- Processor Type: Intel Pentium Dual-Core Desktop Processor G620
- Frequency: 2.6 GHz
- Cache: 3 MB
- Process: 32 nm
- Socket: Socket 1155
I bought this CPU to make a low-power, inexpensive media PC for my bedroom to replace the Comcast DVRs I returned. I am not at all disappointed.
So far, I cannot tell the difference in picture quality or performance against the more expensive i3-2100 CPU that's in my main living room HTPC. It's definitely better than the AMD Phenom II x3 705e / HD5670 HTPC system I used to have. Like it's i3-2100 cousin, there is far less color banding, panning is better and the picture is overall just better. That AMD CPU and graphics card were over $200 at the beginning of 2010!
With this CPU, I am able to watch HD video, HD TV and everything else I need to do with my media PC without issue. It runs super-cool and the included fan and heatsink are not audible from across the bedroom. While watching HD video and TV it uses between 40W-50W. It idles under 30W. My old HTPC used 180W-200W and idled around 95W.
I continue to be amazed by the performance, power usage and features you get and this price point for an Intel CPU.
The build:
Intel Pentium G620 CPU
ASUS P8H61-I mini-itx motherboard
Rosewill RS-MI-01 BK mini-ITX case with 120W picoPSU replacing the stock PSU
Kingston V100 64GB SSD
Western Digital 320GB Caviar Blue HDD
Happauge WinTV 1250 tuner card
Rosewill USB wireless-N
Logitech K400 wireless keyboard
120mm Antec Tri-Cool case fan
Custom PSU backplate cover with mount for picoPSU jack
BTW: the title of this product page is incorrect. This is an LGA 1155 CPU, not LGA 1156.
Buy Intel Pentium G620 Dual Core 2.6 GHz Intel HD Graphics Retail LGA 1155 Processor - BX80623G620 Now
Very impressive performance for such a bargain CPU. I paired it with a Geforce GTX 260 I had out of an older rig and it makes for a fantastic HTPC. I can even play Half Life 2 and World of Warcraft at high settings on my 55" Sony at 1080p, now that was an unexpected bonus.
For real world applications this will handle anything in a productivity suite. With 4gb ram I have been able to have around 6 browser tabs open, Itunes and anything from MS Office 2010 going at the same time with no halts. Adobe CS5 also runs great too.
The only con I can think of is that it doesn't have hyper threading and has a locked multiplier, but this isn't a performance/gaming cpu and that is what I expected. What I didn't expect is to get as much performance as this has for the price. I can't comment on the built in Intel graphics, because I use a discrete GPU, but anyone that has used integrated graphics knows about that, although things are beginning to change.
The price and performance of this processor are simply amazing, it is definitely up to productivity multitasking, HD/Blu-Ray playback, and moderate gaming.
Here is a short comparison with the exact same graphics card and similar components of my old rig based off a Core 2 Duo E6600 overclocked from 2.4ghz to 3.1ghz.
Pentium G620 2.6ghz vs Core 2 Duo E6600@3.1ghz on 3D Mark Vantage (preset = performance)
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P8P67-M PRO -EVGA NFORCE 680i LT SLI
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 -NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
Processor clock: 2600 MHz -3100 MHz
Memory: 4096 MB Kingston 9 @ 667 MHz -4096 MB Corsair 7 @ 400 MHz
3DMark Vantage Score: 8186.34 -8205.65
CPU Score: 6192.24 -5151.86
Graphics Score: 9170.77 -10226.2
Operating system 64-bit Windows 7
No tweaking or changes were made to any components of the hardware I've used aside from the obviously stated OC on the E6600. I find it very interesting how the cpu score can differ so much and yet the higher scoring cpu, gets a lower overall score. I hope this gives an idea of the ability/ limitation of the Pentium G620 and the contrast of older and newer hardware. Although in different classes, my goal was to show how budget today is on par of more expensive performance of 4 years ago.
Read Best Reviews of Intel Pentium G620 Dual Core 2.6 GHz Intel HD Graphics Retail LGA 1155 Processor - BX80623G620 Here
I bought a G620 as an essentially disposable placeholder until Ivy Bridge arrives. It's being used with a Biostar z68 motherboard, 2x4GB of GSkill DDR3 2133 memory, and two Crucial SSDs in RAID0.
The current price on Amazon is about as good as it gets. Auction sites advertise the G620 for eight dollars less, but that's for the OEM version that doesn't come with a three year warranty or a stock heatsink/fan. And "no," you don't have to throw the stock cooler away.
