Intel Core i7 4770K “Haswell” Processor Review

Overclocking on Intel’s Haswell reaped impressive results. We managed a successful overclock of 4.9GHz with 1.38 volts. This doesn’t quite compare to Sandy Bridge(-E) architectures in terms of raw GHz but it certainly offers better performance as there is much greater clock-per-clock performance. Generally speaking most people will find that 4.4-4.6GHz is the target region for good solid overclock on a Haswell Core i7 4770K, much like with Ivy Bridge. Our push to 4.9GHz was really the maximum this chip can do and you wouldn’t want to run this 24/7.

Thermal performance is something we have measured directly because it varies between CPU coolers, voltages and the quality of each chip and it is really quite problematic to compare. Consequently we don’t have solid numbers to show you. However, it is clear that the Haswell Core i7 4770K suffers from similar temperature problems like the Core i7 3770K. That said temperature could often be your limiting factor in much overclocking as you can easily reach high 80’s when pushing 4.5GHz, even on decent cooling like the Corsair H100i. Who knows we may even find out in the near future that the Core i7 4770K uses thermal paste under the IHS like Ivy Bridge did, that is in contrast to Sandy Bridge(-E) which use fluxless solder.