Intel has finally launched Kaby Lake, A.K.A. the 7th generation core processor line...

Which has CPU's that start with sevens instead of sixes. And a whole new motherboard series...

And this CPU right here. This is the Core i7 7700k. The successor to the 6700k...

And to familiarize you guys with what's new about it I thought I start off with a quick and simple 'First Five' video

So here are the first five things you need to know about Kaby Lake.

'Thing one' is Skylake Similarities. First you're going to notice a lot of similarities between 6th gen (Skylake) and 7th gen (Kady Lake)

You've still got the same CPU socket for both, LGA 1151. And They're still going to be using DDR4 Memory.

Unlocked, 91 Watt TDP, quad-cores are still available in the 7600k without hyperthreading.

And the 7700k with hyperthreading.

And unlocked CPU's still won't come with a stock heat sink fan.

It's Still manufactured on a 14 nano-meter process.

And the micro-architecture is still the same "al-be-it" optimized. More on that when I get to Thing #2.

And this is still Intel's mainstream product line. Meaning that more powerful hardware including 6 core and greater CPUs...

Is available to those who can afford it on Intel's enthusiast platform. With Broadwell-E CPUs and X99 chipset motherboards w/ LGA 2011-3 socket.

Similarities between Kaby Lake and Skylake may even creep over into their performance.

But for that I encourage you guys to check out my benchmarking video (Suggest: "Kaby Lake vs Skylake Benchmarks!")

And if it's not up right now it will be up later today.

Neither 'Tick' nor 'Tock'

Intel's "Tick/Tock" product cycle is officially dead with Kaby Lake. Replaced by the, less catchy, three phase, PAO method.

So.. Uh.. Back in the mid-2000's back when AMD's original FX line of CPUs was...

Kind of Kicking Intel's ass. They started "Tick/Tock" where every year they launch a new CPU line.

"Tick" years were for process shrinks that made everything on the CPU smaller, effectively, and usually more effecient.

And "Tock" years were for micro-architecture updates.

PAO has three parts. P is for Process which replaces tick.

A is for Architecture which replaces tock.

And O is for Optimization which means... No die shrink or new architecture.

But optimization of the existing CPU design.

They already did this, kind of, back in 2014; before formalizing it as PAO.

When the Devil's Canyon line of CPUs launched that were sort of a new line of CPUs but were really just a refresh of Haswell.

Haswell was a Tock in the cadence based on, new, 22nm micro-architecture and launched in 2013

Making Haswell refresh an optimization in 2014. It was neither Tick nor Tock

And then Broadwell was the Tick again, a process shrink to 14nm.

uh. But Broadwell's just a little weird because it launched, like, a few days or a week before Skylake and...

it wasn't really widely marketed. So that's why its often overlooked.

Skylake launched in August 2015 with new architecture which would have been a Tock

And now Kaby Lake is an Optimization so, maybe, next year the whole cycle can begin one more time.

So what is new with Kaby Lake?

There are some new things, starting with the mother boards.

200 series motherboards with the, predictably, named z270 chipset.

Being the full featured option that enables unlocked overclocking of your Kaby Lake 'k sku' processor.

The chipset now provides four more PCIe 3.0 lanes. Up to 24 total for high speed I/O.

Including Optane support now but more on that in 'Thing 4'

Intel Rapid Storage Technology can also support up to three m.2 PCIe devices now with gen. 3...

x4 connectivity so I'vev already spotted more m.2 slots on these z270 boards.

Most of them have at least two now. Which is... Kind of nice.

Beyond that it's just a whole new line of motherboards so there's a...

ton of new designs from the big manufacturers out there I have a MSI...

Gigabyte and ASUS versions on me so far

Even more RGD LEDs than ever of course and hopefully this time around someone makes a good mini-ITX...

motherboard that doesn't require end-user modifications to look halfway decent.

Optane!

If you've heard of Intel's new storage technology you probably know that it's supposed to be...

super fast, and crazy durable while not being a storage tech we're currently familiar with.

So it's not NAND but further details are still mirky at best.

It's shaping up to be additional system memory that sits between the CPU and system memory.

And the rest of your storage array. So kind of like a big, fast, cache for your hard drives or SSD's...

But also blurring the line between what storage the Operating System can address at any given point in time.

And Intel says the Kaby Lake CPU platform with the requisite m.2 slot are Optane ready!

Wait. Is that good news or bad news? Optane products aren't expected until much later in 2017...

But if Kaby Lake is Optane ready...

Does that mean that other platforms from Intel aren't?

Like, Skylake and the 100 Series of motherboards even? Or the enthusiast X99 'Master Race', god forbid?

Now I know implementing a game changing technology like Optane might leave some platforms behind...

and Intel says that the extra 4 PCIe lanes on the.. uh.. 200 Series Chipset I/O...

are specifically their for Optane support, but it's hard to see Skylake being left behind if all that's really needed is a PCIe m.2 slot and enough bandwidth.

Or especially a Broadwell-E CPU that has at least 28 PCIe lanes available at minimum.

We need more info on this to be sure, but, given that Intel is already working with Microsoft and Netflix on another initiative.

to lock you out of 4K Ultra HD content.

Unless you have a 7th gen CPU, Windows 10, and the Edge Browser...

I mean just look at this helpful chart they made. Showing the things that you actually do physically need to stream 4K, such as, a 4K panel and enough bandwidth and source material.

And the extra things that they apparently get to force upon you and force you to use as well.

Yay Microsoft! Who doesn't need another reason to use Edge.

And, surely, Skylake processors don't have enough Horse Power to push a 4K signal; or to decode an HEVC.. Anyway!

Skylake processors have an HEC/HEVC decoder in them. *Inhales Heavily*

AMD better have a good response to this 4K nonsense.

But anyway! My point is I wouldn't be suprised.. Knowing that..

That Intel might also want to force you to buy knew stuff if you want to use Optane as well.

"le sigh"

There is an unlocked dual core. Patience is required though.

The 7350k.. Is 'Thing 5' and I felt it needed to get some air time since it is...

decidedly different from the typical 7600k and 7700k sku's that we're pretty familiar with.

The 7350k is an unlocked, Kaby Lake, dual core CPU with hyperthreading so...

Two cores and four threads and a base clock of 4.2 GHz.

It's a bit of a throw back to the G3258 anniversary edition CPU. The dual core without hyperthreading that they did on the Haswell line.

uh.. the 7350k has a 4 MB cahce, 60W TDP, and it should be a nice option for budget builders who want to overclock...

But don't want to spend well over $200 for their CPU.

1000 unit pricing for the 7700k is $339 per CPU. And the 7600k is $242 per CPU. That's from Intel, just FYI.

unfortunately the current bulk pricing for the 7350k is listed at $168 USD per 1000 units.

So.. It's not nearly as awesomely priced as the anniversary edition was which was less than 100bucks

You'll have to wait a bit longer to check out the 7350k though...

Intel has about 40 7th gen products that they're launching this week...

but the 7350k won't be up for sale until the end of January or possibly early February.

And that's all five things! There's still a lot more to talk about with Kaby Lake though such as...

How does it perform? And how does it overclock?

I have a performance testing video with the 7600k and 7700k that will be posted in just a few hours.

And of course linked if it's posted already.

I also have a motherboard video with J.J. from ASUS (@ASUSTechMKTJJ) that will be up later today.

We go over a ton of the new ASUS boards.

And CES coverage is coming at ya all this week. So there are many...

Many exciting things to kick off 2017 just now.

If you have any thoughts on this launch though please let me know down in the comments section below.

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