[Becky]

Intel have launched their latest processor - the third-generation Core CPU, otherwise known as Ivy Bridge. This new processor represents a process improvement on the previous model (Sandy Bridge) being a reduction to 22nm.

The new chip has been well received and there are already many reviews available to read online - here is a handful:

"If you have been waiting on Ivy Bridge 22nm processors to arrive before building your next system, your wait is finally over. Ivy Bridge is an improvement across the board and is the CPU to buy right now!"

Legit Reviews

"The real impact of the Ivy Bridge architecture will be felt in the mobile device and server market, but once the price settles down, this top-end Ivy Bridge processor will be a very good value, since it's both faster and cheaper than its Sandy Bridge forebear. The only weakness in this CPU compared to Sandy Bridge is its overclocking performance, which will hopefully improve...but right now you can probably get a little more performance from an overclocked Sandy Bridge CPU, and that's just enough to keep the Core i7-3770K from taking the gold."

Benchmark Reviews

"There’s no denying that the i7-3770K is an improvement over the i7-2700K and it’s definitely worth buying if you’re planning to build a new system. One of the key areas in which it trumps the i7-2700K is in power consumption where it recorded substantially lower results under load."

Kit Guru

"Looking first to Intel's new Ivy Bridge i7-3770K we have a CPU which at first glance doesn't seem to offer a huge change over the i7-2700K, for example matching the existing model in cores, clock speed, cache levels and so on. When we look a little closer the advantage of the new processor become clear though and that starts with the power use of the two chips where the Ivy Bridge based model offers significant power savings over the older Sandy Bridge part."

Hardware Heaven

"We set this review out to see how the Z77X-UD5H could cope with Ivybridge and if it was able to harness that power from the new range of 3rd gen processors, and while they did offer some noticeable increases, we feel that BIOS revisions and driver updates should unlock more performance as time goes on, and that’s something we’re very keen to see happen in the coming weeks."

eTeknix

[V_R]

Really wanted to see a little more out of IB.... :/

My 2.5+ year old i7 920 is still rocking anything i throw at it and sits at 4Ghz* all day. I was just starting to get a major upgrade itch too but IB just isn't the upgrade i was hoping for....... Thought the power consumption and temps are looking decent.

*4.2 if i up the volts another notch or two.

IB + a 680 would have been nice little upgrade, but not worth the money from where i am at the moment by the looks of it...

[Ian]

I'm looking at upgrading my Q6600 to a mid-range i5 in a few months time. TBH, the Q6600 is still quick enough for me, but Becky's 3Ghz P4 is really slow now so she's moving to the Q6600.