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
Our next graphics test is Metro 2033, another graphically challenging game. Since IVB is the first Intel GPU to feature DX11 capabilities, this is the first time an Intel GPU has been able to run Metro in DX11 mode. Like Crysis this is a game that is traditionally unplayable on Intel iGPUs, even in DX9 mode.
Here the Llano gap shrinks to about 13—25% depending on the resolution/quality settings. AMD still has the clear advantage in GPU performance, but Intel does step closer. The performance advantage over Sandy Bridge ranges from 20—40%. With these sorts of numbers it's clear why Intel views Ivy Bridge as being a tick+. Generational performance improvements on the CPU side generally fall in the 20—40% range. As you've just seen, Ivy Bridge offers a 7—15% increase in CPU performance over Sandy Bridge—making it a bonafide tick from a CPU perspective. The 20—40% increase on the graphics side is what blurs the line between a conventional tick and what we have with Ivy Bridge.
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wingless - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
I'll keep my 2600K.....just kidding
formulav8 - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
I hope you give AMD even more praise when Trinity is released Anand. IMO you way overblew how great Intels igp stuff. Its their 4th gen that can't even beat AMDs first gen.Just my opinion :p
Zstream - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
I agree..dananski - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
As much as I like the idea of decent Skyrim framerates on every laptop, and even though I find the HD4000 graphics an interesting read, I couldn't care less about it in my desktop. Gamers will not put up with integrated graphics - even this good - unless they're on a tight budget, in which case they'll just get Llano anyway, or wait for Trinity. As for IVB, why can't we have a Pentium III sized option without IGP, or get 6 cores and no IGP?Kjella - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Strategy, they're using their lead in CPUs to bundle it with a GPU whether you want it or not. When you take your gamer card out of your gamer machine it'll still have an Intel IGP for all your other uses (or for your family or the second-hand market or whatever), that's one sale they "stole" from AMD/nVidia's low end. Having a separate graphics card is becoming a niche market for gamers. That's better for Intel than lowering the expectation that a "premium" CPU costs $300, if you bring the price down it's always much harder to raise it again...Samus - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
As amazing this CPU is, and how much I'd love it (considering I play BF3 and need a GTX560+ anyway) I have to agree the GPU improvement is pretty disappointing...After all that work, Intel still can't even come close to AMD's integrated graphics. It's 75% of AMD's performance at best.
Cogman - Thursday, May 3, 2012 - link
There is actually a good reason for both AMD and Intel to keep a GPU on their CPUs no matter what. That reason is OpenCV. This move makes the assumption that OpenCV or programming languages like it will eventually become mainstream. With a GPU coupled to every CPU, it saves developers from writing two sets of code to deal with different platforms.froggr - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
OpenCV is Open Computer Vision and runs either way. I think you're talking about OpenCL (Open Compute Language). and even that runs fine without a GPU. OpenCL can use all cores CPU + GPU and does not require separate code bases.OpenCL runs faster with a GPU because it's better parallellized.
frozentundra123456 - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
Maybe we could actually see some hard numbers before heaping so much praise on Trinity??I will be convinced about the claims of 50% IGP improvements when I see them, and also they need to make a lot of improvements to Bulldozer, especially in power consumption, before it is a competitive CPU. I hope it turns out to be all the AMD fans are claiming, but we will see.
SpyCrab - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Sure, Llano gives good gaming performance. But it's pretty much at Athlon II X4 CPU performance.