Seven facts about Kaby Lake. We test the new generation of Intel processors

In early January Intel officially introduced a new generation of processors Intel Core on architecture Kaby Lake. The update turned out to be quite strange, so today we will do without extensive reasoning and tell you only that you really need to know.

The first is the first: no "tick-so"

For a long time, Intel followed a simple processor renewal scheme: “Tik-Tak”. In one year, the technology process was updated, and the next new architecture was released in the next. For the first few years, the rhythm withstand almost impeccably, but in recent years the scheme began to significantly fail. And with Kaby Lake, the manufacturer officially admitted that one cannot live with Tick-Tak and another stage is added to it, called “Optimization”, on which the already created crystals will finish. Unfortunately, it was for this new round that Kaby Lake got.

Why Intel decided to change itself, it is difficult to say. According to the company itself, everything is to blame for the high cost of the transition to new processes. True, we believe that a general decline in sales on the computers market is more likely to blame – it is becoming increasingly difficult to beat off money with such short production cycles.

The second fact: architecture

Despite the new name and solid word "optimization", technically and structurally, Kaby Lake accurately copies last year's Skylake. The structure of the chips, the structure of memory, the logic of work, sets of instructions – everything remains the same. Even numerical indicators did not change: a maximum of four nuclei, 8 MB of the cache and 16 PCIE lines for communication with the video card. In general, besides the name – no innovation.

The third fact: the process

The technology process remained unchanged. Kaby Lake is made according to the same 14-nanometer standards. Only now a plusik (14 nm+) is attributed to their name, behind which some updates really lie. In Kaby Lake, transistors have slightly increased the height of the ribs and the distance between them. As a result – leakage currents and heat dissipation slightly decreased, and this allowed to increase the frequency of crystals.

Four fact: Frequency of work

► Official frequency record for Core i7-7700K-7383 MHz. By the way, it was installed by the Russian team on the motherboard ASUS MAXIMUS IX APEX.

Compared to the processors of the past generation, in new crystals, the frequency on average increased by 200-300 MHz. At the same time, TDP models remained the same. That is, with the same 90 watts, a new Core i7-7700K takes a bar of 4.5 GHz, while the i7-6700K rose only to 4.2 GHz.

Moreover, the processors are even better accelerate. If 4.4-4.5 GHz was able to squeeze out from Skylake on average, then 4.8 GHz are considered the norm for Kaby Lake, and with a successful combination of circumstances and 5 GHz. And yes, we are talking about work under ordinary air cooers now.

We immediately note that, as before, all the crystals of Intel Core and Pentium can be dispersed along the bus, and the models with the K index are also chasing the multiplier. By the way, there are now unlocked crystals not only in the Core i5 and Core i7 series, but also in Core i3. And the family Pentium , The cheapest Kaby Lake now supports Hyper-Threading.

Fifth fact: built -in core

Remained in Kaby Lake and built -in graphics. But if earlier it was Intel HD Graphics 530, now it is HD Graphics 630. Evolution? Not at all, on board all the same 24 blocks with a frequency of 1150 MHz. The new figure in the name was registered thanks to the updated media engine Quick Sync. He can now decode video in Formats H.265 and VP.9. In other words, if you are a subtle connoisseur of films in 4K or are going to strive in this resolution, you know – the processor will no longer be loaded with Kaby Lake at 100%.

As for the performance of the graphics itself, it is a sin to complain about it. She copes with Windows without any problems, and not very demanding toys are drawn as a bonus. You can also a village in Rim World build, and prison in Prison Architect shout, and even in Dota 2 drive. The latter in Full HD and on medium settings gives quite decent 62 FPS.

Fact six: Chipseta

Together with Kaby Lake, Intel introduced new chipsets of the 200th series. True, changes in them are as few as in processors. Senior models, Z270, received additional four PCIE lines, to which the manufacturers of the motherboards can tie the extra USB or M ports.2. Frankly, the list is not particularly intriguing, but the scarcity is somewhat compensated by the manufacturers of the board.

So, for example, in the top maternals of Asus Apex, DIMM technology appeared.2, which allows you to install two drives m in a slot under the rally.2. And to our test maximus iX Formula, it was possible to easily connect the custom "dropsy" to take heat from the power circuits.

However, if none of these new products attracts you, we have a pleasant fact in stock. They did not change the socket for Kaby Lake, leaving the already familiar LGA 1151. That is, new processors work perfectly on the old Maternkers Z170 Express, but Skylake feels good on Z270.

