Intel's Kaby Lake arrives, refreshes Skylake processors with 7th Gen Core microarchitecture

Get ready for Kaby Lake

After much speculation as to what Intel might bring to the table with Kaby Lake – the company’s 7th Generation Core microarchitecture - all was revealed under an embargo session during the recent Intel IDF.

In a nutshell, Kaby Lake is an optimized and refreshed Skylake processor (6th Generation Core) with an improved 14nm photolithography process (dubbed 14nm+) to yield processors that can be clocked higher while still maintaining the same TDP profile.

Additionally, the onboard graphics core has been updated to with new media blocks to fast track video streaming and content creation - the 7th Generation Core processors now have hardware acceleration for new codecs (VP9) and color depths (HEVC 10-bit @ 4K resolution), including HDR and Wide Color Gamut (Rec.2020) support.

In short, don’t expect miracles, but the Intel has promised at least 10% improvement over Skylake thanks to the higher clock states achieved on Kaby Lake. That’s a decent update for just a minor processor refresh. And you can expect even bigger improvements if your'e upgrading from older processor generations.

Kaby Lake processor models

Similar to most new generation Core processor launches (with the exception of Skylake), the mobile processors for ultrabooks and ultrathin 2-in-1 notebooks are the first to benefit from the 7th Generation Core processors with the Y-series (4.5W TDP) and U-series (15TDP). Other variants for Kaby Lake will follow suit from January 2017, including desktop and enterprise use.

In terms of platform compatibility, it’s expected that Kaby Lake will be pin compatible to the LGA1151 socket used by Skylake processors. As such, we expect Z170 and B150 chipset based motherboards to be compatible with Kaby Lake processors when it’s time.

Here are the key details of the 7th Generation Core processors that are officially launched as of today:-

Note that Intel has migrated the upper tier Core M processors (m5 and m7 tiers to be exact) over to the Core i5 and Core i7 branding that can be seen from the Core i7-7Y75 and Core i5-7Y54 naming. That means only the Core m3 branding remains in the 7th Gen Core line-up. Intel hasn’t been clear to us on why this change in branding which is bound to create confusion. Let’s hope performance the differential is small to justify their bump up to the new branding tier.

Speaking of branding, all the new 7th Generation Core processors will have “7th Gen” clearly denoted in the processor classification stickers. Finally customers can tell at a glance if they are getting the latest and greatest products in the market. No more guesswork and digging into the Windows OS system details.

Deep dive into the architecture to find out what areas have been enhanced for 7th Generation Core processors on the following page!

Still on 14nm process node?

If you recall, earlier this year Intel declared that it will end its usual tick-tock manufacturing cycle cadence in favor optimizing existing process technologies to better meet the market needs. This also bodes well since it is open knowledge that going smaller than the 14nm process technology node is getting increasingly tricky and more time and resources would require to be invested. This in turn means Intel needs to better utilize the investment and thus increasing the lifespan of its current process technology and that of the next hop to 10nm.

As such, Kaby Lake is the third Core microarchitecture to be using the 14nm process technology after Skylake and Broadwell. Going by Intel’s new process technology utilization roadmap, Broadwell focused on making the 14nm process technology hop, while Skylake focused on bringing big microarchitecture changes and Kaby Lake is offering an optimized and refreshed Skylake for the 7th Generation Core processors.

Intel’s 14nm+ process technology

As highlighted earlier, Kaby Lake is an optimized and refreshed Skylake processor with an improved 14nm photolithography process (dubbed 14nm+) to yield processors that can be clocked higher while still maintaining the same TDP profile.

For example, the new Core Y-series is across the board 100MHz faster than Skylake variants and that’s just the base clock. Factoring Turbo Boost, you stand to gain anywhere between 300MHz to 500MHz gen-on-gen!

Intel’s Speed Shift technology that debuted on the 6th Gen processors makes a comeback on the 7th Gen models, but this time with an improved silicon process, Kaby Lake is snappier and more responsive because it can reach maximum frequencies quicker than before and complete the tasks sooner. Here’s a quick slide from Intel to summarize the differences visually:-

Accelerating next-gen video streaming and editing

If you noticed our opening image, Kaby Lake or 7th Gen Core processors want to transform your computing experience with more immersive content and what better way than by viewing and created 4K content?

While creation and consumption have so far been revolving around 1080p content, 4K will soon be the norm considering the increasing number of phones, cameras and video cameras supporting this capability while TVs and monitors that support this resolution are in abundance these days. Over on the internet, YouTube’s VP9 codec has been extensively to enable users to view over 25 billion hours of buffer-free HD videos and is important that the next gen processor has acceleration support built-in to enable premium quality video viewing experience while using existing internet infrastructure.

With this in mind, Intel’s 7th Gen Core processors have updated two of the fixed function media engines – Multi-Format Codec (MFX) and Video Quality Engine (VQE). Primarily, the updated MFX adds:-

• 10-bit HEVC & 8/10-bit VP9 decode
• 10-bit HEVC & 8-bit VP9 encode
• HEVC 4Kp30 real-time encode with HEVC 4Kp60 real-time decode capability
• Power savings through a more capable media engine and lower CPU utilization

While Skylake processors could already handle three streams of 4K video playback, Kaby Lake is designed to handle eight streams of 4K content playback on AVC/HEVC codecs; ideal to tackle video wall digital signage and digital security surveillance usage models.

Meanwhile, the updated VQE now boasts HDR to SDR Tone Mapping support and has added Wide Color Gamut (Rec.2020) support.

Closing comments

By traditional expectations, enthusiasts would have been looking forward to a process technology shrink to hopefully gain new capabilities or much higher clock speeds. Kaby Lake brings some of these gains, but still maintains the 14nm process technology. Through enhancements and maturing of the 14nm process technology, Intel has managed to bring about higher clock domains and even more so for Turbo Boost speeds. Much of its raw performance capabilities are through these changes which Intel claims you should see a 10% to 20% gain in performance depending on the workload.

Meanwhile, improved media engine blocks with enhanced decode and encode support for popular codecs at 4K resolution like HEVC (H.265) and VP9 ensure that the 7th Generation Core processors can maintain a much longer battery life which allow you to enjoy more or produce more than ever before and at much higher quality. Because of this, you’ll notice that the Intel HD Graphics engine model number has increased in model numbering to 6xx as opposed to the 5xx on the Skylake counterparts. However, take note that the graphics engine and number of execution units remain status quo and see no changes. Games will still see modest performance increases, but it’s almost solely due to the higher clock speeds of the new processors than any other reason.

For a "Skylake refresh", the 7th Generation Core (Kaby Lake) seems to offer a decent boost where it matters most and is a welcomed update for the mobile computing segment. You should soon see us reporting of the various OEM and ODM partner products based on the new processors shortly. On a related note, AMD’s recent debut of the Bristol Ridge 7th Generation APUs at Computex 2016 also follow in the same vein, using an existing process technology, re-using most of Carrizo’s processor and graphics engines but updates the media engine block too. It looks like the 7th Generation processors as a whole aren’t that exciting, but nonetheless a useful if not tame update.

Meanwhile, for enthusiasts planning for their next big upgrade, look out for desktop and workstation oriented Kaby Lake processors early next year.

Waiting for the 10nm processor family like Cannonlake, Icelake and Tigerlake? They’re indefinitely delayed until further notice and we might hear more about them from mid-2017.

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