Intel Core i7-3770K – Ivy Bridge and the 3D transistor is here

Tests: Normalized clock frequencies

We revisit our test for normalized clock frequencies. The goal is to run a number of tests with all processors at 2,9 GHz to see how they perform at the same clock frequency. This helps enthusiasts and overclockers to calculate how a specific processor will perform at a certain clock frequency compared to an other processor. The newly arrived processors in the test are obviously todays main show, the Core i7-3770K.

We run all the processors in their standard performance, this means that they are running with the same number of cores that they arrive with and on processors like the Intel Core i7-2600K and Core i3-21000 with HyperThreading switched on. We also run with turbo functions from both camps switched off to make sure that they processors stay at the predetermined clock frequencies.

The clock frequency we chose for a normalized base value was 2,9 GHz, this after the lowest denominator A8-3850 which has a clock frequency at exactly 2,9 GHz. The reason that we’re doing this is that we won’t have to overclock any model, which in turn overclocks other functions in the processor, and therefore might give unfair advantages against the other models. 

We’ve chosen processors with architecture, cache memory and the number of cores in mind. That way we can cover what is relevant today from both AMD and Intel.

At normalized clock frequencies we still see that Ivy Bridge has an advantage over the previous generation Sandy Bridge, but with much lower margins. This is due to that we’ve turned off Turbo Boost, and at the same time we force all processors to be run at 2,9 GHz. The difference is still very noticeable, but it’s much lower than what we could see in our earlier tests.