The Intel Core i7-7700K (91W) Review: The New Out-of-the-box Performance Champion
by Ian Cutress on January 3, 2017 12:02 PM ESTProfessional Performance: Windows
Agisoft Photoscan – 2D to 3D Image Manipulation: link
Agisoft Photoscan creates 3D models from 2D images, a process which is very computationally expensive. The algorithm is split into four distinct phases, and different phases of the model reconstruction require either fast memory, fast IPC, more cores, or even OpenCL compute devices to hand. Agisoft supplied us with a special version of the software to script the process, where we take 50 images of a stately home and convert it into a medium quality model. This benchmark typically takes around 15-20 minutes on a high end PC on the CPU alone, with GPUs reducing the time.
Here we report the overall time to complete the test – sub-test results can be found in Bench.
Here’s another instance where a stock Core i7-7700K can overcome an overclocked Devil’s Canyon. Agisoft spends a good time of its workload using cache heavy threads, showing that large core parts do really well, however the i7-7700K is on par with the six-core Core i7-3960X, showing that extra IPC and frequency can make up for a core or two.
Cinebench R15
Cinebench is a benchmark based around Cinema 4D, and is fairly well known among enthusiasts for stressing the CPU for a provided workload. Results are given as a score, where higher is better.
While Cinebench R15 is more a synthetic, it remains a popular test to measure professional performance and is free to use. For single threaded performance, the Core i7-7700K hits the top of the pile. With the Skylake and Kaby Lake parts both at 4.8 GHz, there’s almost nothing between them, showing the identical IPC. In multithreaded mode the 7700K is on top of all the mainstream processors as expected, and when overclocked can mix it up with some of the extreme processors as well.
HandBrake v0.9.9: link
For HandBrake, we take two videos (a 2h20 640x266 DVD rip and a 10min double UHD 3840x4320 animation short) and convert them to x264 format in an MP4 container. Results are given in terms of the frames per second processed, and HandBrake uses as many threads as possible.
The LQ video emphasizes IPC due to its low cache overhead, meaning that the i7-7700K wins again, and when overclocked, performs the same as the 6700K at the same frequency.
The higher resolution video however means that cores with frequency dominate. The i7-7700K stands above processors such as the i7-5820K, the i7-4930K and the i7-3960X, which is no small feat. But if you really want performance here, the big boys are still top performers (if you can afford them).
Hybrid x265
Hybrid is a new benchmark, where we take a 4K 1500 frame video and convert it into an x265 format without audio. Results are given in frames per second.
Our Hybrid test is somewhat similar to the HandBrake HQ test, showing the i7-7700K sitting tall as the mainstream champion.
125 Comments
View All Comments
137ben - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
Excellent review. This is why I love AnandTech.Thatguy97 - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
Best joke of the dayRatman6161 - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
When you get around to a full blown overclocking test/review, I'm really hoping you will include the i3-7350K and not just the i7. Back in the day, it was all about buying a cheap CPU and making it perform like a more expensive one. Buying a top of the line i7 only to get a few hundred Mhz kind of takes the fun out of it.negusp - Thursday, January 5, 2017 - link
But the 7350k is an absolutely horrid CPU to test, when you can pick up an i5 for $15 more.We saw this with the G3528- 2 cores makes gaming absolutely shit.
evilpaul666 - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
Do the new Kaby Lake chips turbo on all cores to their max turbo speed? I've seen that reported one or two places.pavag - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
Still on the same league than a decade old processor.AnnonymousCoward - Thursday, January 5, 2017 - link
1. The 2600K is only 5 years old.2. The 7700K is 50% faster.
silverblue - Thursday, January 5, 2017 - link
There is a 20% clock difference between the two, sure, but it's a fair point.fanofanand - Thursday, January 26, 2017 - link
That isn't even close to being true. A decade ago the Q6600 was the new quad core chip, and the 7700K blows that out of the water. Unless you mean beer leagues and major leagues are both the same because they have the word league in them.Vazilious - Saturday, January 7, 2017 - link
Why test a new CPU (an officially oc'ed skylake with a few more features) on years old hardware and software? R9 290x instead of an RX 480 and GTX 980 instead of a GTX 1080? Also why use windows 7? An OS where new CPUs are not supported.