Intel Kaby Lake: Core i7-7700K, i7-7700, i5-7600K and i5-7600 in review

Intel is currently in the midst of the biggest restructuring in the company's history. In terms of its own growth forecasts, the focus is increasingly shifting toward IoT, cloud, and data centers. At the same time, the CPU... 200 chipsets and Optane Ready support Both the 200 and 100 chipsets support Kaby Lake and Skylake processors. This dual compatibility could create an interesting dilemma for enthusiasts who want to create a Skyl... Processors Core i7-7700K Core i7-7700 Core i7-7600K Core i7-7600 Motherboard and memory As the basis of our test platform, we use both the seventh (Kaby Lake) and the sixth (Skylake) generation of core CPUs MSIs Z... Benchmark selection and practical relevance Of course, you could make it easy and roll out synthetic benchmarks that show exactly one thing in the end: that there is actually nothing to show. In any case, not if the respective equivalent ... OpenGL: Cinebench R15 Before we let the very hard guys out, we insert a little synthetic foot insert in the form of the OpenGL benchmark in the Cinebench package. Takt goes ahead, you don't need more than four cores here. Own... Since we were always asked which graphics card or CPU is best when using Adobe CC & co. more intensively, we can now give an answer at least with regard to the CPU - at least as long as it is on our ... 3D-Peformance with dedicated graphics card Of course, the reader will also want to know how good (or bad) a new CPU is when playing challenging titles. For the next two tests, we use an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 FE, which is about as ... Important preliminary remark We have not known since today that the processors are subject to very large variations in quality during production. This time, however, our test samples are not directly from Intel, but are normal retail CPUs... This CPU does not have an open multiplier compared to the core i7-7700K and also has a significantly lower base clock. In addition, Intel's other values (e.g. Ringbus) deliberately chosen in such a way that even an overclocking over an increase... This CPU, like the Core i7-7700K, has an open multiplier and also has a significantly higher base clock than the non-K models. Of course, this also opens up enough space for your own manual overclocking attempts. If the ex works is... This CPU, like the Core i7-7000, does not have an open multiplier compared to the Core i5-7600K and also has a significantly lower base clock. Also with this CPU, an overclocking overane was increased BCLK by certain factory specifications... Golden Sample or Potato Chip? As already written, we have tested this time with pure retail CPUs - exactly with the material that the normal buyer can expect if he wants to upgrade as an "Early Adaptor" in a timely manner. However, it is... Intel's last generations of Intel's CPU have been characterized by a slow progression in incremental upgrades and have not exactly helped to keep their own products at a distance from those of the...

Important preliminary remarks

We have not known since today that the processors are subject to very large variations in quality during production. This time, however, our test samples are not directly from Intel, but are normal retail CPUs, as you can buy them as a normal customer in-store. Pre-selection by the manufacturer must therefore be ruled out.

In this context, however, we had to note that our copy of the Core i7-7700K in the German laboratory is a rather poor qualitative sample and we were therefore clearly unlucky.

To be clear, this definitely has no effect on the benchmark results, but on power consumption, cooling and possible overclockability of the processors.

Therefore, after the execution of each of the four tested CPUs, we have added a page that deals specifically with serial scattering. To do this, we were able to use a test pattern for comparison, which Intel's PR could provide us with at short notice, albeit far too late. But more on that later.

The Core i7-7700K

The CPU has an open multiplier and also a significantly higher base clock than the non-K models. Of course, this also opens up enough space for your own manual overclocking attempts.

If the factory-defined base clock is 4.2 GHz, the CPU manages to operate all cores with 4.5 GHz Turbo Core, even under extreme loads.

Let's take a look at how this CPU behaves under different loads. As already written, it's a kind of extreme case – but it also shows what you can expect if you're unlucky when you buy.

Core Voltages (Vcore)

Let us first turn to the actual adjacent core voltage (Vcore), which should not be confused with the given VID or what, for example, Dynamically display GPU-Z or CoreTemp as VID or Voltage.

Our sensor value is supplied by the motherboard and shows the voltage as it is applied to the test object after the voltage converters.

Since the loads change dynamically and quickly with gaming (grey curve), this works quite well with the voltage adjustment, because it is only controlled down when the loads increase more strongly. This can also be seen in the blue curve, for which we had a constant computational load.

In order to protect the CPU from excessive loss lines, the motherboard adjusts the voltage depending on the load, but keeps the voltage at a constant level almost all the time.

