Following the launch of the Broadwell-E with its 10-core model, Intel has taken advantage of the CES in Las Vegas to continue the market landing of its seventh generation of processors, 14 nm and with the Most anticipated models at the top.

We talked about the Core i7s for the most powerful desktop computers, for gamers and overclocking enthusiasts. In Xataka we have already tried for a few days the king of this generation: the Intel Core i7-7700K. Enough to consider a change from a very recent 6700K?

Kaby Lake’s turn to desktop PC

Ivy Bridge, Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake and now plays Kaby Lake. Already last summer we knew the chips that would make up the seventh generation of Intel processors and today we have done the same with the most anticipated models of this generation: Core i7 and i5 for more powerful equipment.

Built at 14 nm and closely resembling the Skylake, the improved 4K video playback and focus on virtual reality are Kaby Lake hooks to convince the more general consumer market

The Kaby Lake generation is based on 14 nm technology, with very simular microarchitecture that we already know about SkyLake although improved, reason why we can consider it like a second tock, previous to the next tick that will be Cannonlake and that for now points to the Second half of 2017.

These new processors, waiting for that eighth generation and the desired step at 10 nm, are therefore an optimization of the current Skylake. Why throw it then?

Intel intends that this generation is the excuse to renew equipment and processors in laptops, computers two in one and of course in more powerful desks in a wide range of users, more pure consumption and entertainment , and are no longer immersed in Skylake. It uses the hook of the promise of a fluid 4K video as well as the striking virtual reality.

Kaby Lake and 4K video playback

Kaby Lake and 4K will be references that we will always see together. It is the great contribution that Intel points to the side of this seventh generation of its processors once the technological innovations are inherited from the previous generation for the first time.

Kaby Lake is prepared to handle native hardware via 4K 10-bit content under the H.265 codec as well as VP9. With the explosion we expect from streaming content with that resolution, the new chips are a bet for the future. And even necessary for what platforms. Streaming 4K from Netflix to Windows 10 computers will require these new Intel processors.

Breaking the tick-tock that has accompanied us to Kaby Lake has a rationale for Intel: facilitate the jump to the new chips of those who stayed a couple of generations ago and want a future chip

It is less curious that this chip of both level, in the version Core i5 and Core i7 with multiplier unlocked, has put the focus on a section where the GPU has so much to say, and assuming that whoever invests his money in it , Will not leave the whole graphic section in the new integrated graphics Iris Plus (HD630) but will have a dedicated graphics level.

What gives us first this decision and the fact of breaking the tick-tock that has accompanied us to the exit of this new generation, is that we are not processors who aspire to convince who is already with a model Skylake or even Broadwell , But to owners of previous generations. But the strategy, seen the results, does not seem to level enough in the most powerful models and with multiplier unlocked. Maybe yes for the rest of the new range of desktop chips under Kaby Lake.

New Intel Core i7-7700K

Kaby Lake reaches the desktop market with a high-end model called Core i7-7700k , quad-core at 4.2 Ghz and with a TurboBoost capable of reaching 4.5 Ghz in one of them. If we skip the 4 to 4.2 Ghz (and 4.2 to 4.5 Ghz in TurboBoost) and IGP HD630 speed increase, the rest of the specs are what the corresponding model (Core i7-6700K) in Skylake offers.

INTEL CORE I7-7700X
MANUFACTURING 14 nm (3rd Gen)
NUCLEOS / THREADS 4/8
BASE FREQUENCY 4.2 Ghz
FREQUENCY TURBO 4.5 Ghz
L3 CACHE 8 MB
RAM DDR4
SOCKET LGA 1151
TDP 91 W
PCI-EXPRESS LINES 3.0
PRICE –

There are 8 MB cache, support for DDR4 memory and a TDP of 91 W. Intel claims that the 14nm manufacturing process has been improved to achieve an increase in speed with the same consumption. The energy efficiency also allows to reach the speeds of the previous generation with something less of consumption. But much less we are before a jump of the level of the fifth generation Broadwell.

The socket used is the same as in the previous generation, LGA 1151, something that will allow reuse of boards of the previous generation if the BIOS is updated, although it is advisable to choose already those that will be presented these days and with chipsets already fully prepared for To receive Kaby Lake.

Test Equipment

For testing the new Intel Core i7-7700K we used our test equipment provided by ASUS. The ASUS G11 Desktop PC has a base equipment made up of the Intel Core i7 6700 (Skylake) at 3.4 Ghz accompanied by 16 GB of DDR4 2126 Mhz RAM and an Nvidia GTX980 graphics.

For the performance test we will use the usual software, as well as tests with games and different applications in controlled environments, so that we can compare the performance with the reference models of the previous generation with both the multiplier unlocked (Core i7- 6700K) as the majority consumer, the Core i7-6700. As an extra in the comparative we wanted to add the results that we obtained in our test with the Intel Core i7-6950X, model Broadwell-E with 10 cores.

Intel Core i7-7700k Performance

As I have already advanced, the reference model for this new generation of the most powerful Intel Core is the Intel Core i7-7700K, chip that we have been testing for a few days and we leave you with the results of our analysis.

The comparison we started with two tests Javascript that will give us an idea of the performance of the team in web browsing tasks and HTML5. Here we can see how critical each Mhz of our chip is equal to cores and threads. The 4 to 4.2 GHz increase of the previous high-end chip under Skylake leaves a mark, but nothing significant.

The next test we submit to the processors is Winrar. In three test banks, we perform compressions of different data packets, varying both the number and the size of each packet.

The differences are logically shortened when the compression task involves only 720p videos that occupy a total of 6 GB. In any case there is no overall performance improvement that exceeds 4-5%.

We finally ordered the processor to compress 560 MB distributed in 2801 files into 168 folders. This does not come into play the amount of MHz as the wires available to the processor, hence with 4/8 and 4/8 in both generations, even here the new chip has been below Skylake (and very Below the 10 Broadwell-E nuclei).

The third test battery to the Intel Core i7-7700k is dedicated to video conversion. We use Handbrake, recently upgraded to version 1.0. We used the previous version, which was with which we did the tests to previous processors. From now on we will do them with the latest version of the software.

Having seen these first results and the comparison with the previous high range for overclocking Intel under Skylake, interest in the new chips of the giant under the new generation is not to look for in these models unlocked if you already have the previous generation in Home, but in the mass consumer market where the tasks of encoding / decoding content 4K HEVC and VP9 happen to be performed natively by the hardware.