The Intel Core i3-7350K (60W) Review: Almost a Core i7-2600K
by Ian Cutress on February 3, 2017 8:00 AM ESTGRID Autosport
No graphics tests are complete without some input from Codemasters and the EGO engine, which means for this round of testing we point towards GRID: Autosport, the next iteration in the GRID and racing genre. As with our previous racing testing, each update to the engine aims to add in effects, reflections, detail and realism, with Codemasters making ‘authenticity’ a main focal point for this version.
GRID’s benchmark mode is very flexible, and as a result we created a test race using a shortened version of the Red Bull Ring with twelve cars doing two laps. The car is focus starts last and is quite fast, but usually finishes second or third. For low-end graphics we test at 1080p medium settings, whereas mid and high-end graphics get the full 1080p maximum. Both the average and minimum frame rates are recorded.
GRID prefers a high frequency and high IPC, and so we see the Core i3-7350K getting noticably better frame rates over the 2600K at 1080p using all our high-end and mid-range GPUs - only at 720p using an R7 240 did we see a minimal difference. The integrated graphs are still amusing to look at.
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watzupken - Friday, February 3, 2017 - link
A dual core processor is still a dual core processor even if it is unlocked and offers a high clockspeed. I still feel Kaby Lake is a lazy upgrade over Skylake considering it barely offers anything new. Just take a look at the feature page to get a sense of the "upgrades". With competition coming from ARM and AMD Ryzen, is Intel only capable of a clockspeed war just like they did for Pentium 4?CaedenV - Friday, February 3, 2017 - link
Well, to be fair Kabby Lake isn't for you and I. It is Skylake with very minor improvements mostly aimed at fixing the firmware level sleep and wake issues that manufacturers had (ie, the reason Apple didn't move to Skylake until well after release, and the botched deployment of the Surface Pro 4).Outside of that it is just skylake with a minor clock bumb, slightly better thermals, and more of the chip on 14nm.
Shadowmaster625 - Friday, February 3, 2017 - link
So it will be 2025 before an i3 beats a stock 2600K in all benchmarks? That must mean it will be 2030 before it can beat a 4.8GHz 2600K. That's crazy, considering how badly the Core2Quad compares to even a modern celeron.user_5447 - Friday, February 3, 2017 - link
Page 2: "There is one caveat however – Speed Shift currently only works in Windows 10. It requires a driver which is automatically in the OS (v2 doesn’t need a new driver, it’s more a hardware update), but this limitation does mean that Linux and macOS do not benefit from it."This is incorrect: support for Speed Shift (HW pstates) was commited to Linux kernel back in November of 2014, way before Skylake release.
https://lkml.org/lkml/2014/11/6/628
Hinton - Friday, February 3, 2017 - link
Of the 3 CPU'S Anandtech received to review, this was the only one that was marginally interesting (we didn't need a review to know Kabylake performs equally to Skylake).So of course you spent one month before reviewing it. Good for Anand that he took the money and ran.
fanofanand - Friday, February 3, 2017 - link
You may be unaware, but Ian has been kind of busy lately......Meteor2 - Sunday, February 5, 2017 - link
He has? How so?PCHardwareDude - Friday, February 3, 2017 - link
This would be interesting if the part wasn't so bloody expensive. $120 would be interesting.At this price, you're better off spending a little more and getting an i5 or spending a lot less and getting the G4600, which is also dual core kaby lake with hyperthreading.
AssBall - Friday, February 17, 2017 - link
If you have a GPUnotjamie - Friday, February 3, 2017 - link
At £170 this is the exact price I paid for my 3570k almost 5 years ago. That's what I call progress.