Intel Kaby Lake Desktop Processor Lineup Revealed

Intel 7th Generation Core ‘Kaby Lake’ laptop processors were released back in August and you can easily find those processors in laptop solutions from various makers. Desktop enthusiasts have to wait for the Intel 7th Generation Core ‘Kaby Lake’ desktop processor variants to be released, but we now know what is coming. Intel recently issued a product change noticication (#115022-00) that contains the actual names and frequencies of the upcoming Kaby Lake desktop processors.

The Intel Core i7-7700K Processor appears to be the flagship part at launch with clock speeds of 4.2 GHz. Word on the street is that the base clock is 4.2 GHz and that the Turbo Boost clock speed will actually be 4.5 GHz on this quad-core processor with eight threads. The Intel Core i7-6700K ‘Skylake’ processor has a base clock of 4.0 GHz with a maximum Turbo Boost clock speed of 4.2 GHz at a voltage of 1.2V. This means that Kaby Lake will have a nice 200-300MHz stock clock speed advantage over the existing parts. The other ‘K’ sku that is going to be made available is the Intel Core i5-7600K quad-core processor that has a 3.8 GHz base clock and a Turbo Boost clock that is said to be over 4 GHz. Both of these processors feature unlocked designs that are aimed at enthusiasts and overclockers.

Rumored priced will be $349 for the Core i7-7700K and $239 for the Core i5-7600K, which isn’t too bad. The Intel Core i7-6700K is available right now for $329.00 and the Core i5-6600K is $237.39 shipped. Hopefully these will come out before CES 2017, but many believe that Intel will be launching them around that time frame. Intel will also be releasing new chipsets to go along with these new processors, so get ready to see a number of Intel 200 series boards coming out soon as well. The top-end Intel Z270 boards will be aimed at enthusiasts, but there will also be the H270, B250, Q250 and Q270 boards for other market segments. Intel Kaby Lake processors will also work in most Intel 100 series boards after a UEFI update, so many can get a drop in upgrade if they felt the desire to upgrade.