The i7 3770 showed minor improvements over the i7 2600 in limited benchmarks reviewed. For most, this was expected, as the major improvements were to come with the Intel HD Graphics 4000, 22nm 3-D Tri-Gate Transistor Technology, and improved TDP (77W).
Recently, a leak from NordicHardware gave us a glimpse of the potential of the Ivy Bridge i7 3770K when overclocked using liquid nitrogen. The i7 3770K running at 6.961 GHz with memory at DDR3 2652 MHz with 7-11-7-28-1T timings – on liquid nitrogen – completed SuperPi 1M benchmark in 5.187 seconds.
The current record with a Core i7 2600K in SuperPi 1M benchmark is 6.109 seconds at 6.042 GHz, while a Core i7 980X has the world record at 5.781 seconds and 6.930 GHz. These unofficial results would give the i7 3770K a new world record, along with nearly a 1 GHz clock speed improvement over the i7 2600K on liquid nitrogen.
Also, NordicHardware talked about a new record in SuperPi 32M. The i7 3770K clocked at 6.650 GHz completed SuperPi 32M in 5 minutes and 2.843 seconds, which is faster than the current record of 5 minutes and 13.719 seconds. With the i7 3770K clocked at 6.805 GHz, it performed the PiFast test in just 10.56 seconds, which can be compared to the current record at 12.01 seconds.
These unofficial results give overclockers and enthusiasts alike something to look forward to down the road
