Intel i7-7700K Kaby Lake CPU Review

It seems like only yesterday we were reviewing the Skylake CPU, but it turns out that was nearly 17 months ago! Back then, Skylake was the “tock” of Intel’s “tick-tock” release strategy, but recent times has seen them add a phase to this, almost a tick, tock, and refine. Since we have seen the tock, we now expect even further refinement. Queue the 7th generation of Intel CPUs, dubbed, Kaby Lake (pronounced KAY-BEE). With Kaby Lake, you are looking at “Intel’s most advanced 14nm+ process technology and delivers new levels of performance and security.” Intel has made some refinements which for us overclocking enthusiasts should yield higher overclocks. It will also save power for the lower power/laptop CPUs in the Y, U, and H, series CPUs, and for all of us, better built in security, and a better 4K streaming experience.

But we are here to talk about the S series, in particular, the flagship Intel i7-7700K Kaby Lake we have to review. Though IPC improvements may be sparse at best, my hope is to squeeze a couple hundred MHz more out of the top end. The higher base clocks may be appealing for those looking to get a new platform. I think its time to stop the chit chat and get moving on those details.