A group of journalists recently went to visit AMD in Austin (including one of our writers) and came back talking about the value of an “experience,” and how benchmarks can’t tell you if a given piece of hardware is “good enough.”
I believe benchmarks are important and will remain the lowest-level tools for quantifying one component’s value over another. They’re the most precise measure of “good enough.” You can look at performance numbers and generalize for a broad audience using hard data. It’s not as easy to tell how long you’ll spend compiling code based on one person’s opinion that a workstation is fine and dandy, though.
But that’s a conversation for another day. Regardless of which side of the fence you find yourself, Core i7-2700K is subjectively “good enough” compared to Intel’s Ivy Bridge-based Core i7-3770K. No question. If you’re die-hard about data, the numbers also make it objectively clear that there is no reason to upgrade a high-end desktop Sandy Bridge CPU to a high-end Ivy Bridge CPU.
Intel succeeds in bolstering the performance of its integrated graphics solution, but insofar as HD Graphics 4000 applies to gamers from any walk of life, you’d really be selling yourself short by not complementing a ~$300 CPU with an add-in card. Although AMD’s A8-3850 is nowhere near as fast as Core i7-3770K in processing workloads, the $130 APU does deliver better frame rates, if entry-level gaming is all you need.
Can Core i7-3770K catch a break with power users eager to overclock? Unless you’re using an extreme form of cooling, I’m afraid not. Our boxed Core i7-2700K hit a more aggressive frequency, nearly matching the -3770K’s performance in the process.
What if you saw the award that Core i5-2500K won last year in Intel’s Second-Gen Core CPUs: The Sandy Bridge Review but didn’t upgrade? What if you’re still stuck on an old Core 2- or Phenom-based platform and need something new? In that case, of course a desktop Ivy Bridge-based chip makes more sense than buying what is now last-generation hardware. The Core i7-3770K is one option, but we’d also be fairly confident in a Core i5-3570K for $100 less, too. Intel is actually being really reasonable on pricing, so you’ll pay less for the i7-3770K than you would have for a -2700K yesterday, and less for an i5-3570K than the -2550K. Not bad at all.
A Little Perspective
Although Core i7-3770K, as one model in Intel’s line-up, is fairly easy for enthusiasts with modern machines to dismiss, don’t take our judgment as a cloud over the Ivy Bridge architecture.
An emphasis on integrated graphics performance and lower thermal design power points makes it clear that Intel is out to conquer smaller form factors like all-in-one desktops and thin/light notebooks.
Soon, the first wave of Ultrabooks based on Ivy Bridge, code named Chief River, will wash over the mobility-obsessed masses, more accurately representing the purpose of Intel’s newest family of processors.
But before that happens, we have more Ivy Bridge-based coverage planned, including our first round-up of Z77 Express-based motherboards driven by a Core i7-3770K, a look at how four different Ivy Bridge-based Core i5s compare at as many thermal ceilings, more depth on overclocking performance, and a review of mobile Ivy Bridge in a brand new notebook. Stay tuned!
For a chance at winning a Core i5-3570K-based PC, please click this link to enter our CyberPower PC/Tom's Hardware sweepstakes. The system's specs are as follows:
- Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40 GHz (Overclocked 4.5GHz)
- NZXT Switch 810 Hybrid Full-Tower Gaming Case
- Asus P8Z77-V LX LGA 1155 ATX Mainboard
- AMD Radeon HD 7770 1 GB PCI Express 3.0 Video Card
- Asetek 570LX Liquid Cooling System w/ 240 mm Radiator and Dual Fans
- Corsair Vengeance 8 GB DDR3-1600 Dual-Channel Memory Kit
- Corsair Force Series 60 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD
- 1 TB SATA 6Gb/s 32 MB Cache 7200 RPM HDD
- NXZT 750 W Power Supply
- Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium
- 24x Dual-Layer Dual-Format Drive
The sweepstakes opens on April 23, 2012 9 AM PDT and closes May 7, 2012 9:00 AM PDT.
- 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

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!