The first specifications of Intel’s upcoming Kaby Lake processors have been leaked out. Intel’s 7th generation processor family, codenamed Kaby Lake, will be launching later this year on desktops and mobility platforms with several chips and products to select from. The Kaby Lake processors will be Intel’s last x86 processors to utilize the 14nm process after which Intel will jump ship to 10nm on their Cannonlake processors.
Kaby Lake processors will be compatible with existing 100-series motherboards. (Image Credits: Digitaltrends)
Intel’s Kaby Lake Desktop and Mobile CPUs Detailed – 7th Generation, 14nm Optimized Core Processors
Intel’s Kaby Lake processors will be the 7th iteration of the Core family so we should be expecting some key improvements. The Kaby Lake lineup may not be a significant update over the Skylake family but Intel made things clear by announcing their latest process technology roadmap last month.
According to the roadmap, Intel will now stick to a process node for three generation of Core families. With 14nm, we have gotten the Broadwell, Skylake and the upcoming Kaby Lake processors. The same process will continue with 10nm and beyond due to complexity involved in developing new chips on such small nodes and the resultant yields.
Intel officially dropped Tick-Tock in favor of three year cadence (PAO).
Summing up the 14nm family of processors, Broadwell was the first to utilize the new process while keeping the architectural design close to Haswell. Skylake was also 14nm but brought significant improvements on CPU and GPU side. The Kaby Lake processors are termed as part of the “Optimization” process which means Intel will be able to extract more performance and better efficiency from existing Skylake designs. This is slightly closer to a refresh but we will see if Intel manages to offer more than that at launch.
The leaked details of three new processors include the Core i7-7700K, Core i7-7500U and the Core M7-7Y75. It is clear that the first processor is the flagship processor of the desktop lineup while the remaining two are built for the notebook families such as Kaby Lake-U and Kaby Lake-Y. It’s interesting that these chips have shown up on SisoftSandra so early so it is possible that the clock speeds might change in the final revisions. Regardless, let us get on with the specifications:
Intel Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake-S Mainstream Desktop Processor
The flagship Intel desktop processor will be the Core i7-7700K processor. Intel will stick with the quad core and hyper threaded design which they have been using on the mainstream Core i7 processors since launch. The chip is currently clocked at 3.60 GHz with boost clocks of 4.2 GHz. The currently flagship Core i7-6700K features 4.00 GHz base and 4.20 GHz boost clocks. As mentioned before, these are early samples so clock speeds can increase by the time these chips launch.
Image Source: SisoftSandra Database
Other specifications include an 8 MB L3 cache, 256 KB of L2 cache and a 4.00 GHz internal memory controller. The chip will feature the latest Kaby Lake Desktop graphics processor which will consist of 24 Execution units. The sample was clocked to 1150 MHz which is what the GT2 graphics chip on the Core i7-6700K is also clocked at. The Core i7-7700K processor will feature slightly better efficiency and possibly a lower TDP due to the much enhanced 14nm process. The chip will be compatible with 100-series and 200-series motherboards that feature the LGA 1151 socket.
Intel Core i7-7700K Preliminary Specs:
| Processor Name | Intel Core i7-7700K | Intel Core i7-6700K | Intel Core i7-5775C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family Name | Kaby Lake | Skylake | Broadwell |
| Process Node | 14nm (3rd Gen) | 14nm (2nd Gen) | 14nm (1st Gen) |
| CPU Cores | 4/8 | 4/8 | 4/8 |
| Graphics Core | TBA | Intel 530 | Iris Pro 6200 |
| Base Clock | 3.60 GHz (ES) | 4.00 GHz | 3.30 GHz |
| Boost Clock | 4.20 GHz (ES) | 4.20 GHz | 3.70 GHz |
| L3 Cache | 8 MB L3 | 8 MB L3 | 6 MB L3 |
| L4 Cache | N/A | N/A | 128 MB eDRAM |
| Unlocked Design | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TDP | TBA | 91W | 65W |
Intel Core i7-7500U Kaby Lake-U Low TDP Mobility Processor
The Core i7-7500U will be part of the Kaby Lake-U family which is built for ultra-low power platforms. The Core i7-7500U sample was a dual core, multi-threaded processor which featured clock speeds of 2.70 GHz base and 2.90 GHz boost. The chip comes with 4 MB L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache. The chip was tested on a platform with DDR3L memory. DDR4L and LPDDR4 support will also be included for Kaby Lake-U processors.
Image Source: SisoftSandra Database
The graphics chip is likely to be a GT2 series with clock speeds of around 1000-1100 MHz. It’s predecessor, the Core i7-6500U has a 15W TDP which the Core i7-7500U is likely to retain. The chip will be available in several 7 th generation notebooks in 2H of 2016.
Intel Core M7-7Y75 Kaby Lake-Y Core M, Low TDP Processor
The last chip is the Core M7-7Y75 which as the name suggests is part of the Kaby Lake-Y series. These ultra low TDP chips don’t exceed the 4.5W range which will likely be true for the Kaby Lake series. On the specifications side, the Core M7-7Y75 is a dual core design with multi-threading enabled.
This chip is clocked at a base clock of 1.30 GHz and boosts up to 1.60 GHz. The chip has 4 MB of L3 cache. We don’t know about the graphics part of this chip but it will be featured on ultra-slim form factors such as ultra-books and Apple’s Mac Air. The Kaby Lake lineup is currently planned for launch in second half of 2016 so we should be expecting some early board samples for the desktop lineup to appear at Computex 2016.
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