Pentium G630 express review

The CPU

Let's take a look at the CPU itself:

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

And here's a screenshot from the CPU-Z utility:

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

The test sample is marked SR05S. The Pentium G630 CPU is based on the 32nm Sandy Bridge core, featuring 256KB of L2 cache per core and 3MB of shared L3 cache. Its clock speed is 2700 MHz, with a nominal voltage of 1.17V. It also lacks AVX instructions.

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

At idle, thanks to Intel Speed-Step technology, the processor drops its frequency to the lowest possible for Sandy Bridge-based CPUs: 1600 MHz.

Test bench and software:

• LGA1155 motherboard - ASUS P8P61 M-LX2

• LGA775 motherboard - Biostar P35D2A7

• AM3 motherboard - ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO

• Processors - Core 2 Duo E6300, Core 2 Duo E8400, Phenom II X2 545, Athlon II X2 220, Celeron G530, Pentium G630

• LGA1155 CPU cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

• LGA775 CPU cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

• AM3 CPU cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

• RAM - 2x4GB DDR3 Hynix PC12800 (9-9-9-34)

• RAM - 2x2GB DDR2 Corsair PC6400 (5-5-5-16)

• Graphics card - Sapphire Radeon HD6950 (800/5000 MHz)

• PSU - FSP 500W

• Hard drive - Samsung SP160GB

Software:

• Windows 7 x64 SP1

• CPU-Z 1.62

• CineBench 9.5 x64

• CineBench 11.5 x64

• Light Work - Renderbench

• 3DMark 2006 v1.2.0 (CPU test only)

• 3DMark Vantage v1.1.1 (CPU test only)

• Hot CPU tester PRO

• AMD Catalyst 11.9

• wPrime v1.55

• Fritz Chess Benchmark

• SuperPi 1.4

• FRAPS v3.1.0

In-game graphics settings:

GTA IV:

• Resolution - 1280x1024

• Textures - high

• Reflection resolution - high

• Water quality - very high

• Shadow quality - high

• Filtering quality - x16

• View distance - 100

• Detail depth - 100

• Vehicle density - 100

• Depth of field - on/on

• Vertical synchronization - off/off

Prototype:

• Resolution - 1280x1024

• Textures - high

• Shadows - high

• Anti-aliasing - 0x

Rendering

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

The Pentium G630 truly shines. It significantly raised the performance bar compared to its younger sibling, the Celeron G530. While the '530' could only catch up to older, overclocked chips, the '630' now fully competes with them!

Overall performance

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

Here, the G630's advantage over the G530 isn't as pronounced. Still, the increased clock speed and larger L3 cache did make a difference.

Calculations

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

In computational speed tests, the Pentium significantly outperformed the Celeron, further challenging the 'old guard' E8400.

Archiving

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

In archiving, the G630 performed quite sluggishly. Its results look weak compared to the younger G530, and even a win over the E8400 and Phenom II X2 doesn't salvage it here.

Gaming: Synthetic benchmarks

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

While the overclocked Core 2 Duo E8400 wasn't defeated, the Pentium G630 managed to catch up to the Phenom II X2 545, overclocked to 3810 MHz! That's an excellent result!

Gaming

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

Here, the results are simply astounding. In GTA IV, the G630 is hot on the heels of the E8400, which is overclocked to 4050 MHz! All while running at a modest 2700 MHz! Only Prototype managed to slightly temper this feisty little chip's enthusiasm! But look at the minimum FPS — that's what truly matters in games. It takes second place in this metric, trailing the 4050 MHz E8400 by just a single frame!

Despite its obvious shortcomings, the Pentium G630 left a positive impression. If not for competitors like the Athlon II X4, the 'six-thirty Pentium' could be confidently recommended for purchase.

But competitors do exist, and at just over $60, the Pentium G630 can't really compete with them.