Intel DZ77GA-70K and Core i7-3770K Review
Up Close - The Board
Published: 23rd April 2012 | Source: Intel | Price: |
Up Close - The DZ77GA-70K
Considering that this is the reference board from which all others will be taken, it's actually a good looker too. The dark blue and black colour combination works well and the two big heatsinks are nicely designed with a lovely mix between the aesthetics and function.
Starting in the bottom right hand corner we have the usual array of USB headers, as well as a diagnostic 7 segment display and the Winbond W83677HG-i to handle all the hardware monitoring functions.
PCI slots are well covered with two PCI Express 3.0 16x/8x for the GPU, as well as 1 PCI-E x4, two PCI-E x1 and a couple of standard PCIs. PCI-Express 3.0 is supported by the 3rd Generation CPU, so we should finally get to see if the PCI-E 2.0 GPUs have any benefit from the extra bandwidth. Below the bottom PCI-E x1 slot is a bank of LEDs which also assist in diagnosing any errors. The far left one blinks blue when the CPU is accessed, which on our open test bench means it's annoyingly always blinking.
The layout of the DZ77GA-70K is particularly pleasing with everything being where you'd require it, and nothing is too tucked away. We've lost count of the amount of motherboards that have the 8pin ATX power socket in a finger-slicing place, so it's nice to see it right on the edge of the board here.
Round the back we have all the options you could ever wish for. 4 USB 3.0 ports, a Firewire, 4 USB 2.0, dual Gigabit LAN, BIOS recovery button, HDMI and 7.1 Audio. Storage is provided for by four SATA 6Gb/s ports (grey and blue) and four SATA 3Gb/s. These support Intel Rapid Storage Technology and RAID 0,1,5 and 10.
Most Recent Comments
hell yes
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Originally Posted by Ghosthud1
hell yes |
Getting me one of these.
so the 95w tdp was bs? lol, thats why i wait for the final published reviews
Still have to wait till the 30th for availability though 
Very nice, I';ll be upgrading my I5 2500k to a 3770k. 
Happy to see it is indeed more power efficient ^^
Happy to see it is indeed more power efficient ^^Well I certaintly won't be getting one of these as they are just not worth it for me.
I will just sort my cooling out for my current 2700K and see what speed I can get at decent temps and voltages.
Might be worth keeping my eye out for the next revision if they do one that oc's better with better temps for the voltages.
I will just sort my cooling out for my current 2700K and see what speed I can get at decent temps and voltages.
Might be worth keeping my eye out for the next revision if they do one that oc's better with better temps for the voltages.
I've looked at these reviews and have come to a question I need to ask:
I'm still on 1366. I'd only use MSI OC Genie to Overclock. For my upgrade, 2600K or 3770K? I can afford any of them.
I'm still on 1366. I'd only use MSI OC Genie to Overclock. For my upgrade, 2600K or 3770K? I can afford any of them.
I would and will go 3770k. More up-to-date with the PCIe3 and stuff, and it's more power efficient. Especially if you don't want to set world records with your overclocks the 3770k is the way to go.
meh,will stick with my 2500k,I prefer the temps with Sandy,compared to the Ivy's.
I already have a 2500k but i`m gonna upgrade to full 3rd generation anyway. Just have to have the newest i can afford xD.
Some of the new boards look sweet, but the IB chips are just slightly more efficient SB chips which don't OC as well. To the couple people above me saying they're going to upgrade from SB to IB i say do NOT do it. There's no performance gains upgrading from SB to IB apart from the fact you can run memory much faster. Watch Tom's video review on it, he covers it all perfectly. The only time i'd upgrade from SB to IB is if i had a locked chip on a H67 chipset and wanted to get an unlocked IB chip with a Z77 board
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Originally Posted by PetrolHead247
Some of the new boards look sweet, but the IB chips are just slightly more efficient SB chips which don't OC as well. To the couple people above me saying they're going to upgrade from SB to IB i say do NOT do it. There's no performance gains upgrading from SB to IB apart from the fact you can run memory much faster. Watch Tom's video review on it, he covers it all perfectly. The only time i'd upgrade from SB to IB is if i had a locked chip on a H67 chipset and wanted to get an unlocked IB chip with a Z77 board |
Okay say and read the review however question for you.
I need to buy a new board and cpu. I understand that in this case I should get the ivy bridge cpu with a z77 board however they have sales on now for the 2600k or 2700k cpu. Would it be better to get the older chip with the z77 board or go with the Ivy bridge 3770k cput?
I need to buy a new board and cpu. I understand that in this case I should get the ivy bridge cpu with a z77 board however they have sales on now for the 2600k or 2700k cpu. Would it be better to get the older chip with the z77 board or go with the Ivy bridge 3770k cput?
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Originally Posted by Night Crawler
Okay say and read the review however question for you. I need to buy a new board and cpu. I understand that in this case I should get the ivy bridge cpu with a z77 board however they have sales on now for the 2600k or 2700k cpu. Would it be better to get the older chip with the z77 board or go with the Ivy bridge 3770k cput? |
Well there we are, it's pretty meh really (kind of as we expected). I can't see a reason to upgrade from SB cpu to IB unless you are running 2x pcie3 cards, in which case you might actually use the extra bandwidth. You never will with one card.
