Intel Core i3 7100 Kabylake Linux Benchmarks
Last week I began delivering Linux Kabylake benchmarks with the Core i5 7600K while this week I finally am set to receive the Core i7 7700K. But for those curious how Kabylake is looking on the low-end, I picked up a Core i3 7100 as currently the cheapest Kabylake desktop processor. Here are some initial Linux benchmarks of this Core i3 processor on Ubuntu Linux.
The Core i3 7100 is priced at $120+ USD and is a dual-core part but with Hyper Threading to provide four threads, there is a 3.9GHz base frequency without any Turbo Boost ability, 3MB smart cache, and is rated for a 51 Watt TDP. The Core i3 7100 supports up to dual-channel DDR4-2400MHz memory similar to the other Kabylake processors and its graphics are HD Graphics 630 that can clock up to 1.1GHz.
Assuming you are on a modern Linux distribution like Fedora 25, Ubuntu 16.04/16.10, or openSUSE Tumbleweed, you should be in good shape for Kabylake Linux support, including if on a newer 200 series motherboard. Coming up shortly on Phoronix will be a couple Intel Z270 motherboard reviews. The most important part of the Kabylake Linux support will be wanting to be using as new of a kernel and Mesa as possible for the best graphics support/performance.
For this testing I picked up the Core i3 7100 from Amazon.com for $119 USD. In this article are my initial Core i3 7100 benchmarks while more i3-7100 / i5-7600K / i7-7700K benchmarks will be on the way in the days ahead.