Intel Core i7-6700K & i5-6600K “Skylake” Processors Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The Intel Core i7-6700K has an MSRP of $350, which is poised to take the same price point of the previous generation. The Core i5-6600K will also slot into the similar price point of the previous generation processor; this will be $243. Overclockers UK currently has both in stock; i7-6700: for £319.99 and the i5-6600K for £209.99.

Overview

So Intel were correct, again. The i7-6700K managed over an average of 10% increase in performance compared to the i7-4790K. This doesn’t really come as a surprise, we knew it would be better and we all have that mental image of how the charts would pan out. What we didn’t really know was how well it would perform against the elite Intel chips, the i7-5960X and i7-5820K. The 5960X just dominated, but the 5820K struggled to pull away in multiple tests. The i5-6600K is slightly different, just managing to squeeze within the 10% margin in most tests. I included the FX-8350 in some applicable tests and you can just see how well the i5 performs against one of AMD’s top CPU’s.  In most of the tests, both the i7 and i5 topped their respective charts and were at least 10% faster than the previous generation processor. There are some irregularities, such as the i5 Cinebench test; the multithreaded score was consistently low in this application; however, the single core score was in line with expectations. I really didn’t want to add an AMD CPU into the race because Intel are essentially competing with themselves in the CPU marketplace. The last new AMD CPU released was well over a year ago and even then it wasn’t as powerful as the previous generation Intel processor. When compared to the i7-6700K, it just gets blown out of the water.

Intel has remained confident that it is listening to the consumers by bringing them what they want; more connectivity, faster processing, better gaming experience; we don’t exactly want much do we? Well, Intel has achieved all of those goals and more; the i7-6700K and i5-6600K are faster, Z170 offers far more expansion of storage drives and high speeds and the gaming experience is fluid; just how you expect. The performance being offered from these mainstream CPU’s is enough to scare some of the Extreme CPU’s such as the i7-5820K and if retailers stick to the MSRP, then i7-5820K sales will likely drop. The fact that this CPU not only handles DDR4 but also accepts the older DDR3L memory is simply astonishing, why spend the extra money just to incorporate ageing tech? It’s not like DDR3 owners can use their RAM either as the default voltage pre-set would make it incompatible. Along with that, no Z170 motherboards are set to feature DDR3L as standard; or that we know of yet. I could understand if the lower specification i5 CPU’s were DDR3L compatible, but the top of the line models should only really be combined with the top of the line components.

Up until now I’ve been wanting to recommend an Intel processor to everyone who has been stuck with Ivy Bridge since launch day; however, nothing really jumped out at me. The performance wasn’t a huge increase from Ivy Bridge to Haswell Refresh and the connectivity really didn’t warrant an upgrade; why pay an extra £150-£200 for 10-20% CPU performance? Skylake now offers exactly what I’ve been waiting for, a huge performance increase, but also huge connectivity from the chipset itself and DDR4 compatibility on all (for the time being) of the Z170 motherboard range. One negative factor here is the price; a new CPU, motherboard and DDR4 RAM combo could start from £400 easily. However, don’t let that put you off, the performance is worth the price, especially if you opt for the i7-6700K.

Pros

• Great out-of-the-box performance
• Take the price point directly from Haswell Refresh CPU’s
• Unrivalled performance
• DDR4 and DDR3L memory support

Cons

• Temperatures are still mediocre when compared to previous generations
• No boxed cooling solution may catch some buyers out
• Adoption will be expensive with DDR4 required on Z170

“Both of the Skylake SKU’s are excellent additions to the range and the perfect successor to the Haswell refresh processors. If you are asking yourself if it’s time to upgrade from Sandybridge and Ivy Bridge; the answer is yes!”

Thank you to Intel for providing these review samples.