The z77 boards look nice though, they are a refinement of the 68s but again, not worth upgrading from 68s.
I totally agree with TTL, if you have SB/z68 stick with it, if you haven't then go IB/z77 unless the prices are more than about 15% greater in which case grab an SB/68 setup.
The z77 boards look nice though, they are a refinement of the 68s but again, not worth upgrading from 68s.
I totally agree with TTL, if you have SB/z68 stick with it, if you haven't then go IB/z77 unless the prices are more than about 15% greater in which case grab an SB/68 setup.
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Originally Posted by Master&Puppet
Well there we are, it's pretty meh really (kind of as we expected). I can't see a reason to upgrade from SB cpu to IB unless you are running 2x pcie3 cards, in which case you might actually use the extra bandwidth. You never will with one card. The z77 boards look nice though, they are a refinement of the 68s but again, not worth upgrading from 68s. I totally agree with TTL, if you have SB/z68 stick with it, if you haven't then go IB/x77 unless the prices are more than about 15% greater in which case grab an SB/68 setup. |
Aria are doing the 2600k for 209 at the mo,will be interesting in the least to see the price on Ivy,because unless I am missing a big something here,its a hard thing to justify going the extra.(those temps still have me worried,and yes I know its not the same thing,but they are still too high for me)
not what i expected...
i´m still on 775
!
would you recon a 3930k is better than a 3770k?
i´m still on 775
!would you recon a 3930k is better than a 3770k?
Great review ( as per norm), not an intel release that's likely to start a stampede to retailers though, I like most people will wait and see what comes next.
Fantastic review as always Bryan
No doubt the 3930k is better. You have to remember the 3770k is not competing with the 3930k so you can't really compare the two. The 3930k wins hands down and given the price difference (once we know IB prices) it would have to 
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Originally Posted by CPMFW
not what i expected... i´m still on 775 !would you recon a 3930k is better than a 3770k? |
I was expecting way more from the Ivy Bridge processors. I don't notice any overclocking results, are they yet to come?
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Originally Posted by Legacy-ZA
I was expecting way more from the Ivy Bridge processors. I don't notice any overclocking results, are they yet to come? |
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Originally Posted by yassarikhan786
Fantastic review as always Bryan No doubt the 3930k is better. You have to remember the 3770k is not competing with the 3930k so you can't really compare the two. The 3930k wins hands down and given the price difference (once we know IB prices) it would have to |
cheers mate!
i watched toms 2011 reviews again and the 3930k scores where higher then the 3770k ones!
are there different steppings or revisions for the 3930k?
thanks again
Nice review. The way see it is that you could always just get a 2500k or 2600k etc and OC it past whatever the Ivy CPU's can manage.
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Originally Posted by CPMFW
thanks for the quick response! cheers mate! i watched toms 2011 reviews again and the 3930k scores where higher then the 3770k ones! are there different steppings or revisions for the 3930k? thanks again |
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Originally Posted by yassarikhan786
There is a C2 stepping, which has some improvements (not exactly sure what's changed though). |
luv the skull logo on it
great review as always mate
But i think we should reserve that gold sticker for when we get OCing results. I have seen a lot of other reviews where this chip gets VERY toasty when you put it past stock. It looks like they used TIM paste instead of fluxless solder between IHS and CPU die = 80's @ 4.6 while under water ( opposed to 50's/60's for a 2600k)
For an unlocked chip designed for OCing the temps have actually made this chip unappealing as an upgrade. People might as well pick up a 2600k cheap when the prices drop and they could get a higher clock = the same speeds over all. This is an enthusiast chip after all
Anyone who wants to upgrade should wait for another revision/ until they sort out the heat issues
But i think we should reserve that gold sticker for when we get OCing results. I have seen a lot of other reviews where this chip gets VERY toasty when you put it past stock. It looks like they used TIM paste instead of fluxless solder between IHS and CPU die = 80's @ 4.6 while under water ( opposed to 50's/60's for a 2600k)
For an unlocked chip designed for OCing the temps have actually made this chip unappealing as an upgrade. People might as well pick up a 2600k cheap when the prices drop and they could get a higher clock = the same speeds over all. This is an enthusiast chip after all
Anyone who wants to upgrade should wait for another revision/ until they sort out the heat issues
Although Ivy Bridge is upon us, Sandy Bridge unlike the London bridge is NOT comming down.
SB is still an awesome processor hands down.
and only times will tell which is better. cause after watching Tom's review of the 3770k. im not so sure about the 3rd Gen.
Great review Bryan.
SB is still an awesome processor hands down.
and only times will tell which is better. cause after watching Tom's review of the 3770k. im not so sure about the 3rd Gen.
Great review Bryan.
I don't like to be pedantic, because the general point is a good one... but the measure of Watts is already a rate (a measure of energy used per second), so saving "1 watt per hour" doesn't make sense. You're just saving one Watt.
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Originally Posted by shortstrawfate
I don't like to be pedantic, because the general point is a good one... but the measure of Watts is already a rate (a measure of energy used per second), so saving "1 watt per hour" doesn't make sense. You're just saving one Watt. |
I know where you're coming from, but there are lots of people who don't know that - lots of people who find 'watts per hour' easier to understand.
And anyway, what about kWh?
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