Only a few days ago we found a CPU-Z validation which shows an upcoming Intel Core i7-4770K which has been driven with more than 7 GHz. It's obvious that this CPU has been cooled using liquid nitrogen and therefore those clocks are unreachable for normal users. Now our forum member "Validator" found another validation which shows a Core i7-4770K running at 4.8 GHz and only 0.9 Volt.

4.8 GHz and 0.9 Volt, that means that this clock speed can be reached using aircooling without the cooler having to break a sweat. If you now keep in mind, that Intel's Ivy Bridge processors need on average 1.35 Volt to be driven at 5 GHz, then it seems to be obvious that Intel must have made a few changes to the manufacturing process. When it's possible to drive CPUs with lower voltages at the same clock speed then this is a solid hint, that the semiconductors have been improved. Usually we see differences like the ones here only when there has been a shrink, but since we know that Haswell also makes use of 22nm transistors, this can be ruled out.

After we've seen this result, we now want to know what Haswell can do when it's being overclocked using an aircooler. It looks like 5.5 GHz seem to be a realistic target. In other words this means, that normal users how want to overclock their every day rig to the maximum will have good reason to enjoy Haswell processors.




Source: oca Forum