Benchmarks for Intel's upcoming overclocking ready i3 7350K 4.2Ghz dual core CPU have made their way to the web and they're nothing short of impressive. This little dual core Kaby Lake chip nearly outperforms all of Intel's current and previous generation quadcore i5 CPUs, save for a few. And with an overclocking friendly unlocked multiplier it can be pushed to Sandy Bridge i7 territory.

Intel's Core i3 7350K Is An Impressive Little Chip & Is Unlocked For Overclocking To Boot

The Intel Core i3 7350K is the first of its kind. It's the first ever i3 chip we've seen from Intel that actually brings an overclocking friendly unlocked multiplier to the table. Which is something that so many enthusiasts have been calling for and for quite a long time too. The i3 7350K is rated at a TDP of 91W and features 4MB of L3 cache. It's a dual core, hyperthreaded part which means it can execute up to four threads simultaneously.

The i3 7350K is part of the Kaby Lake family which features the Skylake micro-architecture with a few notable manufacturing process enhancements which boost frequencies and power efficiency over ordinary Skylake parts.

Which is exactly why this little chip will boost to 4.2Ghz right out of the box. The addition of an unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking is just the icing on the cake. Furthermore, it's clearly Intel's way of bringing very high single-core performance to an affordable price point to fend off AMD's upcoming Zen CPUs. Which are expected to arrive this upcoming January at extremely aggressive price points and highly competitive performance.

Intel Core i3 7350K Benchmarks - i5 Quadcore Performance From A Dual Core Chip

Thanks to its 4.2Ghz boost clock the i3 7350K delivers a single-core score of 5137, which is significantly faster than any stock i5 CPU out there. However the impressive figures don't stop their. Despite having only two cores the i3 7350K manages to deliver a multi-core score of 10048. Putting it on equal footing with Intel's previous quadcore i5 chips like the i5 6400 ( multi-core score ) and i5 4670K ( multi-core score ).

Which goes to show why Intel has always been hesitant to offer an unlocked i3 before. A chip like this would simply have eaten through Intel's own i5 sales. But as competition with AMD's Zen is heating up it seems Intel have finally deemed this move necessary.This is the first time that the company is offering a complete i3 to i7 lineup with an unlocked, overclocking-centric, chip at each tier.

Intel Core i7 7700K - 4 Cores, 8 Threads - $349 - 4.5Ghz Boost

This is the Kaby Lake flagship, the fastest of the 7th generation family. It's a quadcore, 8 thread chip with 8MB of L3 Cache and a TDP of 91W. It's based on intel's 14nm Plus process which has enabled it to boost to an incredibly impressive 4.5Ghz clock speed right out of the box on two of its four cores. In addition to an equally impressive 4.2Ghz core clock speed on all 4 cores at any given workload.

Intel Core i5 7600K - 4 Cores, 4 Threads - $239 - 4.2Ghz Boost

The i5 7600K would probably represent the sweet-spot in the Kaby Lake lineup for most DIY builders. It's a four core part just like the i5 7700K, however the hyperthreading feature has been disabled so it can only execute 4 threads simultaneously unlike its bigger brother. It features 6MB of L3 cache and is built on the same 14nm Plus process. Just like the i7 it's rated at 91W, however it will only boost to 4.2Ghz rather than 4.5Ghz right out of the box.

Intel Core i3 7350K - 2 Cores, 4 Threads - $177 - 4.2Ghz Boost

We finally come to the most interesting part, Intel's impressive dual core chip. The i3 7350K will reportedly retail at $177. Just like the i5 and the i7 it's also built on Intel's enhanced 14nm Plus process and is rated at 91W. It's a dual core, four thread part with 4MB of L3 cache. It features a core clock speed of 4Ghz and a boost clock speed of 4.2Ghz.

Intel 7th Generation 'Kaby Lake' Desktop Lineup