Intel Core i7-3770 Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I73770

by Intel

• Model: Intel Core i7 Processor i7-3770
• Clock Speed: 3.4 GHz
• Max Turbo Frequency: 3.9 GHz
• DMI: 5 GT/s
• Intel Smart Cache: 8 MB

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 5.7 x 3.2 inches ; 14.7 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B007SZ0EHE
• Item model number: BX80637I73770
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #6 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > CPU Processors
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 29, 2012

Product Description

Core i7-3770 processor 3.40 Ghz Cache 8MB. The item comes with the Intel heatsink inside the box.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 106 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast, low power, sometimes preferable to the i7 3770K September 16, 2012

By D. Alexander TOP 100 REVIEWER

This is one of Intel's highest-value quad-core chips. It has very low power usage, a number of enterprise features missing on the 3770K, and does in fact overclock.

FEATURES:

i7 3770: 3.4 GHz
* Hyperthreading (4 actual cores, 8 visible ones)
* Partially unlocked turbo multiplier
* vPro, VT-d, Trusted Execution (for better security and faster virtual machines)

i7 3770K: 3.5 GHz
* Hyperthreading (4 actual cores, 8 visible ones)
* Unlocked base and turbo multipliers

The i5 3750 and 3750K have the same differences, but both operate at 3.4 GHz and neither has Hyperthreading. The latter can add 10-20% performance with heavily multi-threaded workloads like CAD rendering and video compression. VT-d reduces processor load with certain virtualized I/O operations by a factor of 2. For a workstation or server, I'd choose a chip with that feature, but verify that your motherboard supports it. Most ASRock and Gigabyte boards do; Asus boards for this chip do not. See the comments attached to this review for some useful guidance.

OVERCLOCKING:

The basic mechanism to determine clock speed is to multiply the system clock (a 'base' clock, typically 100 MHz or so that regulates the various other components in the system) by a multiplier. With modern chips, the multiplier varies dynamically based on system load. At idle, this chip operates at 1.6 GHz. At full load, it upclocks all four cores to 3.4 GHz. If the chip senses additional leeway in temperature and power use, the cores continue to 3.7 GHz. A three-core load could reach 3.8 Ghz, and two cores or less, 3.9 GHz.

Each core has its own multiplier that is often, but not always, the same as the others. Some workloads may benefit from one or two cores clocked higher than all four could be without exceeding the chip's thermal capacity. Intel deems this ability to individually regulate core multipliers to provide maximum performance within a given thermal envelope "Turbo Boost".

With the i7 3770K, the base multiplier and the turbo multipliers are unlocked. You can force the chip to hold a base multiplier above 35. Turbo may be unnecessary or counterproductive if the base multiplier already has the chip near the edge of its thermal capacity.

With this i7 3770, the base multiplier is never higher than 34, but you can add up to four 100 MHz 'bins' to the Turbo multiplier. The maximum four-core frequency becomes 4.1 GHz, though subject to the whims of the turbo system. If your hardware allows, you can also boost the base clock to perhaps 105 MHz, yielding 4.3 GHz. Most people with the 3770K model don't do better than 4.6 or 4.7 GHz with air-cooling, so it's not as if this 3770 leaves a lot on the table.

Those interested in frequency records might prefer the Sandy Bridge 2500/2600/2700 chips that predated this Ivy Bridge line. The Sandy Bridge die was about 1/3 larger and more effective at dissipating heat, outstripping the power reductions Ivy Bridge gained by moving to a smaller manufacturing process. Sandy Bridge chips are more easily pushed to 4.8 to 5 Ghz. They're about 10% slower at the same frequency, however, so the performance result is a wash.

POWER CONSUMPTION:

i7 3770
Asus P8Z77-LK
4 x 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
256 GB Samsung SSD
2 TB 5400 RPM Samsung HD
Seasonic S12II-430W (~85% efficient)
Kill-A-Watt meter
Prime95 x64

Idle: 44W
Load: 148W

Idle: (turbo + 4 bins): 44W
Load: (turbo + 4 bins): 185W

Idle: (turbo + 4 bins, 105 MHz base): 55W
Load: (turbo + 4 bins, 105 MHz base): 215W

This is a very impressive performance. Idle power use is even lower than my dramatically slower, underclocked AMD Athlon X2 system. Under load, it benefits from a larger third-party heatsink. The stock cooler is effectively silent at idle, but tends to ramp the fan up quickly with heavy computing. The fan character is not offensive. It does constantly vary itself, though, so it's difficult to tune out. I favor large, heavy tower heatinks (700g or more) with 120mm fans for silence.

PERFORMANCE & ALTERNATIVES:

Windows runs noticeably faster with this chip than the i7 875K @ 4 GHz system I assembled in early 2010. Photoshop CS5 takes 4 seconds to open on that system and 2.5 on the new one. The best alternative for many users will be the i5 3570, which is about 80% as fast for $100 less with all the same enterprise features.

The gulf between all of these top-tier Ivy Bridge quads isn't terribly wide; unless the chip is physically missing a feature important to you, you can't take a step wrong.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent all-purpose CPU June 11, 2012

By Floyd Grant

Amazon Verified Purchase

I believe this is an excellent CPU. It runs with no problem. I have a couple of additional comments to make, especially concerning some comments in other reviews. By the way, I used this to replace an i7-920 (which also required a new motherboard because it uses a different socket).

1. Although this CPU is supposedly not able to be overclocked (except for turbo mode), I find that is easily overclocked. My Asus P8Z11-V Deluxe motherboard (and its utilities) will automatically overclock it to about 4.22 G. It runs there 24 hours a day with no problems or instability. Of course, it won't overclock as much as the i7-1770K.

2. Concerning using the Intel CPU cooler that came with it: I used that at the beginning because I needed to get a different backplate for my CoolerMaster V8 CPU cooler. It did work, but was hot. With the V8 installed it runs more than 15 C cooler (at full load,(running folding at home with SMP (using 6 or 8 cores) and 2 GPUs) than with the original Intel cooler. So, if you overclock it and run it hard, I would recommend getting an after-market CPU cooler even though it will run somewhat OK with the original Intel cooler.

I highly recommend this processor.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you don't need overclocking, this is a great processor! May 6, 2012

By greygabe

Amazon Verified Purchase

Extremely happy with the speed, temp, and power draw of this processor. Seems to match the benchmarks of the 3770k (when that one isn't overclocked...). I even liked the stock CPU fan enough to use it instead of a aftermarket cooler (a first for me).