Intel Core i7-7700 Review – Benchmarks – i7-6700 Comparison

Intel has released it’s latest 14nm lineup up CPU’s. Code named Kaby Lake, the Core i7-7700 is only surpassed in performance (and price) by the unlocked 7700K. The 7700 is an important processor for small form factor builders such as myself. It gives you 4-Core 8-thread desktop performance, with a TDP of 65W.

*Note: See my Core i7-7700 vs. Ryzen 7 1700 comparison here.

Specifications

There aren’t any major architectural differences between Skylake and Kaby Lake processors. The only real changes are the higher clock speeds, and Intel Optane memory support. You can still run these processors on 100 series motherboards. Just make sure you update your BIOS before you do.

Performance

At the end of the day, it all comes down to performance. How does the 7700 stack up against the top CPU’s on the market today? Lets take a look a the test results.

As you see from the chart the 7700 out performs the 6700 by around 6%-9% in every test. That isn’t a major leap, but will be a huge difference if you are coming from an older Intel or AMD architecture.

PCMark 8 Creative CPU Test

Rendering Test

Rendering performance is an important task for a lot of people including myself. The increased clock speed should help speed up those long waits. For the render test I used a 10 second clip in After Effects that contains four 1080p clips, and about every effect imaginable to really tax the CPU.

The 7700 performed well in the rendering test. What is notable is that Premier Pro and After Effects both felt a little snappier during regular use as well.

Temperatures

The temperatures were rock solid. In everyday use you shouldn’t see the CPU go over 60C much, even in a small form factor system. I used a low profile Noctua NH-L9i cooler to run this test. You could easily drop the max temps down with a slightly larger cooler, all though there was no throttling of any kind.

Prime 95 is designed to produce heat. It’s not representative of what you will see in real world use, more designed to test the absolute limits of your cooler.

Power Draw

If you are looking at a 7700 there is a decent chance you may be building a small form factor system where TDP matters. The processor pulled in a measly 106W from the wall under full 100% load. That is excellent. With their refinements of the 14nm process over the last year, Intel has managed to make Kaby Lake even more efficient than Skylake.

Conclusion

The Core i7-7700 is represents a modest bump in performance from last years Skylake model. If you already have an i7 Skylake CPU there is really no need to upgrade. If you are coming from Haswell or earlier, you will see some substantial performance gains. You can expect around the performance of stock settings i7-6700K, which is fantastic.

If you are not looking to overclock your CPU, or you are building a system where TDP and low profile cooling is necessary. The Intel Core i7-7700 is the top choice for gamers and creators alike.

For more info check out the video review above.

Test System