Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core Server Processor BX80637E31240V2

Pros: yep the 1240v2 packs some serious power for example playing a BD movie cpu utilization jumps between 1-2% only>the cpu I had before the i5 3570k playing the same movie was between 8-and 10% "hyper threading" the way to go for encoding!

Cons: N/A

Other Thoughts: and yes it works with regular desktop memory

Pros: Runs cool and can overclock with the right motherboard to 3.6GHz and 3.7GHz with Turbo Mode enabled. Uses very little power.

Cons: n/a

Other Thoughts: I purchased this CPU for gaming. When paired with a high-end graphics card this CPU becomes a pretty big bottleneck to the system. I am unable to reach maximum FPS due to the CPU on games that are heavily based on the CPU. All other games run great other than CPU based games. Great processor, not for some games.

Pros: Under some of the harshest tests I could throw at it, it never broke 32C. This chip is fast, and one of real benefits for me is that it only has 4 cores. For running a few single-threaded apps, it speeds things up a lot. I've got another processor with 6 cores and 4 of them are idle most of the time. Comes with a stock heatsink which I should mention I've never used, I created a custom solution which is half of how it stays so cool.

Cons: Can only be used in Single-CPU configurations. I'd love to have a dual or quad system based on these, but intel wants to charge a lot more for chips that can do that.

Other Thoughts: Strongly considering buying more of these just for odd jobs.

Pros: I purchased this CPU to avoid the internal GPU found on the desktop series. I originally had no intention of overclocking this CPU but was surprised to see that I was able to push it to 3.6GHz with 16GB 1600MHz RAM on the Asrock H77M motherboard.

Great price
Great performance
Great load temperatures (60 max with overclock)

Cons: Higher idle temperatures than desktop line (40)

Other Thoughts: Paired with a 7850 GPU get amazing frames per second, I know this is not helpful.. But! I get an average if 350FPS on League if Legends. I will never go back to AMD for a performance system again.

I hate you Intel.

Pros: works cool with z77 chipsets (even support for is not listed) z77a-GD55 (MSI) and I also tried with p8 z77-m (Asus). Base clock can be raised to 8.6 & and multiplier set to 36 and there is boost. E3-1230v2 can be set to multiplier 35 (with Z77). So is it worth 30$ more?
With JUST ONE VOLT jumps between 3.9 and 4.0Ghz It's lower temperature at IDLE than i5 3550.
I7 overclocks better memory than i5. I have some "old" wintec 1333 wich runs ABOVE 2000 and stay cool.

Cons: At this time Newegg price is much higher than 250$ manufacter suggested and I wouldn't have paid more than that.

Can't see memory in CPUZ (probably has something to do with not official support in these mobos)

Other Thoughts: I'm finally coupling it with a Supermicro board X9SCM-F-O . Being cool and having a high thermal rezistance can stay in a 1U server.
Two pcie x8 gen3 and one x4 gen2.

Pros: this CPU screams , I paired it with a Asus Z77 sabertooth and it runs it just fine . Sees it for what it is . It has a lower thermal rating , and NO intergrated graphics . It is also cheeper then a Ivy 3770 , supports hyperthreading , and gets the same WEI score as a 3770. and in some benchmarks beats a I7 3770 at stock settings

Cons: still kinda pricy , not unlocked but I knew that going in but I see no need to overclock , this thing is a beast

Other Thoughts: save some cash if you dont want to overclock, have no need for a intergrated graphics and like lower power consumption . then get this . Honestly I fail to see why someone would spent bg money on a fast CPU and would buy a deciated graphics card Intel GPUs still get their arces kicked by nvidia and amd GPUs and Lucid is a joke , buggy at best

Pros: It's less than i7 IB. No GPU. vt*

Cons: Are you kidding me?

Other Thoughts: I scoured the net a long time on whether this will work with a desktop board, but not much proof is out there. I found one forum screen shots showing it does, and plenty of others with posts speculating it will as well as others who say it won't. ASROCK supports it while ASUS does not. It is running in an ASUS P8H77-M PRO right now and the BIOS recognizes it for what it is, a XEON E3-124v2.