Intel Core i7-4770K (Haswell) CPU Review

Testing

We used Intel's DZ87KLT-75K motherboard to test the Core i7-4770K, which was part of the official press kit sent for review. To test the AMD FX-8350 we used the Asus Crosshair V Formula motherboard which is based on the AMD 990FX chipset and Socket AM3+ CPU socket.

For the Intel LGA1155 processors, we used the Asus Maximus V while for LGA2011 processors we used the Asus P9X79 Pro.

Software

Below is a list of the applications we've used for our testing - most of them are available free for public consumption, although some are popular professional software applications.

• Shogun 2: Total War (CPU test only)
  
• The Elder Scrolls; Skyrim
  
• Our own Media Benchmarks v2007.235
  
• Maxon Cinebench 11.5R (x64)

We've used Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1, as this is the most flexible and reliable 64-bit OS for testing the applications above.

Hardware

• Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2GB graphics card (GeForce driver 314.22 WHQL)
  
• 128GB OCZ Vector SSD
  
• Corsair Pro Series Gold HX750 power supply
  
• Intel DZ87KLT-75K motherboard
  
• Asus Crosshair V Formula motherboard
  
• Asus Maximus V Formula motherboard
  
• Asus P9X79 Pro motherboard 1,866MHz DDR 3 memory
  
• 16 GB Corsair Vengeance Pro
  
• 16GB (4 x 4GB DIMMs) G.Skill 2,133MHz DDR3 memory
  
• Corsair H100i CPU cooler

The table below lists how we overclocked each CPU that we benchmarked that is included in this article: