User Review Intel’s Kaby Lake Core i7-7700K Review

Intel’s Kaby Lake Core i7-7700K Review

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We are very excited to get an early sample of Intel’s next 7th generation of Kaby Lake desktop processor. The Intel Core I7-7700K to be exact and prepared this review/comparison to show what new Intel is to offer with Kaby lake.

This review is not about an in-depth technological analysis of the Kaby Lake architecture, but instead a head on comparisons of Kaby Lake and Skylake (its predecessor) processor.

Build on a 14 nanometer and with the same LGA 1151 socket as Skylake, the Kaby Lake processor seems to be just an optimized version of Skylake with factory overclocking or it is something all together a different story. Let’s find out below.

First the latest three generation of Intel’s top of the line desktop end processors side by side.
From left to right, first we have Intel Core i7-6700K the Skylake processor, than there is the Intel Broadwell-E Core i7-6950X processor a 10-cores 20- threads beast and last on the right hand side we have the new Intel’s Kaby Lake Core i7-7700K Quad-Core processor.

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We will be comparing Intel Core i7-6700K against Intel Core i7-7700K cpu below.


Features
  • Processor Number : i7-7700K
  • Lithography : 14 nm
  • No. of Cores : 4
  • No. of Threads : 8
  • Processor Base Frequency : 4.20 GHz
  • Max Turbo Frequency : 4.50 GHz
  • Cache : 8 MB SmartCache
  • Socket : LGA 1151

Package
Taking a close look on the Kaby lake CPU, Intel have redesigned the IHS(Integrated Heat Spreader) of the processor, increasing the top contact area of IHS by small fraction .
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On bottom contact pad side, we have the same number of by-pass capacitors and exact pads layout as Skylake. But we can clearly see that Intel have removed some of the test point pads from Kaby Lake it seems as all of the testing have already conduct during Skylake.

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Testing
For testing both Skylake and Kaby Lake CPU, we are using board with Intel Z170 chipset for Skylake (GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming G1) and for Kaby Lake we are using a new motherboard (GIGABYTE Z270X Gaming 5) with Intel’s new chipset, the Intel Z270 chipset.

For even comparison I have overclocked the Skylake CPU up to 4.5GHz to match the max core speed of Kaby lake CPU.

The Intel’s new Z270 chipset offers following plus points against the older Z170 chipset.
  • New Intel Optane Technology, which promising the elimination of system bottleneck which requires fast and better storage memory. read more about Intel Optane Technology.
  • Intel Rapid Storage Technology Version 15 against older version 14
  • Increase in Maximum High Speed I/O Lanes ( HSIO) from 26 to 30 lanes
  • Increase in Maximum PCIe Express 3.0 Lanes from 20 to 24 lanes

Test system configuration - Skylake

CPU - Intel Core i7 6700K
Board - GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming G1
RAM - 2 X 8GB HyperX SAVAGE DDR4 3000Mhz
SSD - Corsair Force GT 240
Cooler / Case - Custom Phase Changer Rig
GFX - GIGABYTE GTX 1050Ti
PSU - Cooler Master V1000
Display - Acer S220HQL
OS - Windows 10

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Test system configuration - Kaby Lake

CPU - Intel Core i7 7700K
Board - GIGABYTE Z270X Gaming 5
RAM - 2 X 8GB HyperX SAVAGE DDR4 3000Mhz
SSD - Corsair Force GT 240
Cooler / Case - Custom Phase Changer Rig
GFX - GIGABYTE GTX 1050Ti
PSU - Cooler Master V1000
Display - Acer S220HQL
OS - Windows 10


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Benchmarks - CPU
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Benchmarks - DISK
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Overclocking
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Maximum OC up to 5.4GHz
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Thermal Performance
To check thermal handling of both CPUs we used two different approach. First we used AIO cooler (Cooler Master Nepton 240M ) on both CPUs. Second we cooled down both CPUs up to -34C using Single stage Phase Changer. Now we put load on both CPUs by started Intel Extreme Tuning Utility CPU stress test for 10 minutes and plot the following graph registering change in temperature

AIO cooling
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Phase Changer cooling
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From above temperature testing we noticed that with AIO cooling solution the new Kaby Lake showed poor thermal performance than the older Skylake generation, but extreme cooling showed a slight different story, there is little less increase in temperature of i7-7700K CPU than that of i7-6700K CPU under a 10 minutes stress test. The new TIM on i7-7700K appears to work slight better under sub-zero temperature or it seems that the TIM on i7-6700K has aged due to time.
Intel have just only changed the IHS design in Kaby Lake, the internal thermal compound is still crappy as that of the 6th generation of processors.


Power Consumption
There was not a major power consumption difference noticed between i7-6700K and i7-7700K CPU .
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Pros
  • Higher stock clock speed.
  • Newer 4000+ MHz of XMP profiles for DDR4 memory
  • Z270 chipset shows slight increase in storage performance.

Cons
  • Still crappy internal Thermal interface material (TIM)
  • Not much of a performance difference against Skylake CPU
  • Just increase of 4 extra PCIe Express Lanes.

Conclusion
For most enthusiasts out there the new Core i7-7700K CPU is nothing great to like about. With hike in the clock speed the Core i7-7700K offers a noticeable performance boost at stock clock against its predecessor generation Core i7-6700K CPU, making it the fastest desktop processor every produced by Intel.

With just a BIOS update one can use the new Kaby Lake CPU on existing Z170 platform. And Core i7-7700K could be an option for a new pc build and people who are looking for an upgrade from older generation CPUs.

It is very sad to see that Intel is still using a poor quality internal Thermal interface material with the new Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake CPU. Intel can justify that the applied TIM keeps the silicon under its thermal limitations according to its datasheet, but still for an end user point a better thermal compound will help benefit in overall system’s thermal management for a long run, which is clearly being neglected by Intel.

Source / More info

Thanks.
 
Great Review!, Looks like one day the way Intel is going with chips. It will need to find a way to squeeze 10nm transistors in the chip using silicon. Will probably have to use new technology for that purpose.
 
Great Review!, Looks like one day the way Intel is going with chips. It will need to find a way to squeeze 10nm transistors in the chip using silicon. Will probably have to use new technology for that purpose.

It's already been in development for years but they've hit quite a few roadblocks along the way leading to frequent delays, their rough patch began with the initial Haswell to Broadwell die shrink from 22nm to 14nm.
Cannonlake is slated to be launched in late 2017 or early 2018 and it will be on 10nm, 7nm is expected in 2018 and it too will probably be built using the same process and materials.
Moore's law will finally hit a brick wall at 5nm but the move from 7nm to 5nm will be long and arduous thanks to a host of technological challenges it presents but they'll most likely include newer materials like carbon nanotubes or graphene which again have been in development for years.

Coming back to the review, this is disappointing as expected and is exactly what poor competition leads to. Even Intel knows it's a lemon which is why they didn't bother changing the socket this time.
It is solely aimed at people upgrading from really old configurations, those upgrading from Haswell & up should consider waiting for AMD's offerings before their next upgrade. I do hope Ryzen kicks Intel's ass, they have become too lazy and arrogant.

Such a neat and clean build...
hope i can do something like that in future

Are you being sarcastic ?
 
^^ Of course when there is no competition, Intel will just keep releasing evolutionary upgrades. There is no motivation for doing anything revolutionary. When was the last time either of these companies did anything revolutionary? I would say AMD's last revolutionary release was the Athlon 64 series and Intel's was the Core 2 . Everything since then has been evolutionary and AMD has been either trying to play catch up with Intel or kept avoiding direct head on clash on the performance front.

Based on early previews done with engineering samples and whats been said by AMD and other discussions etc, Ryzen's performance is apparently going to be on par with the Intel 5th gen Broadwell series CPU's. Core to Core, it may not be a match for Skylake/Kabylake, but then both of them only offer a evolutionary boost over Broadwell. What Ryzen offers is 8 cores at a lower price point than Intel, but that price point has to be substantially lower to make any sense at the moment.

I am myself overdue for a CPU upgrade and since I use my PC for both gaming as well as running multiple concurrent Linux VM's, I need both single core performance and also as many cores as I could get for a reasonable cost. I would preferably want to replace my 2500k with a 6/8 core CPU that costs under 35k. From the benchmarks I looked at, 6800K can be considered mostly obsolete as a 7700K is almost close to its multi core performance in many tests with 2 less cores.
 
:wtf: And here am with my i5-2500(Non-k) running VMs, Phtoshop/LR & 1440p PC Gaming without any problems. :wtf:

Great review !!!

On my 2500K, I am limited to max 3 Linux VM's for running any stressful tasks apart from the host OS. I often use my PC to do performance tests on software I write and use multiple VM's for that.

As for gaming, its become quite a bottleneck for the high end GPU's. It can of course still handle all of the games without issues, but anything over the performance level of a GTX980 would cease giving its best with a Sandy Bridge CPU. In general, there is a 20~30% difference in frame rates compared to something like i5 6500. You need an overclock of 5 Ghz on the 2500K for it bridge the gap to a stock i5 6500 and you will also need faster memory.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...it-finally-time-to-upgrade-your-core-i5-2500k

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[DOUBLEPOST=1483593817][/DOUBLEPOST]Z270 and H270 series motherboards are also up on prime although its only the ASRock ones as of now.

http://www.primeabgb.com/buy-online-price-inida/motherboards/?filtering=1&filter_chipset=intel-z270
 

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It's already been in development for years but they've hit quite a few roadblocks along the way leading to frequent delays, their rough patch began with the initial Haswell to Broadwell die shrink from 22nm to 14nm.
Cannonlake is slated to be launched in late 2017 or early 2018 and it will be on 10nm, 7nm is expected in 2018 and it too will probably be built using the same process and materials.
Moore's law will finally hit a brick wall at 5nm but the move from 7nm to 5nm will be long and arduous thanks to a host of technological challenges it presents but they'll most likely include newer materials like carbon nanotubes or graphene which again have been in development for years.

Coming back to the review, this is disappointing as expected and is exactly what poor competition leads to. Even Intel knows it's a lemon which is why they didn't bother changing the socket this time.
It is solely aimed at people upgrading from really old configurations, those upgrading from Haswell & up should consider waiting for AMD's offerings before their next upgrade. I do hope Ryzen kicks Intel's ass, they have become too lazy and arrogant.



Are you being sarcastic ?

True. I wish that AMD does come out with something that kicks Intels arse
 
Story will be somewhat same.. I have i7-7700 with me so if got 6700 and free time will run some benchmark and share here.

Thanks mate I would really appreciate that. I didn't want to wait another few months for Kaby lake to come out and went for i7 6700 this November. I am now hoping the difference is marginal and I didn't loose out by a lot.
 
Thanks mate I would really appreciate that. I didn't want to wait another few months for Kaby lake to come out and went for i7 6700 this November. I am now hoping the difference is marginal and I didn't loose out by a lot.
Dear, if you already have Skylake 6700 with you, than no worry, I7-7700 is just 200Mhz more boost not much a difference.. So just enjoy your system
 
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