The seventh fact: performance

Test results
CPU Intel Core i7-7700K Intel Core i7-6700K
Cinebench R15
One Core 196 175
All Cores 988 897
Multiplier 5.05 5.11
Winrar (KB/s)
One Core 2061 1946
All Cores 11258 10711
Truecrypt (MB/s)
AES-Twofish-Serpent 336 295
PCMark (Work)
Work 5429 5281
Rise of the Tomb Raider
1920×1080, VERYHIGH 118.1 119
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
1920×1080, Ultra 115.7 114.9
Tom Clancy’s The Division
1920×1080, Max 93 92.6

And finally, about the most important thing: about performance. On the tests, we were visited by a senior representative of the line-Core i7-7700K, who replaced Core i7-6600K. As we have already said, technically, crystals differ only in frequency: under the Turbo Boost, the novelty gives 300 MHz more, and in the standard it holds speed 200 MHz higher. Actually, this difference in frequency is laid down the increase in performance. In all tasks, I7-7700K is about 5-6% faster than its predecessor. And when compared at the same frequency, the difference fits into the measurement error.

As for the temperature of the processor, nothing has changed here. At the limit, the processor easily gets to 80 ° C. But our processor was scalp and even at a frequency of 4.8 GHz did not warm above 70 ° C.

* * *

The seventh generation Intel Core i7 is difficult to call "new". In fact, we have the same Skylake, but at a little higher frequencies. Good or bad, decide for yourself, our opinion is. If you are sitting on the relatively fresh architecture of Intel (Skylake or Haswell), it makes no sense to https://kwiff-gb-casino.co.uk/ update to Kaby Lake. But if you assemble a computer from scratch, then before the exit of AMD Ryzen the seventh Core is the only correct option.

Thank ASUS for the equipment provided.

Test stand
Cooling Thermalright Macho HR-02
Motherboard Asus Rog Maximus IX Formula
Memory 2x 4 GB DDR4-2666 MHz Kingston Hyperx Fury
Video card Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070
Drives TOSHIBA OCZ RD400 (512 GB)
power unit Hiper K900
Additionally Windows 10 64-bit
NVIDIA drivers 378.41
Technical characteristics Core i7
Intel Core i7-7700K Intel Core i7-7700
Architecture Kaby Lake Kaby Lake
Technological process 14 Nm 14 Nm
SOCTEN LGA1151 LGA1151
The number of nuclei/flows 4/8 pcs. 4/8 pcs.
The size of the third level cache is 8 MB 8 MB
Full -time clock frequency 4.2 GHz 3.6 GHz
The maximum frequency in Turbo Boost 4.5 GHz 4.2 GHz mode
The number of memory channels 2 pcs. 2 pcs.
The supported type of memory of DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600 DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600
The number of PCI Express 3 lines supported.0 16 16
Heat package (TDP) 91 W 65 W
The price of January 2017 is 20,700 rubles ($ 345) 18,600 rubles ($ 310)
Technical characteristics Core i5
Core i5-7600k Core i5-7600 Core i5-7500 Core i5-7400
Architecture Kaby Lake Kaby Lake Kaby Lake Kaby Lake
Technological process 14 Nm 14 Nm 14 Nm 14 Nm
SOCKET LGA1151 LGA1151 LGA1151 LGA1151
The number of nuclei/flows 4/4 pcs. 4/4 pcs. 4/4 pcs. 4/4 pcs.
The size of the third level cache is 6 MB 6 MB 6 MB 6 MB
The standard clock frequency is 3.8 GHz 3.5 GHz 3.4 GHz 3.0 GHz
The maximum frequency in TURBO BOOST 4.2 GHz 4.1 GHz 3.8 GHz 3.5 GHz
The number of memory channels 2 pcs. 2 pcs. 2 pcs. 2 pcs.
Supported memory type DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600 DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600 DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600 DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600
The number of PCI Express 3 lines supported.0 16 16 16
Heating package (TDP) 91 W 65 W 65 W 65 W
The price of January 2017 is 14,500 rubles ($ 242) 13,200 rubles ($ 220) 12,000 rubles ($ 200) 11,100 rubles ($ 185)
Technical characteristics Core i3
Core i3-7350K Core i3-7320 Core i3-7300 Core i3-7100
Architecture Kaby Lake Kaby Lake Kaby Lake Kaby Lake
Technological process 14 Nm 14 Nm 14 Nm 14 Nm
SOCKET LGA1151 LGA1151 LGA1151 LGA1151
The number of nuclei/flows 2/4 pcs. 2/4 pcs. 2/4 pcs. 2/4 pcs.
The size of the third -level cache is 4 MB 4 MB 4 MB 3 MB
The standard clock frequency is 4.2 GHz 4.1 GHz 4.0 GHz 3.9 GHz
The maximum frequency in Turbo Boost mode –
The number of memory channels 2 pcs. 2 pcs. 2 pcs. 2 pcs.
Supported memory type DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600 DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600 DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600 DDR4-2400/DDR3L-1600
The number of PCI Express 3 lines supported.0 16 16 16
Heating package (TDP) 60 W 51 W 51 W 51 W
The price for January 2017 is 10,500 rubles ($ 175) 9300 rubles ($ 155) 8700 rubles ($ 145) 7000 rubles ($ 117)