Core i7-7740X

Intel’s direction for the high-end desktop space has taken an interesting turn. After several years of iterative updates, slowly increasing core counts and increasing IPC, we have gotten used to being at least one generation of microarchitecture behind the mainstream consumer processor families. There are many reasons for this, including enterprise requirements for long support platforms as well as enterprise update cycles. 

Read more @ AnandTech

The Core i7-7740X brings some of the best features of the Kaby Lake microarchitecture to the HEDT platform, but you lose the integrated GPU in the process. The restricted PCIe and memory features hamstring the X299 platform, but you still pay for features you cannot use. Until Kaby Lake-X-specific motherboards come to market, it’s best to either upgrade your GPU or take the full step up to a true HEDT processor.

Read more @ Tom’s Hardware