The Ivy Bridge Preview: Core i7 3770K Tested
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 6, 2012 8:16 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Core i7
- Ivy Bridge
Intel HD Graphics 4000 Performance
With respectable but still very tick-like performance gains on the CPU, our focus now turns to Ivy Bridge's GPU. Drivers play a significant role in performance here and we're still several weeks away from launch so these numbers may improve. We used the latest available drivers as of today for all other GPUs.
A huge thanks goes out to EVGA for providing us with a GeForce GT 440 and GeForce GT 520 for use in this preview.
Crysis: Warhead
We'll start with Crysis, a title that no one would have considered running on integrated graphics a few years ago. Sandy Bridge brought playable performance at low quality settings (Performance defaults) last year, but how much better does Ivy do this year?
In our highest quality benchmark (Mainstream) settings, Intel's HD Graphics 4000 is 55% faster than the 3000 series graphics in Sandy Bridge. While still tangibly slower than AMD's Llano (Radeon HD 6550D), Ivy Bridge is a significant step forward. Drop the quality down a bit and playability improves significantly:
Over 50 fps at 1680 x 1050 from Intel integrated graphics is pretty impressive. Here we're showing a 41% increase in performance compared to Sandy Bridge, with Llano maintaining a 33% advantage over Ivy. I would've liked to have seen an outright doubling of performance, but this is a big enough step forward to be noticeable on systems with no discrete GPU.
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Zoomer - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
It would have been interesting to see. Personally, I don't care for IGP, as they sit disabled anyway. Right now, it seems like it's a 7% clock for clock perf increase, which is very poor for one process node. Knowing where the clocks can be will let everyone know exactly how much faster the CPU can be over SB.NeBlackCat - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
For me, the most interesting things about IVB are improved multi-monitor support, and power savings not just at stock, but also undervolted (stock clock) and overclocked.Because I want to know if I'm finally going to get that laptop or mini-itx system that can drive several monitors while remaining cool and sipping power, even under load.
Not covered at all. Shame.
beck2050 - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
Intel marches on. Their domination of 80+% of all CPU markets will continue.silverblue - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
PC and especially server market, sure, but not smartphone/tablet. Not yet, anyway.fvbounty - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
Should have a had SB 2700K to run clock for clock against the 3770K and see if there's much difference!ellarpc - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
Agreed! I was just about to post that same comment. It doesn't make much sense to compare it to a lower clocked SB product. Well unless you wanted to make the IB look better. Now I'm going to sift through anand's past reviews to see what kind of gains the 2700 has over the 2600.ellarpc - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
Doesn't look like Anand has a 2700k for testingueharaf - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
I was thinking that the difference in gpu perfomance between HD3000 and HD4000 about 20% to 40% increase perfomance, will remain in the ivy-bridge mobile chips!!! I hope soo!!!lilmoe - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
Great review. You guys know your stuff. I've been waiting for a review like this since IvyBridge was announced.However, I'll still "cling to my Core 2" since it does the job now, and I'll postpone my upgrade till next year. You make it seem like Haswell is a good reason to wait. I bought the system in early 2010, and I usually upgrade every 2-4 years. 3 years sounds just right. I'll be investing in SSDs since you talked me into it though, it seems a better upgrade at the moment.
Breach1337 - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
Did Intel specifically ask not to include overclocking tests in ES previews?