Intel Core i7-4770K Review: Haswell Has Landed

If you've been hanging around these parts and are like most self-respecting geeks, you've likely been feeling the build-up of Haswell for quite some time.  Intel has disclosed lots of information on their latest processor technologies, from its 22nm 3D Tri-Gate transistors, to its beefed-up integrated graphics core.  Sure, there's marketing hype and press releases but at some point you've got to have execution -- and today is all about execution for Intel.

Intel is officially launching Haswell today, their 4th Generation Core processor technology for the desktop market, with a follow-on release of dual core and mobile Haswell offerings coming up quickly on June 3rd.  Haswell marks a number of firsts for Intel, including leading-edge technologies like on-chip voltage regulators, eDRAM, and their first graphics engine that fully supports the DX11.1 specification and OpenGL 4.0.  With these new features alone, Haswell is primed to offer significant performance and feature enhancements, the likes of which should appeal first and foremost to mainstream consumers; but there's also plenty brought to the table for the performance enthusiast here as well.