| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processors | Intel Core i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge) 3.5 GHz (35 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 8 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled |
| Intel Core i7-3930K (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.2 GHz (32 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 12 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.3 GHz (33 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| AMD FX-8150 (Zambezi) 3.6 GHz (18 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3+, 8 MB Shared L3, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (Thuban) 3.3 GHz (16.5 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core i7-2700K (Sandy Bridge) 3.5 GHz (35 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 8 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core i5-2550K (Sandy Bridge) 3.5 GHz (35 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Thermal Paste | Zalman ZM-STG1 |
| Motherboard | Intel DX77GA-70K (LGA 1155) Intel Z77 Express Chipset, BIOS GA.3254 |
| Gigabyte X79-UD5 (LGA 2011) Intel X79 Express Chipset, BIOS F10 | |
| Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5 (Socket AM3+) AMD 990FX/SB950 Chipset, BIOS F7 | |
| Gigabyte A75-UD4H (Socket FM1) AMD A75 Chipset, BIOS F7 | |
| Gigabyte X68X-UD7-B3 (LGA 1155) Intel Z68 Express Chipset, BIOS F10 (for compatibility testing) | |
| Gigabyte G1. Sniper 2 (LGA 1155) Intel Z68 Express Chipset, BIOS F5 (for compatibility testing) | |
| Memory | G.Skill 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600, F3-12800CL9Q2-32GBZL @ 9-9-9-24 and 1.5 V |
| Kingston 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-2133, KHX2133C9AD3T1K2/4GX @ up to DDR3-2133 1.65 V for memory overclocking | |
| Hard Drive | Intel SSD 510 250 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2 GB |
| Power Supply | Cooler Master UCP-1000 W |
| System Software And Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Graphics Driver | Nvidia GeForce Release 301.10 |
We used Intel's new DZ77GA-70K for our LGA 1155 testing, but pulled out a number of boards from Gigabyte for testing compatibility of older Z68-based platforms.
| Game Benchmarks And Settings | |
|---|---|
| Batman: Arkham City | Game Settings: High Quality Settings, Anti-Aliasing: Disabled/8x MSAA, V-sync: Disabled, DirectX 11 Mode, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, 2560x1600, Built-in Benchmark |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Game Settings: High Quality (8x AA / 8x AF) / Ultra Quality (8x AA, 16x AF) Settings, FXAA disabled, V-sync: Disabled, 1680x1050 / 1920x1080 / 2560x1600, 25-second playback, Fraps |
| World of Warcraft: Cataclysm | Game Settings: Ultra Quality Settings, Anti-Aliasing: 1x AA and 8x AA, Anisotropic Filtering: 16x, Vertical Sync: Disabled, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 2560x1600, Demo: Crushblow to The Krazzworks, DirectX 11 |
| Audio Benchmarks and Settings | |
| iTunes | Version: 10.4.10, 64-bit Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min., Convert to AAC audio format |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.98.3 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| Video Benchmarks and Settings | |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.9.5 Video: Big Buck Bunny (720x480, 23.972 frames) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile) |
| MainConcept Reference v2.2 | Version: 2.2.0.5440 MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| Application Benchmarks and Settings | |
| WinRAR | Version: 4.11 RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3", Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
| WinZip 16 | Version: 16.0 Pro WinZip CLI, Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.22 beta LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5", Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
| Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5 | Paladin Sequence to H.264 Blu-ray Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality, Mercury Playback Engine: Software Mode |
| Adobe After Effects CS 5.5 | Version: CS5.5 Tom's Hardware Workload, SD project with three picture-in-picture frames, source video at 720p, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously |
| Blender | Version: 2.62 Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, Resolution: 1920x1080, Anti-Aliasing: 8x, Render: THG.blend frame 1, Cycles renderer and internal tile renderer (9x9) |
| Adobe Photoshop CS 5.1 (64-Bit) | Version: 11 Filtering a 16 MB TIF (15 000x7266), Filters:, Radial Blur (Amount: 10, Method: zoom, Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark sysmbol) Median (Radius: 1px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar) |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version: 10 Professional Build (10.0.102.82) Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| 3ds Max 2012 | Version: 10 x64 Rendering Space Flyby Mentalray (SPECapc_3dsmax9), Frame: 248, Resolution: 1440 x 1080 |
| Adobe Acrobat X Professional | PDF Document Creation (Print) from Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 |
| SolidWorks 2010 | PhotoView 360 Render 01-Lighter Explode.SLDASM (SolidMuse.com) Image Output Resolution: 1920x1080, Render: Preview Quality “Good”, Final Render Quality “Best” |
| Visual Studio 2010 | Compile Chrome project (1/31/2012) with devenv.com /build Release |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| PCMark 7 | Version: 1.0.4 |
| 3DMark 11 | Version 1.0.3 |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2012 SP3 | CPU Test=CPU Arithmetic/Multimedia, Memory Test=Bandwidth Benchmark, Cryptography, Cache Latency |
Previous
Next
Summary
- Ivy Bridge: Was It Worth The Wait?
