TLDR: The Core i7-7700 is an excellent multipurpose CPU with a power sipping 65W TDP. If you don't want to overclock this is a great option for productivity and gaming.

82

Overall
Score


FEATURES80

PERFORMANCE95

VALUE75

WHERE TO BUY

Intel Core i7-7700From $309.89

- Video Review -

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

7700 and 6700 top lid

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.

SPECSi7-7700i7-6700
ChipsetLGA 1151LGA 1151
Base Clock3.6GHz3.4GHz
Boost Clock (all cores)4.0GHz3.7GHz
Single Core Boost4.2GHz4.0GHz
TDP65W65W

7700 and 6700 pin layout

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.

BENCHMARKi7-7700i7-6700
Cinebench874811
Passmark CPU Mark1142010488
Geekbench16059 – multi core
4066 – single core
14879 – multi core
3742 – single core
3D Mark CPU Test50124664
CPU-Z8917 – multi core
2030 – single core

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

Web Browsing – JunglePin0.30343 seconds
Web Browsing – Amazonia0.13322 seconds
Video Group Chat Playback29.99 fps
Advanced Photo Editing0.13567 seconds
Video Editing 4k5.00477 seconds
Video To Go5.19600 seconds
Music To Go7.01633 seconds

Rendering Test

after effects cpu render 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.

RESOLUTIONi7-7700i7-6700
1080p4:414:57
4k12:5613:48

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.

CPU STATEi7-7700
Idle33C
Gaming55C
90-100% Load – Rendering79C
100% Load – Prime 9587C

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.

CPU STATEi7-7700i7-6700
Idle36.8W37.6W
100% Load106W108W

Conclusion

Intel Core i7-7700 Benchmarkss

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

COMPONENTPART NAME
CPUIntel Core i7-7700
GPUZotac GTX 1060 6GB Mini
RAMCorsair 32GB DDR4 2400MHz
MotherboardMSI H170I Motherboard
HDDIntel 600P 256GB NVMe m.2 SSD

15 COMMENTS

      • Hi. Minimal fps in games and would you check if there is any improvement using H270 chipset over the H170 and if B250 is enough with the 12pci lines. cheers.

  1. Hi! Thank you for the review! Do you think Noctua NH-L9ix65 will be better solution to cool I7-7700? Or it will be the same.

    • The Noctua NH-L9ix65 would definitely offer better cooling. The NH-L9i is the smallest CPU cooler offered by Noctua. It is probably the best low profile CPU cooler on the market, but larger coolers would yield better results.

      • Thank you!

        I am thinking to build a small footprint pc.

        Case – Lian Li Q25
        Fans – all Noctua 140mm, 120mm and CPU NH-L9ix65
        CPU – I7-7700 (non k)
        Motherboard – Asus Z270i (due to 2 x m2 connectors)
        GPU – Asus ROG GTX 1080 (very little gaming)

        Just worry about CPU overheating, NH-L9i was showing good results with i7-6700, 31 C idle. Wondering how NH-L9ix65 will perform with I7-7700.

        • You would see good temps with either cooler in that case.

          I use Prime 95 for my CPU tests. That program is designed to generate as much heat as possible. It is not a good representation of what you can expect under typical load. Even when rendering at 100% load my CPU never goes over 81C which is fine. That number would drop even lower with the 65.

  2. Interesting data there.
    I’m running the same noctua cooler with a i7 6700 and temperatures are quite lower. (build here: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/dMnH99). Probably the Cove V1 case is more ventilated than the NFC you’re using.
    Idle is around 29°C, gaming (Elite Dangerous / Civ 6) is 45°C and load (Handbrake encoding HD) is fixed at 70°C.
    Perhaps you should reapply the thermal compound?

    As for the commenter asking for the NH-L9ix65, it would be definitely a better choice, do not expect massive differences though.

    • The difference is likely due to the case, tests used, and fan speed. I ran Prime 95 for the load test. Prime 95’s goal is really to maximize all cores and produce heat.

      Under normal usage including video encoding I don’t see temperatures over 81C. The 7700 also seems to run a tad bit hotter at load than the 6700 due to the increased clock speeds.

  3. I finally finished build my new pc.

    Case – Lian Li – Q25
    Asus Strix Z270i
    Corsair Vengeance – 16 gb @ 2400
    SSD Samsung 950 Pro
    EVGA G3 750W
    Asus Strix GTX 1080
    Intel – I7-7700 (non-k)

    CPU Cooler! First i used Noctua NH-L9ix65, prime test was 95C in 4 minutes (cpu fan was screaming).
    Then, i decide to give a chance to Cryorig c7, prime 95 max temperature in 15 minutes was 81 and stable.

    Now my temperatures are: ambient 33C, Idle 35-65C, load 75C.

    I am wandering, is this temperatures are good? I still have a chance to jump in big case, but don`t want to. I like small footprint and silence.

    • Those temps seem a bit high, did you apply the thermal paste properly? I don’t hit 95C and I am using the Nh-L9i.

      • Yes, i did apply Arctic Silver 5, but only to Cryorig C7. Should i try to remove Cryorig C7 and Install Noctua Nh-l9ix65 with this Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste? Will it make difference from Noctua supplied thermal paste?
        I also noticed in motherboard BIOS, that there is few profiles like ECO, Normal, Gaming. This temperatures are measured under “normal” profile. I tried to put it under Eco mode, temperatures doesn`t change. Ventilation in case is good.

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