Intel Core i7 3770K Ivy Bridge Linux Performance

The initial Intel Core i7 3770K "Ivy Bridge" Linux testing was done under a recent snapshot of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with the Linux 3.2 kernel and later. Any 2012 Linux distribution should support Ivy Bridge and its HD 4000 graphics.

Booting Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with the Ivy Bridge processor and various Cougar/Panther Point motherboards has not resulted in any issues. The launch-day Linux support for Ivy Bridge appears to be great! In terms of looking at the Linux distribution support, try to run the Linux 3.0~3.2 kernel or newer, Mesa 8.0, and a recent xf86-video-intel DDX driver. Ivy Bridge tests under Solaris and BSD haven't been carried out yet so I am unable to comment on the Ivy Bridge support level there for the processor / new chipsets. Ivy Bridge graphics acceleration for BSD and Solaris is not in place yet, that at least is certainly known.

When it comes to the Ivy Bridge Linux graphics testing, only very occasionally have I even hit any GPU hangs. I did hit a few over the course of a week of testing, but it was far from being common (maybe once every 12~24 hours of testing) and each time the graphics driver recovered gracefully.

From the /proc/cpuinfo Linux output for the Intel Core i7 3770K, it is identified as CPU family 6, model 58, and stepping 9. New flags being advertised for Ivy Bridge processors include FSGSBASE (x86 FS/GS Base intrinsic) and RDRAND (the Intel Bull Mountain random number generator). There is the cpuinfo for the i7-3770K on OpenBenchmarking.org.