Overclocking Intel Kaby Lake Core i3-7350K

Intel did something interesting when it launched its Kaby Lake-based series of 7th generation Core i processors recently. Tucked away in the product line-up, alongside quad-core speedsters like the Core i7-7700K, was a new, relatively low-priced Core i3 processor, which also happened to be unlocked for more flexible overclocking. Most previous-gen Core i3 processors were multiplier locked, which limited overclocking to only BCLK adjustments.

The Core i3-7350K is a dual-core processor, with support for Intel’s Hyper Threading technology, so it can process up to 4 threads simultaneously. As the “K” in the product name denotes, the 7350K has an unlocked multiplier, so it can be overclocked through both multiplier and BCLK manipulation.

We’ve already got the skinny on Kaby Lake and the Core i7-7700K published for you right here, but we thought you’d all be interested in seeing what the Core i3-7350K is capable of as well, not only in terms of stock performance, but when significantly overclocked. An affordable, Kaby Lake-based processor, with an unlocked multiplier, that can process up to 4 threads could make for an interesting enthusiast-class system for overclockers, that won’t break the bank.

The chip’s full list of specifications are below. We’ll dig in a little deeper on the pages ahead…

Intel Core i3-7350K Specifications & Features

Performance
# of Cores	2
# of Threads	4
Processor Base Frequency	4.20 GHz
Cache	4 MB SmartCache
Bus Speed	8 GT/s DMI3
TDP	60 W
Memory Specifications
Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type)	64 GB
Memory Types	DDR4-2133/2400, DDR3L-1333/1600 @ 1.35V
Max # of Memory Channels	2
ECC Memory Supported	No
Graphics Specifications
Processor Graphics	Intel HD Graphics 630
Graphics Base Frequency	350.00 MHz
Graphics Max Dynamic Frequency	1.15 GHz
Graphics Video Max Memory	64 GB
4K Support	Yes, at 60Hz
Max Resolution (HDMI 1.4)	4096x2304@24Hz
Max Resolution (DP)	4096x2304@60Hz
DirectX Support	12
OpenGL Support	4.4
# of Displays Supported	3
Advanced Technologies
Intel Hyper-Threading Technology	Yes
Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)	Yes
Intel TSX-NI	Yes
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology	Yes
Thermal Monitoring Technologies	Yes
Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX)	Yes
Intel Memory Protection Extensions (Intel MPX)	Yes

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The Core i3-7350K’s packaging looks just like other 7th generation Core i-series processors, so there’s not much to discuss there. It uses Intel’s LGA1151 socket and is designed to work with the latest 200-series chipsets.


The Core i7-7350K has a base clock of 4.2GHz without Turbo, though with SpeedStep the chip will drop down to only a few hundred MHz when idle. It has a TDP of only 60W, which is a full 31W lower than the Core i7-7700K. There is over 4MB of total cache on-board, 128K of L1 (64K per core), 512KB of L2 cache (256K per core), and 4MB of L3, which is a similar cache hierarchy to Skylake.


Though Kaby Lake is considered a new microarchitecture, it borrows heavily from its predecessors. It is very similar to Skylake, but with an updated multimedia engine and new transistor mix, that allows for higher clocks and lower power consumption. Intel’s SpeedShift technology has also been tweaked to allow for even faster state changes. For more detail on the changes in Kaby Lake, we suggest taking a look at our launch coverage here; we won't bore you with those details again.

We are going to slap a nice water-cooler on the chip though and see how high we can overclock it. Before we do that, however, next up we’ll show you how the Core i3-7350K performs without any tweaking...