| Intel Core-i7 4770K Haswell Processor |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Processors | |
| Written by David Ramsey | |
| Saturday, 01 June 2013 | |
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Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell Desktop Processor Review
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Intel. Many companies have committed to aggressive product introduction schedules, only to have them fall by the wayside as the reality of the development process overwhelmed the optimism of the marketing department. But Intel continues to stick to its annual "tick-tock" CPU release cycle, with Haswell family CPUs following only slightly more than a year after the groundbreaking Ivy Bridge line, which introduced low-leakage 3D transistors. Intel's annual schedule works like this: first, release a new processor architecture, then, about a year later, introduce a process-shrink refinement. The new architecture is a "tock" and the process refinement is a "tick". Previously, Sandy Bridge CPUs were the "tock" and last year's Ivy Bridge CPUs were the "tick". Haswell, with a new microarchitecture, is built on the same 22nm process introduced by Ivy Bridge, and next year's 14nm Broadwell processors will be the "tick" to Haswell's "tock." 
Although it's not formalized, historically each CPU family gets its own socket. We went from Core 2's Socket 1136 to Sandy Bridge's Socket 1155, which was maintained for Ivy Bridge. Haswell, however, introduces a new Socket 1150, as well as a new supporting chipset family, represented at the high end by the Z87. So you won't be able to just drop a Core i7-4770K into your existing rig; you'll need to update the motherboard as well. The increase in features and capabilities moving from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge was more significant than many expected. You can read our review of the Ivy Bridge-based Core i7-3770K here. The combination of Ivy Bridge and the supporting Z77 chipset brought Thunderbolt support, more PCI-E 3.0 lanes, native USB 3.0, official support of DDR3-1600, and Intel Rapid Start technology. With Haswell, Intel is introducing a full range of Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 CPUs, with special emphasis given to the mobile segment. However, what we've got today is their top-end desktop CPU, so let's see what it's got.
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Comments
"even going to 4550GHz by tweaking the base clock resulted in crashes"
(4th para, pg 12)
Excellent write up David Ramsey. Thank you.
I wonder what TIM was used this time.
I feel this will be a very nice chip for the laptop crew as the GPU is a great step up.
I see nothing to make me shift from Sandy in my desktop, not even in the new chipsets.
I will most likely get a new system this year an waited for Haswell (and the Nvidia 700 series), but it does not seem to be a very interesting new product for PC gamers like me.
Currently I have an i7920 with a GTX295.
Any recommendations, ideas, suggestions?
(My new GPU will most likely be the GTX780.)
Would it be wise to switch to the new socket?
Ok, being a layman that was not quite clear to me.
Is the LGA2011 platform at the end-of-life too?
The i7 3820 is a hundred bucks cheaper than the i74770 and appears to be just as powerful.
Yes, a Core i7-3820 will be (for all intents and purposes) about the same performance as a 4770K, except in things that use the integrated GPU like Quick Sync. You would have to buy an expensive LGA2011 motherboard, though. And while the LGA 2011 isn't EOL, it's a more expensive platform overall, and it's not really worth the money unless (A) you really anticipate a need for a six-core CPU in the future, or (B) can really used all those PCI-E lanes. In the meantime you're giving up the advantages of the Haswell platform, like more SATA 6G ports, integrated USB 3.0, and all those fun Intel SSD caching things.
Thank you so much for your time.
You've really helped me to decide.
One can read all the reviews one can digest, but for a layman it is very difficult to get a clear view of these complex technical matters.
I might wait a few more months (if I can muster the patience) and then I will opt for a Haswell based machine with a GTX780.
I noticed that my GTX295 has difficulty keeping up with the latest games. And I want my machine to be able to run games like Metro Last Light, and the upcoming Watchdogs, Batman Arkham Origins, and most of all GTA V etc without any problems.
I read somewhere that my current motherboard would limit the newer much faster videocards like the GTX780 in their data throughput. So I figured I needed a new system.
Unless you have cash to burn then just buy the best :D
Just my 2cents.
In terms of game playing, though, no current video card can even come close to saturating the bandwidth of 16 PCI-E 2.0 lanes. So a newer motherboard won't help there.
I have an i7-2600K that I can push to 4800Ghz.
Can only push the 4770K to 4400Ghz.
But even with both at 4400Ghz, the 2600K is far faster than the 4770K.
I do not play games. I am a developer and I usually compile 24 huge projects at the same time which pushes the CPU to the max.
After I do a 7Zip to all 24 EXEs at the same time again.
The 2600K finishes the same task way faster than the 4770K.
Don't know why but its the disappointed truth.
Have an i7-2600K + Asus P8P67 WS Revolution and now an i7-4770K + ASUS Z87 Deluxe.
Will have to sell this new babies and keep the 2600K.
Hope this helps some of you.
Pico
What really bugs me about this is that well, Intel has taken VT-d out of the K series of parts. It's a matter of chasing short term profits for long term gains IMO. Actually, if they wanted enthusiasts to buy Xeons, they could try to sell a "K" series of Xeon cpu.
Then you realize that Intel is a monopoly and that well, they can pull this sort of segmentation off because well, there's nothing the competition can do.
Something which AMD has in their plans for future release.
I do a lot of desktop and programs work on three 1200 res monitors and sometimes the computer slows down . even when transferring files from one hard drive to another it can kill the system.
would I benefit upgrading my system would I see a big upgrade at the same clock speed.
thanks for any advice
Without knowing more it's hard to say what the problem is. If you're running an old XP box, it's probably full of crufty software junk. Limited RAM can affect performance as stuff must be continually swapped out to disk, and hard disks themselves could be slow.
For most people, upgrading from a hard disk to an SSD is the single biggest performance improvement they can make. You might want to try this and see if it helps. You can of course always use the SSD if you decide to subsequently upgrade the entire system.
windows 7 and have two f3 samsungs and 4gig ram that uses 60%
still wanting to upgrade but wanted to know if it was worth it
thanks
I've had no issues with gaming or working through windows, it was more of an 'upgrade itch'. So in the end I backpedalled out of the rebuild idea. I had been running on my XFX 5870 GPU for the last three and bit years, so opted to put the cash there instead and went for a Vapor-X 7970GhZ. Money well spend imho. I can probably squeeze some more out the i7920 (DO) if I need to, and wait till next year for Broadwell before I rebuild....or at least that's my thinking, and the question is, do people agree with the approach?
I am almost in the same position as you(see my comment above).
thanks for any advice
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