Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge Processor Review

Name: Intel Core i7-3770K Processor
Brand: Intel

by Marco Chiappetta — Monday, April 23, 2012, 12:01 PM EDT

The Z77 Express chipset, which was designed to be the companion to Intel’s high-end Ivy Bridge-based desktop processors, debuted a couple of weeks back. We have already posted a large round-up of Z77 Express-based motherboards and covered the details of the chipset, so we won’t be going in depth again here. If you’d like to check out our Z77 Express motherboard round-up, it is available right here.

Intel 7-Series Chipset Comparison Table

What we do have for you here is a feature comparison of the other new 7-Series chipsets arriving alongside the flagship Z77. As you can see, the main difference between the chipsets is their support for overclocking, Smart Response Technology, and management and vPro-related features. The Z75 and Z77 also offer support for flexible PCI Express lane configurations and some of the chipsets offer one or two SATA III ports. Also note, that all of the chipsets now offer native USB 3.0 support on up to 4 ports.

G.SKILL F3-17000CLQ9-16GBZH Memory Kit

Ivy Bridge also has support for the latest XMP (Extreme Memory Profiles) v1.3 code, for easy memory optimization and overclocking. You can expect an influx of fresh memory kits to arrive alongside Ivy Bridge, like the G.SKILL kit we have here. The G.SKILL RipJaws Z memory kit pictured above consists of four, 4GB, DDR3-2133 sticks of memory (total 16GB), model number F3-17000CLQ9-16GBZH. The sticks run at 1.65v with CL9-11-10-28 timings, and are XMP 1.3 compatible.

Tags: Intel, CPU, processor, corei7, 22nm, Ivy-Bridge, 3770K

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com