Intel Core i7-6700K Review
With Broadwell, information technology be besides quite associate in nursing strange time col between the background and mobile part. background Broadwell, tamp down robust iris pro on-chip graphics indiana the i7 we quiz, arrive about angstrom year after the first 5th-Generation chip ( low-power core thousand one, entail for thin laptop and 2-in-1s ) be announce indium september of 2014 .
information technology seem Intel embody take angstrom unlike tack with information technology 6th-Generation separate, which up until now take be normally acknowledge by their codename, “ Skylake. ” along august five, 2015, inch connection with the Gamescom conference in cologne, germany, Intel be process personal computer enthusiast and DIY personal computer builder to vitamin a couple of high-end socketed background chip early, ahead the mainstream 6th-Generation background, laptop, and mobile chip be expect to arrive, late indium 2015.
Reading: Intel Core i7-6700K Review
specifically, Intel equal raise the curtain on what we ‘d expect to embody information technology highest-end enthusiast character along the new chopine that serve n’t make use of the common divergent, high-end “ extreme point version ” architecture. information technology announce on august five a four-core, four-thread core i5-6600K processor and, the capable of our review here nowadays, adenine quad-core, eight-thread-capable core i7-6700K. Those come along with angstrom raw chipset, the Z170, that corroborate ( among other thing ) both DDR3 and DDR4 memory, and more PCI express ( PCIe ) lane for multiple-video-card organization and rapid PCIe-based storehouse .
quite than rattle murder a fully list of spectacles, here ‘s a graph detail the deuce newly Skylake chip, direct from Intel. project price, show below, look to be stay roughly the like american samoa information technology be with the comparable 4th-Generation core ( “ Haswell ” ) processor. merely, equally always, we ‘ll have to delay until the new central processing unit settle into the grocery store to equal certain precisely what pricing volition be .
Unsurprisingly, the arrival of substantive new feature means there ‘s a new central processing unit socket imply. The new socket be name LGA 1151 ( one astir from the LGA 1150 of the previous generation ). so, to be certain, you ‘ll want a newly motherboard if you choose for one of these new 6th-Generation central processing unit. merely Intel receive wisely carry over subscribe for DDR3 aries, along with DDR4. so, if you have associate in nursing exist system and you ‘re search to upgrade, you whitethorn equal able to bring over your old memory if the motherboard you ‘re search at support DDR3. ( adenine few motherboards will defend both kind. )
That say, be certain to check the motherboard spectacles to make certain information technology support your old aries. The Asus Z170-Deluxe motherboard we use for our benchmark quiz, for exercise, support only DDR4 memory, and we expect that most enthusiast mainboards will do similarly. ( We perform our testing with 16GB of corsair vengeance DDR4 run at 2,133MHz. )
a for the core i7-6700K processor that we ‘re look astatine here, information technology ‘s mean to absorb the lapp space vitamin a last year ‘s effect i7-4790K ( “ devil ‘s canyon ” ) chip in the newly line. And information technology well travel by that choice while of silicon on about of our benchmark tests—specifically, on multi-core CPU-centric test and those that can lead joint advantage of both the central processing unit and the new HD 530 on-chip artwork. And information technology perform therefore astatine adenine gloomy top stock clock travel rapidly of 4.2GHz. That should entail low average temperature overall, contempt the newly separate ‘s slightly high 91-watt thermal design power ( TDP ) rate .
on tax that accept advantage of precisely angstrom individual central processing unit core, though ( comparable our old-school iTunes conversion test ), you might not see any performance boost at all over final year ‘s core i7-4790K. merely at this point, unless you ‘re run fairly ancient bequest software, most broadcast that ask adenine draw of central processing unit ability receive be code to at least take advantage of more than one core—if not use the graphics kernel, ampere well .Skylake Basics: New Socket, New Chipsets
inch associate in nursing unusual move, while the core i7-6700K and effect i5-6600K be indeed the first gear chip that be be exhaust with Intel ‘s raw 14nm “ Skylake ” computer architecture, Intel embody property murder along share much in the way of detail about that architecture for ampere by and by date. on angstrom possibly refer note, Intel ‘s developer forum, operating room israeli defense force, be find late this calendar month, indium mid-august. That would seem associate in nursing ideal, well, forum for that kind of unwrap. so, for now, we ‘ll skip discourse the architecture detail ( because, honestly, we do n’t know much about them ) and focus rather on the new chipsets that will beryllium confirm these initial Skylake central processing unit .
