The Intel Ivy Bridge (Core i7 3770K) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Ryan Smith on April 23, 2012 12:03 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Ivy Bridge
The 7 Series Chipset & USB 3.0
The platform story around Ivy Bridge is far better than it was when Sandy Bridge launched. There are a ton of chipsets, but the delineation makes sense this time. All chipsets support Ivy's processor graphics, however only the Z75/Z77 support CPU overclocking. The good news for current 6-series/Sandy Bridge owners is, with BIOS support, your platforms can support Ivy Bridge as well—making for a better upgrade path down the road.
 Intel Z77 PCH |
 Intel Z68 PCH |
The new 7-series platform features PCIe 3.0 support, but only when used with an Ivy Bridge CPU, and only on the lanes that branch off of the CPU itself—the PCH lanes are still PCIe 2.0. Ivy's processor graphics, when combined with a 7-series chipset, also enables support for three independent displays (up from 2 with Sandy Bridge/6-series). Other than those two items, the only remaining feature is USB 3.0 support. Intel's 7-series PCH finally has native support for up to 4 USB 3.0 ports.
Performance of Intel's USB 3.0 controller is very good as you'll see in our upcoming Ivy Bridge motherboard roundup.
Intel's 7-series chipset does support Thunderbolt when paired with an external Cactus Ridge Thunderbolt controller, however the Thunderbolt for PCs launch has been pushed back to late May so we'll have to wait a bit before diving into that.
While most enthusiasts will focus on Z77, you can give up SSD caching, some flexibility on the PCIe side (and Thunderbolt support) and go for Intel's Z75 chipset. The chipset itself isn't much cheaper, but boards built around it will likely target lower price points and be lighter on features.
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jmcb - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
I was thinking the exact same thing.I waited long to jump on the dual core bandwagon, 2008 with a C2D 8400. I havent jumped on the quad core wagon yet. Was waiting for them to run cooler.
This seems like a good time to make the jump.
CeriseCogburn - Friday, June 1, 2012 - link
I'm going to get rid of my 2500K @ 4.8GHz , because it's HD3000 just isn't doing it for BF3,and I'm going Trinity man !
See me and my amd apu on the gaming servers !
a. totally wanna be cool amd fan
b. fantasy boy with lunch money from mommie in pocket
c. bonkers
d. all the above
p05esto - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
Yea, but WHEN can I buy one? Forgive me if I missed that all important detail. My desktop is 2.5 yrs old and am ready to upgrade here. Show me where to buy, lol.Catalina588 - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
OEM boxes arrive April 29th. I expect NewEgg will have parts shortly thereafter.tiki037 - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
+1I thought the April 23 launch date meant that was when we would be able to buy one.
Tommyv2 - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
Why no benchmarks against a 2700K, you know - a real platform comparison? I'm guessing it's exactly the same performance?Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
Working on testing the 2700K now - didn't have one at the time that the CPU tests were conducted, the difference is small as you can guess, will add results to bench as they are completed.Take care,
Anand
Ratman6161 - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
...but really, they already have large quantities of benchmarks of the 2600K and the difference between that and 2700K is going to be relatively meaningless...my guess, not worth the trouble of running the whole suite of benchmarks on it. To my knowledge, the only difference is 100 MHz of clock speed, right?deadsix - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
Any chance Anand that we get a 35W Quad Core processor for laptops like the Macbook Pro 13"Kristian Vättö - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
There is i7-3612QM which is a 35W 2.1GHz quad core. Whether Apple uses it is another question, though.http://www.anandtech.com/show/5772/mobile-ivy-brid...