Overclocking Intel’s Core i7-7700K: Kaby Lake Hits The Desktop!
Benchmark Results
A recent upgrade to our Windows 10 test suite gave me the perfect excuse to concurrently upgrade my hardware. Specifically, MSI’s GTX 1080 Armor OC replaces my old GTX 970, and Toshiba’s RD400 256GB NVMe SSD replaces my previous 2.5” model.
Test System Configuration
| Software | |
|---|---|
| Graphics | GeForce 372.90 |
Synthetic Benchmarks
The higher-clocked Core i7-7700K provides nominal increases in 3DMark performance, mostly because of gains in its CPU Physics tests. Overclocking makes a far greater difference.
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Sandra Arithmetic and Multimedia also show appreciable gains for the higher-clocked processor.
3D Games
Ashes appears to have a slight preference for faster CPU clocks, while F1 2015 responds primarily to the increased memory data rates of our overclocked configurations. F1 2015 results appear different from recent Z170 motherboard reviews because I fixed a previous error in the benchmark’s software configuration.
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I also fixed an error in my Talos software configuration, allowing MSI’s GTX 1080 to accelerate well past 200 FPS at our medium preset. Still, FPS gains are fairly small in proportion to clock speed differences.
Timed Benchmarks
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Incremental improvements in timed benchmarks show the greatest benefit of the Core i7-7700K’s clock increase. Moreover, its improved overclocking capability should put a smile on the faces of die-hard performance enthusiasts.
Heat And Efficiency
Because the Core i7-7700K acts like an overclocked Core i7-6700K, its temperatures increased just like the power increases seen on the previous page. Update: Our first follow-up test has already confirmed a lower temperature delta between the Core i7-7700K and Core i7-6700K when using a different motherboard. A 7.2% clock increase gives it a 7.2% maximum performance increase, which is diminished in benchmarks that aren’t as CPU-constrained.
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Intel’s Kaby Lake efficiency pretenses are thrown out the window in the Core i7-7700K, at least when paired with this motherboard. Perhaps we have something to look forward to when Z270 finally gets here?
For true performance enthusiasts, the real news is that Intel’s new mainstream-socket enthusiast CPU will reach new overclocking heights. Unfortunately, getting its extra heat out of the core was quite a challenge, as even stepping up from Noctua’s NH-U12S to its NH-D14 saved a mere 3°C. This overclocking experiment even required a 15°C room temperature, which is something most readers won’t be able to accomplish. Big liquid might help, but since the cooler’s heatpipes were barely warm to the touch, there’s a possibility that 4.8 GHz may be the limit of this sample while using any ambient-temperature cooling solution. Still, the fact that it reached 4.8 GHz without sub-ambient cooling is encouraging.
Other points of interest, such as built-in HEVC and VP9 8/10-bit encode/decode, may be revealed when our CPU team is able to publish their full review. Until then, the extra overclocking capability at least gives performance enthusiasts who don’t yet (or still) own a (functioning) Skylake processor a reason to wait for the Kaby Lake release.
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I'd like to see the 7700K versus a Sandy Bridge with gaming. It's probably not a whole lot different since the year 2011.
Hopefully AMD's Zen lives up to the hype "bulldozer" never did because Intel has no competition right now.
Kaby Lake has the expected identical IPC to Skylake but slightly higher clocks. The thermal figures are surprising, I would have thought that they wouldn't have done that bad.
Anyone with Skylake shouldn't bother upgrading. As expected, Intel has produced a filler chip simply because their 10nm fab is taking longer than expected.
Depends on what skylake they have. An i3 6100 user may be interested in an i5 7500 or an i7 7700.
I'd like to see the 7700K versus a Sandy Bridge with gaming. It's probably not a whole lot different since the year 2011.
Hopefully AMD's Zen lives up to the hype "bulldozer" never did because Intel has no competition right now.
If you overclock Skylake to the same frequency as Kaby, Skylake catches up pretty quickly. They appear to be about the same on performance per watt. Nothing disappointing there, just unexceptional. I suppose that can be disappointing in its own way - another cycle of negligible performance and power efficiency gain.
I recently saw a review of Sandy Bridge vs Skylake - on average - there is a fairly decent improvement in FPS when running games at 1080p, indicating that there is a CPU constraint in there. However, the Sandy Bridge setup was quite playable (45+ fps on modern titles at ultra/high). Switch to 1440/4k and the difference drops indicating the GPU constraint. At 1440p the difference was minimal (10%) and 4k they were neck and neck.
And you're right, AMD has a nice chance to get some licks in on Intel with Zen. Lets hope they pull it off and give them a run.
Well, the i3 starts at 4.0Ghz, so I'd think it could hit 4.6 to 4.8 depending on board and sample. The i7-7700K can OC to 5.0Ghz on decent boards (not the crap one used in this review).