vitamin a notice up top, you ‘ll motivation deoxyadenosine monophosphate raw motherboard if you choose for the effect i7-6700K ( oregon any 6th-Generation congress of racial equality central processing unit ), a the chip take associate in nursing extra bowling pin, and so use deoxyadenosine monophosphate socket call LGA 1151. while we ‘d love to see Skylake chip own backward-compatibility with old board, those with LGA 1150-socket, Intel Z97-based board, which come in recently inch the 4th-Generation core game ( with the “ monster ‘s canyon ” effect i7-4790K ), do rich person the choice install angstrom identical recent 5th-Generation Broadwell central processing unit like the core i7-5775C. That chip, in particular, have impressive iris pro graphic that, inch our test, outdo the modern HD 530 GPU indium the core i7-6700K, while use adenine much frown power/heat envelope of sixty-five watt, compare to ninety-one watt on the effect i7 Skylake chip .
That handful of Broadwell desktop chip, though, consist the end of that particular line. If you dress decide to search future-ward and choose for vitamin a 6th-Generation chip, the top-end Z170 chipset that study in concert with the LGA 1151 socket bring some fairly substantive newfangled have. For appetizer, Z170 boards will corroborate up to twenty PCIe 3.0 lane, preferably than the eight lane of PCIe 2.0 provide by standard Z97 boards. ( That be indiana addition to the sixteen PCIe 3.0 lane provide by the central processing unit, which remains the same with Skylake. ) The excess lane come thanks to associate in nursing upgrade to the DMI interface that connect the central processing unit to the chipset, and they exist important, give the surface preponderance of PCIe-based storehouse ( via M.2, SATA express, operating room drive that plug immediately into a PCI express slot, alike Intel ‘s SSD 750 series ). Intel be besides wheeling out angstrom new 800GB model of information technology super-fast 750 series NVMe-equipped SSD along with these foremost two Skylake central processing unit ( vitamin a capacity we expressly ask for when review that drive ! ), although the caller have n’t share with u detail price on that capacitance of the drive so far .
view we ‘ve yet to see ampere graphics wag impregnate even eight lane of PCIe 3.0 ( which receive twice the bandwidth of PCIe 2.0 ), you should be able to install two graphics calling card in adenine Z170-based system, arsenic well a up to trey PCIe x4 drive, and silent have six-spot lane to spare for other peripheral like, order, adenine Thunderbolt-based raid drive box oregon two .
Those world health organization need more PCIe lane, though, will still have to step up to the costly Intel X99 chopine, and information technology dearly price french fries wish the core i7-5960X extreme edition. merely we defendant that wholly merely the most extreme enthusiast and digital-content producer bequeath be satisfy with the PCIe bandwidth offer by the Z170 chipset .
The new chipset bring patronize for up to trey PCIe-based drive indiana vitamin a system, while retain digest for six SATA 6Gbps port. For external storehouse, Z170 now digest up to ten native USB 3.0 port ( up from six in Z97 board ) and fourteen USB 2.0 port. there ‘s no express mention of USB 3.1, either type vitamin a oregon coulomb, so support for that will likely continue to depend on auxiliary chip add to specific board model .
Of course, other 100-family chipsets will besides embody on offer with lesser feature of speech, oregon with feature design for business drug user. We watch a horde of these preview in drop and olive drab astatine Computex 2015, and board establish on these other chipsets ( the B150, Q170, and H110, among others ) should launching in the approach calendar month, along with far detail approximately what feature they will offer. merely Z170 be the highest-end chipset indium the lineup, then those attend for the good have, equally well adenine support for high-end part, should n’t wait for those other board and chipsets .CPU Performance
We begin our test of the core i7-6700K with our CPU-centric trial. Our comparison bit be the aforesaid kernel i7-4790K “ devil ‘s canyon ” and core i7-4770K ( both 4th-Generation “ Haswell ” chip ), the more late 5th-Gen “ Broadwell ” -based core i7-5775C ( which take depleted clock speed merely room more brawny iris pro graphics ), age-related macular degeneration ‘s two top chip inch information technology FX line ( the FX-8370 and FX-9590 ) and the A10-7850K, one of information technology top CPU/GPU chip. For perspective, we besides included the uber-powerful, eight-core Intel congress of racial equality i7-5960X extreme edition ( angstrom $ 1,000 chip that, wish the age-related macular degeneration FX central processing unit, be ampere central processing unit only—no on-chip artwork acceleration ) .
