are capable of a novelty from a well-known manufacturer. Overclocking the device from the budget class? Recommendations of IT professionals, judging by their feedback, are quite understandable - processors with high potential should be searched in the High-End class. After all, no one is looking for gaming solutions in the budget class a priori.