Core Features
A Fond Farewell to 'Tic-Toc'
Kaby Lake is the definitive end to Intel's 'Tic-Toc' development cycle as their first CPU to be created under final step of the new "Process, Architecture, Optimisation" strategy. Intel's shift to PAO will mean a new architecture or process will arrive only once every three generations, inevitably leading to smaller incremental changes over time. Clearly lack of competition and the escalating costs of developing new manufacturing methods have been the impetus for this change in approach, but it does run the risk of making new releases somewhat lacklustre. We shall see if that's the case with Kaby Lake.
Kaby Lake Features:
Quad-core Kaby Lake Die Shot
Very little changes under the hood in the transition from Skylake to Kaby Lake, as evidenced by a distinct similarity of the two generations' core features. Not only are both designs the usual quad-core fare, but both still support dual-channel DDR4 memory, PCIe 3.0 and DMI 3.0. That's not to say that no changes have been made, but rather that changes are not concentrated is such a way as to increase the Instructions Per Clock metric. Most of the performance gap will be through the increase of Base and Turbo frequencies on both CPUs, which for those who engage in overclocking is largely meaningless. In a general sense consumers who opt for Kaby Lake will be able to take advantage of better out-the-box performance within the same power envelope as Skylake, but where Kaby Lake trumps Skylake is in the arena of media creation and playback thanks to an augmented graphics unit.
Media Content Improvements
With Kaby Lake, Intel have their eye fixed on future content creation and manipulation especially in regards to 4K and VR content. The CPU now has hardware resources dedicated to HEVC encode/decode for 4K Stream, and Intel have partnered with Netflix and other streaming services to ensure that consumer can take full advantage of it. In theory this will significantly improve battery life for mobile systems when consuming such content.
Project EVO, an industry collaboration between Microsoft and Intel, intends to drive VR access across a far wider range of devices than is currently the case, and Kaby Lake's augmented media capabilities are part of that. Already the H-Series is pitched as the go-to CPU for untethered VR (e.g. Backpack VR), and Intel's own presence in eSports has lead them to believe that VR could be a great way to bring Arena eSports to you. 360-degree video content is clearly a huge part of that, and the improved graphics capabilities of Kaby Lake should help to make is feasible.
Iris PLUS Graphics
Selected SKUs within Intel's Kaby Lake range will be equipped with Iris PLUS graphics, a new feature that provides additional graphics horsepower and on-package EDRAM to selected U-Series SKUs for the mobile (15-28W TDP) market. Intended as a bridge between 600-series graphics typical to Kaby Lake and the Iris PRO solutions on previous generations, it boosts gaming performance significantly. Intel envision that Iris PLUS will be suitable for 1080p gaming at moderate image quality and resolution settings within a low power environment, potentially negating the need for discrete graphics or increasing the capabilities of laptops without the cost of Iris PRO.
Currently there are no plans to release Iris PLUS-equipped desktop CPUs, in keeping with their general strategy with the Iris graphics range.
The Wildcard - Intel Optane Memory Support
Eagle-eyed followers of all things NAND may well remember the announcement of a new non-volatile memory storage technology developed by IM Flash (a partnership between Intel and Micron) in 2015 known as 3DXPoint. The details behind the technology - its physical underpinnings and how it works - still haven't been fully revealed, but it is known to be an alternative to conventional NAND that excels in reaching particularly high IOPS, without the cost/GB of conventional DRAM.
Optane is Intel's brand name for products featuring 3D XPoint memory, and while details of the technology are hard to come by and as yet no Optane product has been released to the consumer market, it's understood to bridge the performance gap between DRAM and NAND. Lab testing indicates that 3D XPoint memory has higher IOPS capability and lower latency than regular NAND, but doesn't have the same cost implications as DRAM. First Gen Optane PCIe SSDs have so-far bettered traditional NAND PCIe SSDs by between 2.4x and 3.0x, enough to get corporations such as Facebook with huge data crunching requirements very interested.
Intel's 7th Generation CPU and 200-series motherboard platform is billed with exclusive support for Intel Optane Memory. Acting as a new high-speed caching mechanism in the vein of Intel Smart Response, Optane Memory modules will utilise the M.2 interface on supporting motherboards and lead to a more responsive OS and general user experience. Optane Memory modules are due for release in the first half of 2017.
The release of Optane Memory does not preclude the release of other Optane storage drives which won't be bound to a particular platform.
Intel Core i7-7700K
- Optimised 14nm FinFET Process
- 4 Physical Kaby Lake cores, 8 threads, supporting Hyperthreading.
- 4.2 GHz Base Freq, 4.5 GHz Turbo Mode
- 8 MB L3 cache
- Intel HD 630 Graphics
- Socket LGA1151
- Fully Unlocked Multiplier
- DDR4 support (Dual Channel)
- 20 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes
- DMI 3.0
- 91W TDP
Intel Core i7-7600K
- Optimised 14nm FinFET Process
- 4 Physical Kaby Lake cores, 4 threads.
- 3.8 GHz Base Freq, 4.2 GHz Turbo Mode
- 6 MB L3 cache
- Intel HD 630 Graphics
- Socket LGA1151
- Fully Unlocked Multiplier
- DDR4 support (Dual Channel)
- 20 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes
- DMI 3.0
- 91W TDP
- Optimised 14nm FinFET Process
- 4 Physical Kaby Lake cores, 8 threads, supporting Hyperthreading.
