Introduction

Intel Ivy Bridge content hasn't just been leaking for weeks, but we've been seeing results come for the past few months including content coming from us. Last month we looked at both the Intel Core i5 3570k and higher end Intel i7 3770k. We then took the time to overclock both models which yielded some interesting results.

If all of that wasn't enough, we then tested the new G.Skill PC3-20800 kit on the platform and dived deeper into the new Lucid Virtu MVP technology that the new platform offers. We also took the time to check out the brand new ASRock Z77 Extreme6 motherboard. Today, though, the new platform becomes official and we offer our full review on the new Intel Core i7 3770k CPU and a closer look at the technology behind it.

The first thing we'll be doing is taking a closer look at the CPU technology and some of the main features behind it. We'll talk about not only the i7 3770k, but some of the other models we'll see while looking at the price they'll come in at.

Before we get into the performance side of things we also want to briefly go over the new Z77 chipset. While it doesn't bring heaps of new technology over the previous LGA 1155 based Z68 chipset, we will just quickly go over it to see if there's anything that grabs our attention.

Once we've done that we'll get into our test system setup and also cover the overclocking side of things to see just how we went with the new i7 3770k. Along with our normal line up of CPU related benchmarks, we'll also be taking a quick look at the new HD 4000 based Intel graphics that's on offer from the 3770k and see what it can do.

That really covers everything we need to for now; let's take a closer look at the i7 3770k and the other Ivy Bridge processors that have launched today to see just what the new platform is all about.