Intel Skylake i7-6700K De-Lid Shows Thermal Paste, Small Die and No VRM

What appears to be a de-lidded i7-6700K has popped up on the net. A user of coolaler has found a blurry picture of what is said to be an Intel Skylake i7-6700K. Under the recognizable metal heat spreader, a relatively small die can be found covered in thermal paste. Somewhat expected, it means that Intel will not be using solder for its unlocked chips.

Intel first moved to away from solder starting with Ivy Bridge. One of the issues cited was that the smaller die size from the 22nm, now 14nm process, would cause the solder to crack prematurely. The move to thermal compound was not well met and the decrease in overclocks coupled with high heat was bemoaned by many. Haswell exacerbated the situation with on package VRMs. Intel answered with Devil’s Canyon, with improved VRMs and next-generation polymer thermal interface material (NGPTIM).

Skylake also appears to be using NGPTIM according to coolaler which should help. A closer look at the package reveals that the telltale extra capacitors on the package brought by Haswell are missing, confirming the fact that the VRMs are finally back on the motherboard. It also suggests that if the chip pic is fake, it is either edited or is a pre-Haswell chip. These changes may be offset however by the smaller die, making it harder to cool the chip. This factor is likely to get worse as Intel transitions to 10nm and beyond.

One final note is the lack of eDRAM next to the CPU die. Early rumours had pointed to Crystallwell, Intel’s L4 eDRAM cache for its integrated graphics being widely available with Skylake processors. This appeared to be confirmed when Intel launched socketed Broadwell unlocked chips equipped with eDRAM in the form of the i7-5775C and i5-5675C. Handicapping Skylake in this way may be a move aimed at pushing adoption for Broadwell. Maybe Intel will have a lower clocked K chip with eDRAM but hopes do not seem high.

Thank you coolaler for providing us with this information.