- 4.2 GHz Base Freq, 4.5 GHz Turbo Mode
- 8 MB L3 cache
- Intel HD 630 Graphics
- Socket LGA1151
- Fully Unlocked Multiplier
- DDR4 support (Dual Channel)
- 20 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes
- DMI 3.0
- 91W TDP
Intel Core i7-7600K
- Optimised 14nm FinFET Process
- 4 Physical Kaby Lake cores, 4 threads.
- 3.8 GHz Base Freq, 4.2 GHz Turbo Mode
- 6 MB L3 cache
- Intel HD 630 Graphics
- Socket LGA1151
- Fully Unlocked Multiplier
- DDR4 support (Dual Channel)
- 20 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes
- DMI 3.0
- 91W TDP
A Fond Farewell to 'Tic-Toc'
Kaby Lake is the definitive end to Intel's 'Tic-Toc' development cycle as their first CPU to be created under final step of the new "Process, Architecture, Optimisation" strategy. Intel's shift to PAO will mean a new architecture or process will arrive only once every three generations, inevitably leading to smaller incremental changes over time. Clearly lack of competition and the escalating costs of developing new manufacturing methods have been the impetus for this change in approach, but it does run the risk of making new releases somewhat lacklustre. We shall see if that's the case with Kaby Lake.
Kaby Lake Features:
Quad-core Kaby Lake Die Shot
Process: Intel 14nm FinFET PLUS
Socket: BGA/LGA 1151
Motherboard Compatibility: Intel 200-series and 100-series chipsets
Socket: BGA/LGA 1151
Motherboard Compatibility: Intel 200-series and 100-series chipsets
Very little changes under the hood in the transition from Skylake to Kaby Lake, as evidenced by a distinct similarity of the two generations' core features. Not only are both designs the usual quad-core fare, but both still support dual-channel DDR4 memory, PCIe 3.0 and DMI 3.0. That's not to say that no changes have been made, but rather that changes are not concentrated is such a way as to increase the Instructions Per Clock metric. Most of the performance gap will be through the increase of Base and Turbo frequencies on both CPUs, which for those who engage in overclocking is largely meaningless. In a general sense consumers who opt for Kaby Lake will be able to take advantage of better out-the-box performance within the same power envelope as Skylake, but where Kaby Lake trumps Skylake is in the arena of media creation and playback thanks to an augmented graphics unit.
Media Content Improvements
With Kaby Lake, Intel have their eye fixed on future content creation and manipulation especially in regards to 4K and VR content. The CPU now has hardware resources dedicated to HEVC encode/decode for 4K Stream, and Intel have partnered with Netflix and other streaming services to ensure that consumer can take full advantage of it. In theory this will significantly improve battery life for mobile systems when consuming such content.
Project EVO, an industry collaboration between Microsoft and Intel, intends to drive VR access across a far wider range of devices than is currently the case, and Kaby Lake's augmented media capabilities are part of that. Already the H-Series is pitched as the go-to CPU for untethered VR (e.g. Backpack VR), and Intel's own presence in eSports has lead them to believe that VR could be a great way to bring Arena eSports to you. 360-degree video content is clearly a huge part of that, and the improved graphics capabilities of Kaby Lake should help to make is feasible.
Iris PLUS Graphics
Selected SKUs within Intel's Kaby Lake range will be equipped with Iris PLUS graphics, a new feature that provides additional graphics horsepower and on-package EDRAM to selected U-Series SKUs for the mobile (15-28W TDP) market. Intended as a bridge between 600-series graphics typical to Kaby Lake and the Iris PRO solutions on previous generations, it boosts gaming performance significantly. Intel envision that Iris PLUS will be suitable for 1080p gaming at moderate image quality and resolution settings within a low power environment, potentially negating the need for discrete graphics or increasing the capabilities of laptops without the cost of Iris PRO.
Currently there are no plans to release Iris PLUS-equipped desktop CPUs, in keeping with their general strategy with the Iris graphics range.
The Wildcard - Intel Optane Memory Support
Eagle-eyed followers of all things NAND may well remember the announcement of a new non-volatile memory storage technology developed by IM Flash (a partnership between Intel and Micron) in 2015 known as 3DXPoint. The details behind the technology - its physical underpinnings and how it works - still haven't been fully revealed, but it is known to be an alternative to conventional NAND that excels in reaching particularly high IOPS, without the cost/GB of conventional DRAM.
Optane is Intel's brand name for products featuring 3D XPoint memory, and while details of the technology are hard to come by and as yet no Optane product has been released to the consumer market, it's understood to bridge the performance gap between DRAM and NAND. Lab testing indicates that 3D XPoint memory has higher IOPS capability and lower latency than regular NAND, but doesn't have the same cost implications as DRAM. First Gen Optane PCIe SSDs have so-far bettered traditional NAND PCIe SSDs by between 2.4x and 3.0x, enough to get corporations such as Facebook with huge data crunching requirements very interested.
Intel's 7th Generation CPU and 200-series motherboard platform is billed with exclusive support for Intel Optane Memory. Acting as a new high-speed caching mechanism in the vein of Intel Smart Response, Optane Memory modules will utilise the M.2 interface on supporting motherboards and lead to a more responsive OS and general user experience. Optane Memory modules are due for release in the first half of 2017.
The release of Optane Memory does not preclude the release of other Optane storage drives which won't be bound to a particular platform.
