Intel Core i7-4770K Quad-Core Processor Review

The faster the processor, the better its bandwidth and latencies are. Where memory is concerned, however, there are many more factors at play. While frequency plays a major role in overall memory performance, the memory controller can make an even greater improvement, based on its implementation and also its capabilities.

With Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E, we were given a quad-channel controller, while Intel’s (and AMD’s) other platforms stick to a dual-channel design. A quad-channel controller could in theory provide twice as much bandwidth as a dual-channel one. How the controller is integrated into its chip along with the memory’s frequency determines the latency.

While faster memory bandwidth and lower latencies can improve overall computer performance, the faster each core can work with one another along with how much bandwidth a cache can handle rounds out the most important factors of PC performance. The results of all of these are tackled on this page.

Quad vs. Dual channel is summed-up quite nicely here.

Here’s some pretty interesting results, and a testiment to the improvements Intel has made to its architectures over the years. The L1 performance on the i7-4770K is better than both the i7-3960X and i7-3770K, which isn’t too much of a surprise. L3 performance is on par between the two quad-cores, and L2-wise, the 4770K exhibits a nice lead.

Given the much-improved cache bandwidth that we saw on the i7-4770K above, it’s a little surprising to see it fall behind the older i7-3770K in the latency department. Inter-core bandwidth does prove a bit better on Intel’s Haswell, though.