Final Thoughts
The i7-7740X is a very interesting part, as I said in the beginning of this review this is the first time Intel has released two generations of processors at the same time. Honestly when I first heard about the Kaby Lake-X parts I wondered what Intel was thinking. A 4-core HEDT part with only 16 PCI-Express lanes, and only dual-channel memory support? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of high-end desktop in the first place? You aren’t going to be able to run multiple graphics cards at their full speeds, have more than dual channel memory, and of course have the advantages of a high-core count processor.
I’m not sure if Intel wanted to make the barrier to entry to their HEDT line less expensive and that’s what these Kaby Lake-X parts are for, I mean the Core i5-7640X is only $242. But then again X299 motherboards are not going to be cheap either, most of them will retail for more than a current Z270 boards.
The i7-7740X is not a bad processor though, its performance is slightly better than the Core i7-7700K. That is performance than any gamer or enthusiasts would like to have. Also we were easily able to push our chip to 5.0 GHz without any issues at all. So if you want to get into or learn overclocking this is definitely a chip where that can be done.
I think that if you are going to be building a new PC and want to be on Intel’s HEDT platform the Core i7-7740X is a good entry point and one that won’t break the bank either, just know you will not get all of the feature that something like the Core i9-7900X will offer.
Pros:
– Great overall performance
– Easy to overclock
– Current LGA2011v3 CPU coolers will work
– Inexpensive entry into the X299 platform
Cons:
– Only dual-channel memory support
– Only 16 PCIe lanes