I realize that some reviewers just can't live with a CPU cooler that isn't large enough and complex enough to double as the warp coil on the Starship Enterprise. Regardless, the boxed Intel cooler is both quiet and efficient. Temps are around 95 degrees F (35 C) at idle and never exceed 128 F (53 C) at full tilt. Full speed on the stock fan is just under 2,000 RPM, but the Biostar motherboard chooses to run the fan at roughly 1,250 RPM at idle and 1,500 RPM at 100% utilization.
The low temperatures and slow fan speeds are directly attributable to the energy efficiency of the G620. My UPS measures the amount of power drawn from the wall socket. As best as I can judge, the G620 draws 15 watts at idle and 40 watts at 100%. The 65 watt spec is unrealistically pessimistic.
Intel's specs state that the G620 is limited to running memory at DDR3 1066. However, the Biostar motherboard has the GSkill memory running at DDR3 1600 without any input from me. It's unlikely that this actually translates into a significant performance increase, but it was a pleasant surprise.
The G620's CPU multiplier of 26 is locked upwards but unlocked downwards. The Biostar motherboard automatically reduces the multiplier to 16 at low utilization. This contributes to the low idle temperature. Attempting to work around the lock by increasing motherboard clock speed results in some interesting behavior. The CPU is rock solid up to and including 104 MHz (2.7 GHz), but it will not run at all at 105 MHz.
There may be a couple of other features available that Intel intended to lock out. First, Intel's specs state that VT-d is disabled on the G620, but the Biostar's BIOS reports that VT-d is available. This is of no current benefit because no virtualization software supports VT-d as of yet. So, I don't really know whether VT-d is actually available or if the Biostar's BIOS is just mistaken.
Second, DVD Fab reports that Intel Quick Sync is available (and preselected by default) as the H.264 codec. This is unexpected since the G620 is only supposed to have Intel HD1000 graphics. Again, I haven't experimented to confirm whether Quick Sync is really available.
Update 3/30/2012: I'm still satisfied with this purchase. The 620 really is a lot of bang for the buck. However, two issues have surfaced in the last nine months.
First, the Intel boxed fan/cooler is becoming too noisy for me, even with the RPMs dialed down in my motherboard's BIOS. My best guess is that the bearings are wearing out already. I'm still glad that Intel included what is basically a free cooler in the box, because that has allowed me to spread out the cost of building a new computer. I'll buy a good third-party cooler now and just throw the Intel cooler away. It has done its job.
Second, I became dissatisfied with the built in Sandy Bridge graphics. My best guess is that the hardware is OK, but the driver is a long way from being mature. This is unfortunate since I don't play games and don't need a powerful third-party graphics card. It worked OK on Win7 but would never install properly on the MS Dreamworks edition of Server 2008 R2. It also failed to make the best of what Media Player Classic + Lav filters + Reclock + MadVR offers. I ended up buying an nVidia GT440 card for cheap. nVidia updates its drivers regularly while Intel makes only one update per six months, if even that.
Want Intel Pentium G620 Dual Core 2.6 GHz Intel HD Graphics Retail LGA 1155 Processor - BX80623G620 Discount?
I chose this for a recent HTPC build over a Sandy Bridge i5 after reading a few reviews (including these on Amazon) described it as more than capable of handling 1080p video.
I'm glad I made that choice. It's effortlessly handled just about every piece of video I've thrown at it so far (except that one clip from Planet Earth with the thousands of birds over a lake...), and it does an equally admirable job on Windows 7, XBMC (Alaska MQ skin) and my GameEx emulators. My TV doesn't do 3D, so I haven't tested it there, but the reviews I've read made it clear that it doesn't handle 3D content. Keep that in mind.
Also keep in mind that the stock fan can get a bit noisy. It's not generally an issue for me, as it's the Alaska skin, rather than the movies, that taxes the CPU to that degree.
It's a solid choice if you're just getting into the HTPC scene.
edit: For reference, my full build also includes a ASRock H67 Mini-ITX Motherboard and a Corsair XMS3 4 GB RAM kit.
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This is a great Processor for the price.Performance is amazing.Powerful, but not a power hog, runs cool and quiet, iGPU is a perfect match for HTPC duties. Low cost. PLAYS CRYSIS ON LOW. PLAY ALICE MADNESS RETURNS ON LOW. CAN'T PLAY CRYSIS 2. STICKS ON GAMMER. I TESTED IT WITH GIGABYTE Z68MA-D2H-B3 MOTHERBOARD AND 4GB OF CORSAIR XMS3 DDR3 120GB OCZ VERTEX3 SSD. SCORES 6.5 IN WINDOWS EXPERIENCE.
