Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs were launched in January and so far, the desktop i7 lineup has consisted of three SKUs: i7-2600, i7-2600K and i7-2600S. Earlier this week, Intel released 16 new Sandy Bridge CPUs, but the desktop i7 series remained unchanged. Yesterday, Intel updated their Material Declaration Data Sheets (MDDS) with product code for i7-2700K. The exact product code is:

BX80623I72700K SR0DG

For comparison, the product code for i5-2500 is:

BX80623I52500 SR00T

Lets break down the product codes. The first two letters, "BX", stand for boxed unit. These letters would be different if the unit wasn't a boxed unit, for example "FF" is for non-boxed PGA988 units. There could be a third letter "C" which means it's a boxed unit for China market (hence there are two product codes for i7-2700K). After that, there is a five number code "80623". This is a specific code for all boxed desktop Sandy Bridge CPUs. Finally we get to the processor number which is the most interesting part and in this case, revealed the i7-2700K. There is still a separate spec code after the processor number and it's processor specific as well. 

The specs of i7-2700K are unknown though. It's also a question whether there will be i7-2700 and i7-2700S or not. However, we would expect i7-2700K to carry similar specs as i7-2600K (four cores, Hyper-Threading, unlocked multiplier, 8MB L3...), but a slightly higher default frequency. Given Intel's history, 100MHz (one multiplier) increase sounds likely, making i7-2700K's stock frequency 3.5GHz with up to 3.9GHz Turbo. Price wise i7-2700K should also replace i7-2600K, making its price ~$317.

There is no word on the availability of i7-2700K. Leaked roadmaps suggest something equal or better than i7-2600K between Q3'11 and Q1'12. Considering that Intel just released new CPUs a few days ago, it seems unlikely that the release is imminent. On the other hand, it makes no sense to release i7-2700K just before Ivy Bridge, thus our guess would be Q4'11, around the same time as AMD's Bulldozer hits the shelves.

Source: Intel via CPU-World

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  • Lunyone - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link

    I think this is to combat Bulldozers release that should be soon. I find it toooo convenient that this was "leaked" so close to the original update a few days ago. It's possible it was missed, but I'm betting that wasn't the case.

    Just my $0.02
  • Kristian Vättö - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link

    Yeah, I think Intel is saving this for Bulldozer launch. They have had over 9 months to work on these CPUs (which are essentially the same chips with an extra multiplier) so missing the launch sounds laughable.
  • TypeS - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link

    What's laughable is your common sense. Consider this.

    The top Bulldozer consumer chip will be AMD's top chip for the consumer retail market. Sandy Bridge and Socket 1155 are Intel's mainstream lineup. Intel doesn't need to position Sandy Bridge entirely against Bulldozer when it still has Sandy Bridge E and Socket 2011. Sure they will be more expensive butt hey will be faster, Intel can charge what it wants for the fastest chips and value hunters can settle for AMD.
  • Mr Perfect - Monday, September 12, 2011 - link

    Intel wants value hunters settling for a 2700K instead of AMD.
  • Exodite - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link

    I don't think this in any way relates to the impending launch of Bulldozer, it's just Intel working their usual quarterly refresh.

    The process has matured enough to allow equal or better yields that handle the higher frequency so they'll introduce a new chip with that as the default.

    Both Intel and AMD do this all the time.
  • Anand Lal Shimpi - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link

    Correct. AMD traditionally does a couple of speed bumps per year, coinciding with improvements in the manufacturing process. Intel has moved to a slower release schedule during the year but we still do see at least one speed bump per year.

    Take care,
    Anand
  • Kristian Vättö - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - link

    I know it's nothing extraordinary, Intel does this every year. I just don't think it's a coincidence that Intel left out 2700K from the update a week ago and that Bulldozer is right around the corner. Sure it could be due to some internal issues but obviously, we know nothing about them.
  • yankeeDDL - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - link

    Totally agree.
    And it's interesting, because today Intel knows Bulldozer's performance: I am sure of that (Bulldozer is shipping already to OEMs, and I am certain that many OEMs, basically, belong to Intel).
    It might be good sign that Bulldozer's performance is somewhat competitive.
    This said, let's not forget that the Bulldozer currently out there are for servers, while the i7 2700k is for desktop ...
  • Ushio01 - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link

    So it's a consumer version of either of these.

    http://ark.intel.com/products/52278

    http://ark.intel.com/products/55452
  • infoilrator - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link

    May be just a tweak, but its often been said there is no advantage for most people to the 2600K over the 2500K.
    It may be unlikely but it is possible there will be an effort to surpass 2500K performance by more at stock levels.
    Speculation only.

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