As noted in the previous post, my decision to purchase the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard was based upon my interest in purchasing a higher end central processing unit (CPU) with a minimum of four cores, or quad-core, and a high operating frequency with overclocking potential. After some research, with a focus on each processor’s performance as a function of increasing cost, I eventually went with the Intel Core i7-3770K Processor, a 3rd generation, quad-core, Intel Core i7 unlocked processor. This processor is compatible with the ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 motherboard’s LGA 1155 socket. Next, the i7-3770K has four cores, known as quad-core, which means it is a chip with four independent units, or cores, which increase system performance/speed through executing numerous CPU instructions individually and simultaneously. Furthermore, the hyper-threading technology available on this processor enables multiple threads to run on each of the four cores, thereby increasing processor throughput and subsequently improving performance. The below ‘performance’ tab of the Windows Task Manager displays the resulting eight threads associated with the four Intel cores:
Eight threads
In regards to the processor’s speed, the Intel i7-3770K processor notes a base processing speed of 3.50 GHz with improvement to 3.90 GHz with the Intel Turbo Boost Technology. As I noted above, this is an unlocked processor which provides increased overclocking potential, as compared to a locked processor which has a more permanent clock multiplier. Locked processors may or may not allow for slight overclocking. After analyzing numerous processor reviews, I found that the Intel i7-3770k only lags behind the i7-3930K, i7-4770, and i7-4770K in terms of out-of-the-box performance. And even then, only the i7-3930K provides significant improvement overall. The cost, overclocking potential, efficiency, and several other factors affect the overall effectiveness of one processor over the other when it comes to determining which processor is best among the i7-3770k, i7-4770, or the i7-4770K.
