Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core Server Processor BX80637E31230V2

Pros: Xeons are binned to run at lower voltages and lower power usage. - 69W watts? not even close, taking some reasonable guesses about the other parts and looks like this CPU actually tops out at about 47 watts or so.... Want to see how far I can undervolt and still be stable :)

I7 performance at an i5 price

Not paying for integrated graphics you wont use anyway.

Cons: Cant thing of a single bad thing to say.

Other Thoughts: Part of my killer HTPC build

Quad Core / 8 thread plus a Radeon 7750 graphics card all living happily with a 150 watt power supply!

Pros: *Fantastic speeds
*Barely makes an effort to run anything
*Nice temperature
*Practically an i7 for i5 price

Cons: *The stock cooler is awful, but Intel makes awful stock coolers and always has, I hate the thing. Does it's job, but actually putting the thing on is just a pain -- and I can't tell when the thing is actually snapped in
*Locked clock speed

Other Thoughts: Within the past 3-4 years, I've upgraded my PC more times than I can remember. Initially, I was going to make another AMD build (I had the FX-4100, and was going to get the FX-6300). After much thought, I decided to switch back to Intel and give them a try. At first, I was going to go with the i5-3750k, but decided why not pay a tad more for the i7-3770k -- then I stumbled upon this. The Xeon E3-1230 V2 is a hidden gem when it comes to Intel CPUs. It's compatible with my Z77 chipset keyboard, and does what a CPU is supposed to. Being a gamer, it was amazing to see just how badly my CPU was holding me back. Using my FX-4100 and GTX 480, I was getting 20-30 FPS in Natural Selection 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic -- but when I switched to this CPU, my frames boosted to the point where it never drops below 60. This CPU absolutely destroys virtually anything you throw at it and more for such a great price, and it saves you electricity in comparison to practically any AMD or Intel mainstream CPUs.

In short -- do your research. This CPU is a hidden gem and the price is more than worth it for the performance you get back from it, and the energy you save using it.

Pros: E3=I7 performance+I5 3570 price

Cons: doesn't has Integrated Graphics
can't overclock

Other Thoughts: do not hesitate to buy it

Pros: Put it on a gigabyte z77 up4 mobo. I dont play games. I use it to record music with Cubase 5. What use to destroy my athlon x2, the same song with everything the same hovers around 9-13 % CPU usage. This thing rocks.

Cons: dont give me a heat sink or give me the option to opt out at a lower price. I threw it away. . . .

Pros: Crushes all the games I throw at it. The bottleneck is now my GPU.

Cons: None so far.

Other Thoughts: I hadn't installed an Intel processor since the early days of LGA. I honestly don't remember having to bear down so much on the tiny little arm that holds the processor in place. This was a little much coming from ZIF where there is no pressure needed at all. Needless to say I had to pep talk myself into actually putting some weight on it after I heard the creaking. Frightening to say the least.

Not really a con, or the fault of the processor itself, just unfamiliarity with the socket, so it's here instead.

Pros: Very powerful. My previous computer,a Dell Latitude D530 laptop with a Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0GHz CPU would take 35+ minutes for an DVD encode in handbrake. Now I can do that in less than 10 minutes. Sweet!

Cons: Can get a little hot, but this is more a result of my ITX case (Cooler Master Elite 120). To keep temps and power usage down, I have it set at 3.0 GHz max clock, with a voltage offset of -0.115V. Using a Cooler Master GeminII M4 cooler. Idles around 35C, handbrake encodes hover around 60C, and Prime95 never passed 65C after 3 hours. Still waiting for thermal paste to finish curing, so hopefully these numbers will go down a little.

Other Thoughts: CPU: Intel Xeon 1230 V2
MB: ASRock H77M-ITX
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC version
RAM: Kingston HyperX Blu 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600
SSD: OCZ Vertex 4 128 GB
Data drive: 1 TB WD Black
Media streaming drive: 2TB WD AV-GP
Optical drive: ASUS Black Blu-ray burner
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120
CPU cooler: Cooler Master GeminII M4

Pros: pretty fast
no crashes

Cons: doesn't come with the Turbo Boost Technology Monitor installed

Other Thoughts: Im still trying to make the Turbo Boost Technology Monitor widget work.

Pros: Powerful, low energy demands. Haven't been able to push it to close to load under regular use/gameplay.

Cons: Cheap Thermal paste. A better cooling system is suggested.

Pros: Unbelievably fast. Hands down more power and crunch in one little package this user has ever seen. Ever. It's nearly impossible to get this thing to run at 100% on anything but benchmarks.

Cons: It's not perfect.

Intel messed up in my opinion with their decision to use paste instead of soldier for thermal conduction. At full load on a mid-range h77 motherboard, with stock cooler and Arctic Silver 5, i get temperatures of 75 degrees C. This is on the high side, but good luck getting this thing to full load with full use.

Second, LGA 1155 is dual channel for memory which is like forcing a river through a drinking straw.

Other Thoughts: Overall, this processor is amazing. The single best core for a 1155 build you can get. This is the knee of the price/performance curve. No graphics to waste power, crazy fast and very lower power. Get a nice board and cooler to go with it though, and get an amazing bang for your buck.

Pros: This is a very very fast processor! I'm using it in a Asus RS100 barebones server with VMware ESXi 5.1. It is supported, very fast, runs cool with passive cooling and the fans set for silent operation. It cuts through what I've thrown at (multiplemVMs at once) it like a knife through hot butter!

Cons: No cons