Reviews - Intel Core i7-3770K (22nm Ivy Bridge)

[HEXUS]

Say hello to the 3rd Generation Core Processor Family.

Read more.

[shaithis]

The overclocking is disappointing....although not very surprising based on leaked info. I personally think the heat is from the tri-gate tech. That is having the biggest change to transistor density that I can see.

Still.....I think I would be content with one of these at 4.5GHz

[FRISH]

"Generally speaking, the Tick refers to major architecture revamp, while the Tock insinuates a minor architecture refresh coupled with a shrink in manufacturing process."

I think you have that the wrong way round.

[Mr-Tucker]

The heat it generates is a let down. I put off my Sandy Bridge build to wait for these. I wasn't interested in the small performance gain rather the USB3 and PCIe3 support.

I wouldn't mind seeing different overclocks.
I was planning on achieving 4.5GHz stable and running cool (to match Sandy Bridge tbh).

Now to wait for the i5-3570K review to see if it runs any cooler and to make my decision by the 29th when Scan stock Ivy Bridge.

Nice detailed review though.

[bert7]

runing the amd 3870 with 1600 memory was unfair, we all know its gpu side runs much faster with 1866 memory and so 36% over the 3770k could well have been 40% plus. mind you if you have a 3770k or 3570k i would at least be runing a Nvidia 560 gpu, cant see it run with much less.
as for the heat, roll on Haswell or whatever the next one is in a year.

[Tunnah]

I don't get how a 1.2ghz bump (33%!) isn't a good overclock amount ? And 75c under load is a perfectly acceptable temperature especially considering the overclock level.

Should be expected though, smaller tighter CPU is going to have less wiggle room.

Personally I can't see me upgrading my CPU for at least another 5 years anyway.

[Ross1]

Well, they have successfully persuaded all the 2500k not to bother changing a thing. Ivb-e might be more interesting, I still find it a bit of a con that you need to go "extreme" to get more than 4 cores with intel though. I mean, we had the Q6600 over 6 years ago.

[bobfoc]

I for one will just keep using my i7 920 D0 for another generation. Had skipped Sandybridge to see what Ivy had to offer. Not enough for me to part with my hard earned.

Nothing has convinced me that i need to upgrade just yet.

It does look like the jumps in performance are getting smaller with each iteration though.

Also doesn't help that games are being dumbed down for the current generation of consoles

[Scainer]

I am really disappointed. I expected either more performance or more efficiency. I don't see any real advantage over SB, in that if you can buy SB cheaper than IB why would you buy IB?
This is all AMDs fault! Just like they did with the GPUs, where nvidia release within themselves, Intel don't need to do anything special. Now i'm thinking i'll wait till the next generation.

[Jimbo75]

I am really disappointed. I expected either more performance or more efficiency. I don't see any real advantage over SB, in that if you can buy SB cheaper than IB why would you buy IB?
This is all AMDs fault! Just like they did with the GPUs, where nvidia release within themselves, Intel don't need to do anything special. Now i'm thinking i'll wait till the next generation.

Lol? AMD has been a mile ahead of Nvidia for years and believe me intel isn't holding back either. It's just a mediocre chip and has nothing to do with AMD.

[watercooled]

If it's simply because of AMD, then why does Intel's latest IGP still not perform as well as AMD's first gen? And AMD's drop over the last few years could be attributed to Intel's bribery with companies like Dell, which they got sued for. AMD perform below par, people complain. Intel perform below par, people blame AMD. Love it!

Intel are free to make CPUs as fast as they like and charge a premium for them, take the 2011 line. AMD will also have their new CPUs out soon so it would make no sense for Intel to make only minor improvements, they don't know how the AMD offering will perform so they're not going to sit on their laurels. Shrinking to 22nm in itself takes no small amount of effort, and fabs are running in to some serious limitations they need to overcome, to the point where cost/power reductions aren't nearly as great as they used to be with die shrinks. Intel deserves credit for rolling out 22nm so soon IMO, and although initial efficiency doesn't look excellent, things will probably improve a fair bit down the line with yields, but unfortunately not many places will re-review chips to show this. Don't forget a Tick is merely a die shrink, so aside from minor architectural tweaks, most of the difference in performance will come from clock speed. And it allows Intel to perfect the process for the Tock later down the line, so they have less to worry about.

I wouldn't say I'm shocked by the negativity, especially considering all the marketing/fanboy hype, but lets not forget this is the first like-for-like Tick we've seen since Penryn (Core 2) - the last one went from 45nm quad core with no graphics to a fairly different 32nm dual core with a separate IGP/MCH die on-package. But if you compare like-for-like, it's a similar story to SNB-IVB.

[brasco]

Lol? AMD has been a mile ahead of Nvidia for years and believe me intel isn't holding back either. It's just a mediocre chip and has nothing to do with AMD.

Have they!? I must've missed the Miles Ahead GPUs! In what aspect are we talking?
I actually agree with Scainer to a degree, it doesn't help with AMD not putting in a decent CPU (or decent value) at the top end any more, that relieves a lot of pressure off intel. Still a good chip for someone coming from 1366.

cheers
brasc

[Jimbo75]

Have they!? I must've missed the Miles Ahead GPUs! In what aspect are we talking?
I actually agree with Scainer to a degree, it doesn't help with AMD not putting in a decent CPU (or decent value) at the top end any more, that relieves a lot of pressure off intel. Still a good chip for someone coming from 1366.

cheers
brasc

You clearly have been missing something if you didn't realise AMD is a mile ahead in gpu vs nvidia Sure the 680 has closed the gap but until that AMD was so far ahead it was basically embarrassing. Even at that, it's not like Nvidia can make anything of it due to bad yields on their chip so AMD has free reign on the entire market anyway.

Ivy Bridge is as good as it can be - none of these companies is holding back and they never have been, and when AMD releases Piledriver in Q3 you'll realise it.

[andrewuk]

My Lynnfield (s1156) Core I7-860 is still plenty fast enough for what I do, so I will be waiting for Haswell at the very earliest before thinking about a new build. I'd say, if you haven't alreaady, you're better off spending money on a decent SSD which will be a massive boost if you're stil on mechanical storage.

[FRISH]

Overclocking temps are a tiny disappointing, but it should still be a nice upgrade to my e6750!

[brasco]

You clearly have been missing something if you didn't realise AMD is a mile ahead in gpu vs nvidia

Heh, well the last couple of months where last gen nvidia was against current gen ati maybe a mile would be apt I'm no fanboy btw I have both and go where it's fastest and the cards are so close and have been for a while