Core i3-4330

The Intel Core i3-4330 is a budget dual-core four threaded 4th generation Haswell processor released in Q3 2013. The i3-4330 has gained popularity by offering a good balance between low power, good performance and value for money. It scores a strong effective speed of 89% with its base clock of 3.5 GHz which means that users will experience smooth and fast performance with the majority of desktop applications. Additionally its two cores and four virtual cores are adequate for most games. The i3-4330 features Intel HD Graphics 4600 which are comparable to AMD integrated graphics when it comes to 3D gaming. But serious gamers will need to keep enough money aside for a dedicated GPU. An 8% premium on the list price would buy you the i3-4340 which has a 100 MHz advantage on its base clock speed (full comparison here). ^{[Nov '14 CPUPro]}