Intel Core i7-7700K Performance and Overclocking Preview

PC enthusiasts can look forward to the next few months thanks to some very exciting releases from both AMD and Intel, in what looks set to be the best competition we've seen between the two CPU giants for a decade. We don't want to speak too soon, of course, but even if AMD can offer half what the current leaks and benchmarks are suggesting with its new Zen CPUs, it will make for a much better situation than we've seen since the release of Intel's Core architecture.Anyway, today we have some figures for you and they're none other than performance numbers for a CPU we've acquired which is labelled as an Intel Core i7-7700K i.e. the flagship Kaby Lake desktop CPU due for release early next year to replace the Core i7-6700K. We must stress that this may or may not be a retail sample, although its turbo boost speed of 4.5GHz and obviously the labelling, suggest that it may well be.It didn't come in a retail box so you're free to interpret the results over the next few pages however you wish. We will, of course, be doing some much more in-depth testing and offering a deeper discussion on Intel's new CPUs and chipset next year when they officially launch.Today, we'll be running the Core i7-7700K through a selection of our benchmarks using a Z170 motherboard, 16GB 2,666MHz RAM and an AMD R9 390X graphics card, with an emphasis on tasks such as rendering, video editing and a suite of 3D tests to gauge performance in games where CPU grunt does actually have an impact on frame rates. We've also added in some overclocked performance and compared the new CPU to its predecessor - the Core i7-6700K - as well as recording the power consumption for both systems.Finally, to stress again, this isn't our full review - we're just looking at some initial figures here that will show you how the Core i7-7700K performs compared to its predecessor in a selection of benchmarks. All other information is mostly rumour-based so we'll refrain from discussing anything else until the official launch next year.Head over to the first page of results