
The Pentium G630 delivers solid performance, outperforming the Celeron G530 and even surprising in games. However, its price point faces stiff competition.
Let's take a look at the CPU itself:
⤢ ВІДКРИТИAnd here's a screenshot from the CPU-Z utility:
⤢ ВІДКРИТИThe 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.
⤢ ВІДКРИТИAt idle, thanks to Intel Speed-Step technology, the processor drops its frequency to the lowest possible for Sandy Bridge-based CPUs: 1600 MHz.
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
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
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
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!
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.
In computational speed tests, the Pentium significantly outperformed the Celeron, further challenging the 'old guard' E8400.
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
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
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.