Intel Core i7-7700K vs Intel Core i7-2600K

Intel Core i7-7700K

The Intel Core i7-7700K is a fast quad-core processor for desktops based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. It is the top model of the consumer Kaby-Lake-H series at the time of the announcement. Besides four cores including Hyper-Threading (8 threads) support running at 4.2 - 4.5 GHz, the processor is also equipped with the HD Graphics 630 GPU as well as a dual-channel memory controller (DDR3L-1600/DDR4-2400). It is manufactured in a 14nm process with FinFET transistors.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. The manufacturer only reworked the Speed Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of voltages and clocks, and the improved 14nm process allows much higher frequencies combined with better efficiency than before.

Performance

Thanks to the 200 (base) and 300 MHz (Boost) higher clock speed, respectively, the i7-7700K is a few percent faster than the old Skylake Core i7-6700K that offers the same per-MHz performance. Therefore, it is a very fast quad-core CPU that offers sufficient performance for all tasks.

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 630 has 24 Execution Units (similar to previous HD Graphics 530) running at 350 - 1150 MHz. The performance depends a lot on the memory configuration; it should be comparable to a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 920M in combination with fast DDR4-2133 dual-channel memory.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby Lake now supports hardware decoding for H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors, which were announced in January, should also support HDCP 2.2.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors, which improves the efficiency slightly. Intel still specifies the TDP with 91 Watts, which is a lot more than the 45 Watts of the mobile Kaby-Lake-H CPUs.

Intel Core i7-2600K

The Intel Core i7-2600K is a high-end quad-core desktop processor of the Sandy Bridge generation. It was announced at the beginning of 2011 and was the fastest CPU of this series at that time. However it does not offer all Sandy Bridge features, as vPro, VT-d and Trusted-Execution features are deactivated.

The four processor cores are able to handle 8 threads in parallel (due to Hyperthreading) and offer a base clock rate of 3.4 GHz. Under load, the cores can be overclocked automatically to up to 3.8 GHz with sufficient cooling:

• 3.8 GHz - 1 core load
• 3.7 GHz - 2 cores load
• 3.6 GHz - 3 cores load
• 3.5 GHz - 4 cores load

As a member of the "K-familiy" the i7-2600K is easily overclockable due to the open multiplicator.

The Die also includes an graphics card called Intel HD Graphics 3000 that clocks with 850 to 1350 MHz (also due to Turbo Boost). Furthermore, an integrated dual channel memory controller is able to handle up to 32 GB of DDR3-1333.