Yeah, it's just a model number. Maybe Intel has a better description of what the number actually means. Could refer to architecture of the chip its self and other things, I don't know.
Speaking of architecture of a CPU. Clock speed doesn't necessarily mean it will be fast. It largely depends on your application. You could have a CPU with a clock speed of 2.4 GHz and another CPU with a clock speed of 3.5 GHz, but the 2.4 GHz CPU may perform better for the distributed client F@H (Folding at Home) than the 3.5 GHz CPU due to its architecture. The other factor here is number of threads and cores and if your application supports that or not as well as instruction sets. But by in large it is why I chose to use a PassMark score to determine what CPU is the overall faster chip seen as how their benchmarking software stresses various abilities to obtain the score. Read here and you'll see them mention "relative" speed.
The "basic difference?" One is faster than the other in general terms. LOL
The more advanced difference? See the Specs right from the horse's mouth, Intel.
Intel(R) Core™ i7-4770 Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) Product Specifications
Intel(R) Core™ i7-3770 Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) Product Specifications
Now both CPUs are 3.5 GHz and you'd be right in wondering why one has a better PassMark score than the other. It's largely the architecture I spoke about. You'll see the 3770 was manufactured in quarter 2 of 2012. There are four quarters in a year of three months between quarters. So this CPU came out sometime between April and June of 2012. Now you see the 4770 being manufactured in quarter 2 of 2013. So the 4770 would be newer by a year and thus would most likely have a better architecture for CPU number crunching as that is what a CPU does by and large.
Both CPUs are by in large the same. Same cache, same turbo boost, same lithography, etc. The biggest difference I see is the TDP (Thermal Design Power). The 4770 runs just a little hotter than the 3770 and that makes sense given its better number crunching ability. Note that most items listed in the Intel Ark website have question marks. Just click on a question mark to get more Info.
I'd get the 4770 myself.
I can't find the 3770 at Anandtech's bench results, but here's a comparison of your current CPU with the 4770. CPU Benchmarks - Compare Products on AnandTech As you can see, the 4770 just blows it away. But unless you're using applications like what is listed and you use a SSD, you may not notice a difference at all. It will allow you to play the free Warzone by Battle.net though I'm pretty sure, but you'll need at least a GTX 1050 TI video card. Call of Duty(R): Warzone | Home
Had I'd known Warzone would come out and be free of all things, I don't think I would have bought this new COD for sixty smackers. And to make matters worse, the code in this game is crap for my CPU and everyone else's that has my CPU or its variants. You get stutters all the time as if you have a poor Internet connection which is not the case at all. I've managed to mitigate some of it by using windowed mode and some other stuff, but I tend to stutter from time to time and often times at the wrong damn time. I don't think the 4770 will have this issue or the latest AMD CPUs.
I only bought this game because I played the first Modern Warfare back in circa 2008 on a Dell Dimension 4600 with a Pentium 4 CPU. Good times. I upgraded the living hell out of everything in that compuuter up to the CPU to a max of 3.0 GHz minus the motherboard. RAM was upgraded, CPU, video card, sound card, and I utilized the SATA I connections. LOL I even ran a hard drive on the available 5.25 PATA cable slot. LOL Yes, it was slow, but I needed more hard drive space. Now in this new COD installment some of the old maps are there from the first. And then there are other older maps like Rust and Construction from previos COD incarnations which I never played. One bad thing about this game or even other modern games of today are the updates. It's a weekly thing and with COD updates they can be as big as 45 GB. Absolutely INSANE! I remember walking into Target or Walmart and buying my games. It's where I bought Red Alert and Command & Conquer with Zero Hour which I played all the time. I even made maps with the Worldbuilder! I still to this day play Zero Hour and BF2 with the AIX mod which makes BF2 play like it should have. Both games can still be played today with third-party clients.
BF2Hub.com
C&C:Online - Command & Conquer online multiplayer server
If you go with the 4770, the built-in GPU in the CPU should work well on medium to low settings in BF2 or Zero Hour I'm sure. I'd have to compare the GPU to others to make sure.
