After the break that marked the launch of the Broadwell-E with its model 10 cores and 1800 dollars, Intel has used the CES in Las Vegas to continue the landing on the market of its seventh – generation processor, 14 nm and the Expected models at the top.
We talk about the Core i7 for the most powerful desktop computers for gamers and overclocking enthusiasts. We have already tested 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 it Kaby Lake . Since last summer we met 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: the Core i7 and i5 for more powerful computers.
The generation Kaby Lake is based on technology of 14 nm, with micro architecture very similar to that we know from Skylake although improved, so we can consider it as a second tock, before the next tick will be Cannonlake and now points to the Second half of 2017.
These new processors waiting for the eighth generation and the long – awaited step to 10 nm are therefore an optimization of current Skylake. Why throw it then?
Intel claims that this generation is the excuse to renew equipment and processors in laptops, two in one and of course, more powerful desktops over a wide range of users, more than pure entertainment and consumer, and are no longer immersed in Skylake. Use for it hook promise of a 4K video fluid and 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 deal natively in hardware with content 4K 10-bit H.265 codec under and VP9. With the explosion we expect from streaming content with that resolution, the new chips are a bet for the future. And even necessary according to which platforms. Streaming 4K from Netflix to Windows 10 computers will require these new Intel processors.
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 all the graphics in the graphic new integrated Iris Plus (HD630) but will feature 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 owners of previous generations. But the strategy, viewed 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.
You may also like to read another article on iMindSoft: The most powerful Core i7 Intel has 10 cores and costs $1723
New Intel Core i7-7700K
Kaby Lake reaches the desktop market with high – end model called Core i7-7700k, quad – core and a 4.2 Ghz TurboBoost able to achieve the 4.5 Ghz in one of them. If we ignore the speedup of 4 to 4.2 GHz (and 4.2 to 4.5 GHz in TurboBoost) and IGP HD630, other specifications nailed what provides the corresponding model (Core i7-6700K) in Skylake.
| INTEL CORE i7-7700X | |
| MANUFACTURING | 14 nm (3rd Gen) |
| 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, which allow reuse plates of the previous generation if the BIOS is updated, although it is advisable to choose and for which will be presenting these days and 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 desktop PC ASUS G11 has a basic equipment consisting of the Intel Core i7 6700 (Skylake) 3.4 Ghz accompanied 16GB DDR4 2126 Mhz RAM memory and a Nvidia GTX980.
For performance testing we will use the standard software, as well as tests with games and different applications in controlled environments, so that we can compare performance with reference models of the previous generation , both with the unlocked multiplier (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.
Performance of the Intel Core i7-7700k
As I have already advanced, the reference model for this new generation of more powerful Intel Core is the Intel Core i7-7700K chip that few days we thoroughly tested and that we leave and with the results of our analysis.
The comparative tests began with two Javascript we will provide an idea of team performance in web browsing tasks and HTML5. Here we can check how critical each Mhz of our chip is equal to cores and threads. The increase from 4 to 4.2 GHz of the previous high-end chip under Skylake leaves a mark, but nothing significant.
The next test that we submit to the processors is Winrar. In three test batteries, we perform compressions different data packets, varying both the number and the size of each.
The differences are logically shortened when the task of compression only involves 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 in this case the new chip has been below Skylake.
The third battery of tests to Intel Core i7-7700k dedicate it 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.