Well, This is Disappointing

The rumor manufacturing plant has been working overtime on stories about Skylake's performance. PCOnline showed over a twenty% performance increase in Photoshop for instance, yet we found the Core i7-6700K to exist 5% slower. Other reports claimed upwardly to forty% better integrated graphics performance over Broadwell and that certainly wasn't anything close to reality, at least when comparing the 6700K to the 5775C.

These claims could have been fabricated regarding the mobile Skylake CPUs, so we will take to await and see how that shakes out.

After our results indicated that the 6700K was no faster than the 4790K, we retested with the expectation of finding at least a x% increase. However, it became articulate that there was no extra performance and Intel'south own PR material only claimed "upwardly to" a 10% increase, which means you tin expect just a few percent for the most office.

Intel says you lot can look forwards to as much every bit 10% more performance from the 6700K when testing with SPEC CPU2006. Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain a copy of this criterion in fourth dimension for the Skylake launch, only we did test with a wide range of applications and failed to detect anywhere well-nigh a 10% proceeds.

The just results Intel provided that could be compared to our own were recorded using Cinebench R15 where Intel's in-firm testing matched our own.

Since I can't confirm our numbers with Intel or get answers to whatever of the dozen questions I have regarding Skylake's performance and features, nosotros simply have to hope everything is in order.

For now it looks similar the Core i7-6700K is at best able to match the 4790K. I can't put into words how surprisingly and ultimately disappointing that is.

Where Skylake does offer a few advantages over Haswell is in the new platform, more precisely the Z170 chipset which is superior to the Z97 chipset in several means. The Z170 enjoys 40% more high speed I/O lanes (USB iii.0 and PCIe 3.0) over the Z97 chipset, while PCIe 3.0 storage back up with Intel RST has also been added.

The key reward of the Core i7-6700K over the 4790K is its improved efficiency and superior overclocking capabilities. Non only is the 6700K more flexible when it comes to overclocking but nosotros institute the results to be much more promising likewise. Our sample had no trouble running at 4.8GHz on air which is 300MHz higher than our 4790K. We hope this is the norm.

Those coming from much older platforms will see some value in Skylake, at to the lowest degree the platform brings some new features and improved efficiency. Those already running Haswell gear will want to pass and the same can likely be said about Ivy Span users.

Those with a Sandy Span processor might be tempted, though we doubtable 2500K owners volition hold out for a more substantial upgrade. Just last calendar week nosotros revisited older Intel CPUs and found that some four-year-former Sandy Bridge models nevertheless had plenty of life left in them, not including their overclocking potential.

Pros: Skylake offers improved efficiency and overclocking over Haswell while the new Z170 chipset tops the Z97 with more USB 3.0/PCIe iii.0 lanes, PCIe 3.0 storage back up and Intel RST.

Cons: The Core i7-6700K is generally no faster than the i7-4790K, which will make it difficult to coax purchases out Haswell and Ivy Bridge owners. Availability is rumored to exist limited.

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