The Intel Core i7-3770K was a desktop processor with 4 cores, launched in April 2012, at an MSRP of $313. It is part of the Core i7 lineup, using the Ivy Bridge architecture with Socket 1155. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 8 threads. Core i7-3770K has 8 MB of L3 cache and operates at 3.5 GHz by default, but can boost up to 3.9 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is building the Core i7-3770K on a 22 nm production process using 1,400 million transistors. You may freely adjust the unlocked multiplier on Core i7-3770K, which simplifies overclocking greatly, as you can easily dial in any overclocking frequency.
With a TDP of 77 W, the Core i7-3770K consumes typical power levels for a modern PC. Intel's processor supports DDR3 memory with a dual-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 1600 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the machine, Core i7-3770K uses a PCI-Express Gen 3 connection. This processor features the Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics solution.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i7-3770K, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications.