Intel Core i5-7600K Kaby Lake Desktop Processor Benchmarked
Earlier this year (at Computex 2016) Intel confirmed that the new 7th gen processors (with the code name Kaby Lake) will be released later this year. These processors will run with the same 14nm processes as the 6th and 5th gen. Unfortunately, the release has been moved from the end of this year to around the beginning of 2017.
A Chinese tech review site, pconline.com.cn, recently broke their Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) by publishing a review on Intels Core i5-7600K Kaby Lake processor along with a side by side comparison of the soon to be released Core i5-7600K with the 6th gen Intel Core i5-6600K processor. The notable change would be the clock speeds but the built in GPU has risen from the HD 530 to HD 630 with no significant increase in terms of performance delivery.
| CPU model | Core i5-7600K | Core i5-6600K | Core i5-5675C |
| Core code | Kaby Lake | Skylake | Broadwell |
| Interface Type | LGA 1151 | LGA 1151 | LGA 1150 |
| Core thread | 4/4 | 4/4 | 4/4 |
| Frequency (GHz) | 3.8-4.2 | 3.5-3.9 | 3.1-3.6 |
| Memory support | DRR3L-1600 / DDR4-2133 | DRR3L-1600 / DDR4-2133 | DDR3-1600 |
| Built-in GPU | HD 630 | HD 530 | Iris Pro 6200 |
| Number of EU units | 24 | 24 | 48 |
| Level 3 cache | 6MB | 6MB | 4MB |
| Level 4 cache | – | – | 128MB eDRAM |
| Process | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm |
| TDP | 91W | 91W | 65W |
When looking at the clock speeds of Intels Core i5-7600K with the Core i5-6600K it shows that the new 7th gen processor is around 10% faster than its predecessor. The base clock speed of the new Core i5-7600K is 3.8GHz compared to the 3.5GHz base clock speed of the 6th gen i5 processor. In addition to the comparison of the two clock speeds, PCOnline took a closer look at the upcoming Intel Core i5-7600K and Core i5-6600K with the results posted below.
| CPU model | Core i5-7600K | Core i5-6600K |
| Base frequency | 3.8 GHz | 3.5 GHz |
| Single-core maximum Core frequency | 4.2 GHz | 3.9 GHz |
| Dual-core highest frequency | 4.1 GHz | 3.8 GHz |
| Three-core highest frequency | 4.1 GHz | 3.7 GHz |
| Quad-core highest frequency | 4.0 GHz | 3.6 GHz |
PCOnline used benchmark tests (wPrime, WinRAR, Cinebench, 3DMark, and Photoshop) to test the new Kaby Lake CPU and showed some pretty decent performance gains (9%), but it didn’t leave them that impressed. They also said the power consumption was basically the same as the previous generation.
Hopefully we will see some overclocking results soon, but so far we are excited by Kaby Lake performance numbers. Performance is up, power is basically the same and the cost is rumored to be the same as the current generation. Getting a 9% performance gain for the same price is nice and there are rumors that these chips are solid overclockers. All that has us pretty excited and we can’t wait to see the retail Kaby Lake processors that are released around CES 2017 in Las Vegas.