A SANDRA benchmark test result shows Intel's new Kaby Lake X is in the works. The outcome of the new Core i7-7740K test using SiSoftware's popular benchmarking tool was teased and it looks like AMD has some a bit competition in its hands.
According to Hot Hardware, the Kaby Lake X is Intel's answer to the AMD Ryzen. The new Intel quad-core chip clocks in at 4.3GHz with the possibility of reaching 4.5 GHz courtesy of Turbo Boost. The 100MHz improvement over the 7700K is not that big but it puts the Kaby Lake X processor in a position to rival AMD's Ryzen 5 1600. The leak also indicated that Intel will also be releasing the new ASRock X299 chipset for motherboard platforms.
News of what is being labelled as Intel's "next best thing" has been around for quite some time now. As Tweaktown noted, however, the leak is the first sign that the Kaby Lake X in fact exists. Tweaktown has an issue with Intel's decision to exclude an integrated GPU for on-board graphics in the new 7740K. Increasing the TDP from the 91 watts in the 7700K to 112 watts in the new processor is a head-scratching move. The additional 21W seems questionable especially since the Turbo Boost clock did not improve that much on the 7700K's 4.5GHz and 4C/8T. As a result, there is a possibility that the new Core i7-7740K will probably be mistaken by some as just a faster 7700K even if the two are of entirely different architectures and motherboards.
Intel has fallen a small step behind AMD after the latter released its impressive line of Ryzen processors. As a matter of fact, rumors saying some high end devices such as the iMac 2017 and the next MacBook Pro will be utilizing the AMD processers instead of Intel's have been prevalent. If that's the case, Intel needs its Kaby Lake X processors to be better than the Ryzen chips to keep its place at the top of the field.
