The Intel Core i3-7350K (60W) Review: Almost a Core i7-2600K
by Ian Cutress on February 3, 2017 8:00 AM ESTShadow of Mordor
The final title in our testing is another battle of system performance with the open world action-adventure title, Shadow of Mordor. Produced by Monolith using the LithTech Jupiter EX engine and numerous detail add-ons, SoM goes for detail and complexity to a large extent, despite having to be cut down from the original plans. The main story itself was written by the same writer as Red Dead Redemption, and it received Zero Punctuation’s Game of The Year in 2014.
For testing purposes, SoM gives a dynamic screen resolution setting, allowing us to render at high resolutions that are then scaled down to the monitor. As a result, we get several tests using the in-game benchmark. For low-end graphics we examine at 720p with low settings, whereas mid and high-end graphics get 1080p Ultra. The top graphics test is also redone at 3840x2160, also with Ultra settings, and we also test two cards at 4K where possible.
The only real difference here between the newer Core i3-7350K and the older Core i7-2600K is with our mid-range cards (GTX 770 and R9 285), whereby the older CPU seems to have a deficit 'in general' to the other CPUs we've tested. This might be CPU instruction related, although these results aren't seen on the other cards.
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blzd - Friday, February 10, 2017 - link
You may need to test with some newer games, some of which I read are having issues running with dual cores.Minimum FPS might be worth including as well.
Narg - Friday, February 10, 2017 - link
I couldn't help remember the old Celerons from years past that could be overclocked to the point of more than double the performance of chips barely twice their price from Intel. This is nothing new. And glad to see Intel has really not lost their "geeky" mindset for the true hardware hardcore among us.albert89 - Friday, February 17, 2017 - link
You can run the i7-2600K on Win8.1 and down. You can't do that with the i3-7350.TheJian - Wednesday, February 22, 2017 - link
They testing the i3-7350 w/Z270 here and used the on chip gpu with Win7 x64. It would appear Wintel lied about Z270+Kaby lake not working with Win7? What driver is Ian Cutress using here for the integrated gpu testing? Please clear this up Ian.Wish they had used a 1080 gtx.
Vatharian - Friday, March 3, 2017 - link
I'd be hardly pressed to change 2600K (which I had) to 2C/4T CPU. But then, I was blessed with a God's chip: my 2600K easily and comfortably reached 5.2 GHz at ~1.38 V. I really don't believe 7350K would catch up with THIS.BTW, anyone doing even just a little bit of coding on their PC would welcome compilation benchmark!
Artanis2 - Friday, June 9, 2017 - link
Still to comeCalculating Generational IPC Changes from Sandy Bridge to Kaby Lake
Intel Core i7-7700K, i5-7600K and i3-7350K Overclocking: Hitting 5.0 GHz on AIR
Intel Launches 200-Series Chipset Breakdown: Z270, H270, B250, Q250, C232
Intel Z270 Motherboard Preview: A Quick Look at 80+ Motherboards
WHEN ?!