Speaking of architecture of a CPU. Clock speed doesn't necessarily mean it will be fast. It largely depends on your application. You could have a CPU with a clock speed of 2.4 GHz and another CPU with a clock speed of 3.5 GHz, but the 2.4 GHz CPU may perform better for the distributed client F@H (Folding at Home) than the 3.5 GHz CPU due to its architecture. The other factor here is number of threads and cores and if your application supports that or not as well as instruction sets. But by in large it is why I chose to use a PassMark score to determine what CPU is the overall faster chip seen as how their benchmarking software stresses various abilities to obtain the score. Read here and you'll see them mention "relative" speed.
The "basic difference?" One is faster than the other in general terms. LOL
The more advanced difference? See the Specs right from the horse's mouth, Intel.
Intel(R) Core™ i7-4770 Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) Product Specifications
Intel(R) Core™ i7-3770 Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) Product Specifications
Now both CPUs are 3.5 GHz and you'd be right in wondering why one has a better PassMark score than the other. It's largely the architecture I spoke about. You'll see the 3770 was manufactured in quarter 2 of 2012. There are four quarters in a year of three months between quarters. So this CPU came out sometime between April and June of 2012. Now you see the 4770 being manufactured in quarter 2 of 2013. So the 4770 would be newer by a year and thus would most likely have a better architecture for CPU number crunching as that is what a CPU does by and large.
Both CPUs are by in large the same. Same cache, same turbo boost, same lithography, etc. The biggest difference I see is the TDP (Thermal Design Power). The 4770 runs just a little hotter than the 3770 and that makes sense given its better number crunching ability. Note that most items listed in the Intel Ark website have question marks. Just click on a question mark to get more Info.
I'd get the 4770 myself.
I can't find the 3770 at Anandtech's bench results, but here's a comparison of your current CPU with the 4770. CPU Benchmarks - Compare Products on AnandTech As you can see, the 4770 just blows it away. But unless you're using applications like what is listed and you use a SSD, you may not notice a difference at all. It will allow you to play the free Warzone by Battle.net though I'm pretty sure, but you'll need at least a GTX 1050 TI video card. Call of Duty(R): Warzone | Home
Had I'd known Warzone would come out and be free of all things, I don't think I would have bought this new COD for sixty smackers. And to make matters worse, the code in this game is crap for my CPU and everyone else's that has my CPU or its variants. You get stutters all the time as if you have a poor Internet connection which is not the case at all. I've managed to mitigate some of it by using windowed mode and some other stuff, but I tend to stutter from time to time and often times at the wrong damn time. I don't think the 4770 will have this issue or the latest AMD CPUs.
I only bought this game because I played the first Modern Warfare back in circa 2008 on a Dell Dimension 4600 with a Pentium 4 CPU. Good times. I upgraded the living hell out of everything in that compuuter up to the CPU to a max of 3.0 GHz minus the motherboard. RAM was upgraded, CPU, video card, sound card, and I utilized the SATA I connections. LOL I even ran a hard drive on the available 5.25 PATA cable slot. LOL Yes, it was slow, but I needed more hard drive space. Now in this new COD installment some of the old maps are there from the first. And then there are other older maps like Rust and Construction from previos COD incarnations which I never played. One bad thing about this game or even other modern games of today are the updates. It's a weekly thing and with COD updates they can be as big as 45 GB. Absolutely INSANE! I remember walking into Target or Walmart and buying my games. It's where I bought Red Alert and Command & Conquer with Zero Hour which I played all the time. I even made maps with the Worldbuilder! I still to this day play Zero Hour and BF2 with the AIX mod which makes BF2 play like it should have. Both games can still be played today with third-party clients.
BF2Hub.com
C&C:Online - Command & Conquer online multiplayer server
If you go with the 4770, the built-in GPU in the CPU should work well on medium to low settings in BF2 or Zero Hour I'm sure. I'd have to compare the GPU to others to make sure.
My Computer
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Windows 7 Ultimate x64
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