During the run with a really extreme stress test, which we will discuss in a time, the CPU is switched again properly, because the CPU already reached thermal limits despite compact water cooling, in which it rotted down for safety reasons.

Normal Load: Gaming

We determine the gaming load with a special savegame from Watchdogs 2. For reasons of reproducibility, the game person stands at a very busy highway in the city center, where the permanent traffic and many NPCs create a relatively high CPU load.

This load represents the average over the time of 30 minutes, because we were able to determine over a longer, real gaming session with very different challenges to the CPU. Depending on the game, this can of course be more or less.

Let's first consider the power consumption as a total value, the proportion of computing units (IA Core) and the remaining functional areas such as cache, memory controller, etc. (Uncore). After heating, an average of up to 77 watts is due for the entire CPU, which is comparatively high. It is easy to see that only up to 67 watts are required for the computing units. The value for Uncore then contains things like the cache or the storage controller, while the difference between the package and the sum of IA Core plus Uncore indicates the remaining power dissipation.

With continuous warming, we can observe a certain increase in power consumption values, which clearly indicates increasing leakage currents. In gaming, the increase is almost three watts.

Temperatures rise to varying degrees depending on the position of the respective readout sensor, but stabilize after more than 22 minutes at a maximum of 71°C.

Heavy Load: Torture (Floating Point Unit)

At the next run we let the CPU calculate and use the stability test of Aida 64 (finalware). We only charge the FPU, so that the highest possible power consumption values are generated here. The power consumption climbs up to 98 watts, but again shows a significant increase due to leakage currents, which increase as heating progresses.

With up to 85°C Tcore, this CPU is already just below what you would call a normal user with "just still healthy". In any case, a thermal margin for higher overclocking is different.

Maximum Load: Intel Power Thermal Utility (100%)

Worse is always going on and so thoracic hammers are finally unpacking. Intel's Power Thermal Utility is nothing for fear bunnies, and probably for Kaby Lake for good reason. A whopping 137 watts now pulverizes the CPU in total, whereby the test pattern in the US editorial office was 18 watts more economical! But we continue to test with what we hold in our hands, and will later deal with the differences separately.

Unfortunately( and only logically), we experience the same heavy explosion in the temperatures. We record up to 101°C, which corresponds to the achievement and short-term exceeding of the permissible maximum temperature. No wonder this leads to the thermal throttling of the CPU (up to 25%) in a very short time. After all, the CPU survived, because she too had to endure this ordeal for 30 minutes.

Now, however, just under 140 watts are nothing that could embarrass the used water cooling per se, because this one manages to tame a Core i7-6950X even up to four GHz, resulting in significantly higher power losses. Here, the small chip surface (density!) and above all the thermal paste used simply add up to a rather ominous alliance, which should make the eyes of every accountant and controller shine, but which drives the end user's worry wrinkles on the forehead. .

Intel Core i7-7700K vs. Core i7 6700K x 4.5 GHz

In the performance benchmarks, we had compared the Core i7-7700K with an equally high-clocked Core i7-6700K, which could really beat itself respectably, even if it was already acting hard at the maximum possible upper limit. The chip quality of our Core i7-6700K is probably slightly above average, but is also not a real golden sample, but rather good storeware.

That's why we're now starting the comparison of the mediocre Skylake CPU with a rather poor Kaby Lake CPU at the same time. And we are not badly surprised that our Skylake model can even slightly below the Core i7-7700K in power consumption despite manual OC and slight voltage increase in the BIOS!

After that, a rather mediocre overclocked Core i7-6700K would be even more efficient than a poor sales copy of the Core i7-7700K at nominal time. We are already regretting the online retailers, because we are pretty sure that the CPU ping pong could break new records after the launch. We have even obtained a first statistical survey, but we want to take a closer look at it in the section on series action.

The voltages of the Core i7-6700K are always higher than those of the Core i7-7700K, which relies on a new manufacturing process. Nevertheless, this is not yet a guarantee that one can generally be above the previous generation in terms of efficiency.

We must point out clearly at this point that the dispersions between the chip qualities of the two CPUs can significantly distort the result. However, we will (need to) come back to the topic of serial scattering later.

Intermediate conclusion

We learn two things from these measurements of our qualitatively acceptable CPU compared to the first tested Core i7-7700K. First, Intel PTU is really not a toy, and secondly, the Core i7-7700K still has enough thermal and power reserves outside of this torture chamber to sustain further manual overclocking.

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