Asus launched a motherboard designed specifically for overclocking Chinese CPUs, enhancing the performance of homegrown KX-7000 processors by 25%.
As the PC hardware industry continues pushing technological boundaries, alternative CPU architectures aim to compete with industry giants. Zhaoxin’s KX-7000 represents one such effort from China to develop independent processors.
Recently, Asus supported this emerging technology through an innovative motherboard tailored for overclocking the KX-7000. Let’s take a deeper look at their accomplishments.
Introducing the Zhaoxin KX-7000 CPU
Zhaoxin’s KX-7000 made headlines as one of China’s most potent homemade CPUs yet. Initial tests revealed performance up to 3x faster than predecessors like the KX-6780. Compared to Intel’s Kaby Lake quad-core CPUs, the KX-7000 competed closely with the Core i5-7500 and Core i7-7700K. I
t even rivaled AMD’s Ryzen 7 1700X in some benchmarks. This highlighted significant progress for Zhaoxin in nearing the capabilities of established industry leaders. However, further optimization could close existing performance gaps.
Asus Steps in with a Specialized Motherboard
Asus saw how awesome the KX-7000 could be, especially with overclocking, so they made a motherboard that pushes its speeds to the max. Under the guidance of Asus engineer Tony Yu, the motherboard facilitated testing of the KX-7000 at both stock and overclocked settings.
This provided crucial insight into how the processor responded to changes in clock frequencies. With its focus on overclocking support, the motherboard offered basic features sufficient for the KX-7000, such as a 6+2 phase VRM and up to 4GHz regular overclocking headroom.
Benchmarking Reveals Gains from Overclocking
Testing in benchmarks such as CPU-Z 2.08 and Geekbench 6 yielded telling results. At stock 3.2GHz speeds, the KX-7000 achieved scores, placing it near the Core i5-7500 in performance. However, overclocking to 3.6GHz provided significant improvements.
Image Credits: HXL
Multi-core performance increased by 21% while single-core rose by 10%, substantially closing the gap with competitors. Though short of the i5-7500, this represented significant optimization of the KX-7000 through simple frequency bumping. The specialized motherboard proved instrumental in unleashing the processor’s hidden reserves.
Room for Further Advancement While Gains Are Promising
While the overclocked KX-7000 did not surpass the tested Intel and AMD CPUs, its enhanced performance came impressively close. Maintaining Zhaoxin’s trend of doubling capabilities every generation, the KX-7000 seems poised to compete head-on shortly.
Its modest 85W power draw at stock also leaves headroom for higher frequencies. Asus’ contributions serve as an example of how outside support can accelerate emerging technologies.
The continuing partnership may help the KX-7000 and mainland China CPUs achieve new heights. Though progress remains, initial results spark optimism for the competitiveness of alternative architectures worldwide.
In Summary…
In summary, Asus’ specialist motherboard demonstrated the potential gains from optimizing the Zhaoxin KX-7000 through overclocking. Initial testing revealed performance on par with Intel’s Kaby Lake at stock speeds, with a 25% boost from a 3.6GHz overclock.
While not beating competing CPUs, the KX-7000 pushed significantly closer to mainstream standards. Such advancements underscore opportunities for partnerships to strengthen independent hardware initiatives worldwide. Continued refinement could see China’s homemade CPUs competing toe-to-toe globally.
