PC enthusiasts are looking forward to the release of Intel's seventh-generation Core processor, the Kaby Lake. The company has been keeping the lid tight on this product, but there are speculations that it may be launched during the last quarter of this year. Fortunately, the latest leak provided several details on the upcoming chip.
Benchlife, a Chinese tech website, has published several slides that show different information on the processor. Laptops and 2-in-1 tablets equipped with the new Intel Core processor will reported be launched during the fourth quarter of 2016. These low-power-consuming chips use between 4.5 watts and 15 watts.
The leak also shows that a 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7-7500U Kaby Lake processor will have an increase of up to 12 percent in terms of productivity and up to 19 percent web performance against a 3.1 GHz i7-6500U of the previous micro-architecture. However, this improvement will be at the cost of the device's battery life, unless Intel has worked something around the new chip that will improve its power efficiency.
Techworm mentioned that the top-of-the-line i7-7700K desktop variant of the Kaby Lake processor will be so powerful that gamers will not be needing a separate video card in order to have a 4K output. A new graphics architecture on the upcoming chip gives visual performance a big boost, and it will even handle 3D graphics.
The Intel Kaby Lake processor is also rumored to include native support for USB 3.1, HDCP 2.2, HEVC Main 10/10-bit and VP9 10 bit hardware video decoding.
Meanwhile, a Kaby Lake desktop processor list also surfaced recently showing the three sub-categories it will have, which are based on power requirement or TDP (Thermal Design Power). They are Standard Power at 95 W, Low Power at 65W and Ultra Low Power at 35 W. All of these processors will be taking the existing LGA1151 package.