- The Ivy Bridge Core: I Think I Know You
- HD Graphics 4000: The Plus In Intel’s Tick+
- HD Graphics 4000: Performance In 3DMark 11 And Batman
- HD Graphics 4000: Performance In Skyrim And WoW
- HD Graphics 4000: Native Compute Support
- Quick Sync: A Secret Weapon, Refined
- Platform Compatibility: Are Motherboard Vendors Ready?
- Overclocking Ivy Bridge: Core i7-3770K Is A Mixed Bag
- Ivy Bridge Memory Scaling
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: PCMark 7
- Benchmark Results: 3DMark 11
- Benchmark Results: Sandra 2012 SP3
- Benchmark Results: Adobe CS 5.5
- Benchmark Results: Content Creation
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: File Compression
- Benchmark Results: Media Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Batman: Arkham City
- Benchmark Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Benchmark Results: World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm
- Power Consumption And Efficiency
- How Much Faster Is Core i7-3770K Than -2700K And i5-2550K?
- An Evolution That Makes Sense, But Doesn't Impress
Ask a Category Expert
I have a few things on my mind.
1.) AMD - C'mon and get it together, you need to do better...
2.) imagine if Intel made an i7-2660K or something like the i5-2550K they have now.
3.) SB-E is not for gaming (too highly priced...) compared to i7 or i5 Sandy Bridge
4.) Ivy Bridge runs hot.......
5.) IB average 3.7% faster than i7 SB and only 16% over i5 SB = not worth it
6.) AMD - C'mon and get it together, you need to do better...
(moderator edit..)
Looking forward to the further information coming out this week on Ivy Bridge, as I was initially planning on buying Ivy Bridge, but now I might turn to Sandy Bridge-E
Temps as expected are high on the IB, but better than early ES which is very good.
Those with their SB or SB-E (K/X) should be feeling good about now
Now, time to read the review.
I really wish they would introduce a gaming platform between their stupidly overpriced x79esque server platform and the integrated graphics chips they are pushing mainstream. 50% more transistors should be 30% or so more performance or a much smaller chip, but gamers get nothing out of Ivy Bridge.
They're using their process to get to places they'll need to get to in the future
I have a few things on my mind.
1.) AMD - C'mon and get it together, you need to do better...
2.) imagine if Intel made an i7-2660K or something like the i5-2550K they have now.
3.) SB-E is not for gaming (too highly priced...) compared to i7 or i5 Sandy Bridge
4.) Ivy Bridge runs hot.......
5.) IB average 3.7% faster than i7 SB and only 16% over i5 SB = not worth it
6.) AMD - C'mon and get it together, you need to do better...
(moderator edit..)
To me it shows 2 main things. 1) that Ivy didn't improve on Sandy Bridge as much as Intel was hoping it would, and 2) just how far behind AMD actually is...
Yea yea I know most apps won't use 8 cores, but that's only because there was no 8 cores processors in past, not the other way around
I would have liked to see a bigger jump in performance. I'm still very satisfied with the i5 2500K system I built last year... This may actually be bad for Intel as they simply didn't innovate as much as I thought they would...
It's clear that while idling, there won't be much of a difference.
Too bad Tomshardware dropped the ball on that one.
Ivy bridge's prices are expected to be lower than the current SB prices, yes.
They have an expected pricing guide in the anandtech review.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/the-intel-ivy-bridge-core-i7-3770k-review/2
I went with the 2500K too...but I kinda wish I'd gone with a 2700K...even if it is just for gaming. IB is beyond what I need right now...this month at least.
I was waiting reviews just to be sure.
don't regret yourself if you have a SB cpu!