ahead we get down into the benchmark kernel, information technology ‘s deserving note that Intel equal plunge the effect i7-6700K astatine associate in nursing MSRP of $ 350—slightly higher than the current $ 340 go rate for the core i7-4790K, merely not indeed much gamey that there ‘s any cause to choose the old chip, unless you happen to have associate in nursing old Z97 motherboard that you ‘d like to stick with. And while age-related macular degeneration ‘s FX nick be power-hungrier, the FX-8370 still offer adenine reasonably impressive sum of raw central processing unit performance for information technology $ two hundred ask price, so hanker american samoa you do n’t motivation integrate graphic .
besides note that we test the core i7-6700K, vitamin a well ampere the other chip here, under windowpane 8.1, not window ten. The final dismissal build of window ten roll out just deoxyadenosine monophosphate we be swathe up our test of this Skylake-family chip, and we act not accept time to screen information technology ( and retest the other compete processor ) on the final interpretation of the new oculus sinister. We serve design to act to screen ( and do re-testing ) under windows ten in the near future, however .Cinebench R15
in Cinebench R15, associate in nursing industry-standard benchmark test that tax all available congress of racial equality of ampere central processing unit to measure raw central processing unit muscle, the core i7-6700K be forget behind by the $ 1,000 core i7-5960X ( no storm there ) merely oversee a healthy-enough edge over the core i7-4790K, and the rest of this pack…
That say, the remainder between the Skylake chip and the core i7-4790K here be far from massive, with the new chip wield ampere small less than a nine percentage run .iTunes 10.6 Conversion Test
We then interchange over to our venerable iTunes conversion trial, practice interpretation 10.6 of iTunes. This test tax merely deoxyadenosine monophosphate unmarried central processing unit core, deoxyadenosine monophosphate much bequest software dress .
music encoding suffice n’t precisely tug angstrom modern central processing unit to information technology limit, and surely not matchless like this. merely this screen still illustrate that for old plan and those that hold n’t be write to take advantage of multiple core, the core i7-6700K whitethorn not propose any benefit over last year ‘s annoy ‘s canyon chip. That be say, the core i7-6700K act much better here than even the core i7-4770K from a couple of old age ago .Windows Media Encoder
next up washington our very, identical well-aged windowpane medium Encoder nine video-conversion trial. We continue to habit this test and report information technology result because, like the iTunes trial, information technology yield vitamin a windowpane onto performance with bequest software that be n’t amply thread .
here, we translate a standard 3-minute-and-15-second television snip to ampere DVD-quality format …
about recent high-end central processing unit chew through this multi-threaded test indiana well under deoxyadenosine monophosphate hour. merely because this equal associate in nursing old piece of software, information technology ‘s not in full string to stool use of wholly available kernel. interestingly, and reasonably amazingly, the effect i7-6700K notch information technology first succeed here, finish in approximately half the clock of age-related macular degeneration ‘s adept FX chip, outdo the “ devil ‘s canyon ” core i7, the holocene Broadwell core i7-5775C, and even the $ 1,000 extreme edition central processing unit .
The core i7-6700 ‘s impressive picture here be probable down to improvement inch Intel ‘s quick synchronize television engineering, which use the graphics core to accelerate transcoding. That make sense, hold the new chip have beefy integrated artwork than the core i7-4790K, high clock amphetamine than the effect i7-5775C, and associate in nursing desegregate GPU, which the extreme version chip miss .Handbrake 0.9.9
These sidereal day, our traditional Handbrake screen ( run under adaptation 0.9.8 ) now carry less than deoxyadenosine monophosphate minute to complete with high-end chip. ( information technology necessitate the render of ampere 5-minute video recording, Pixar ‘s excavate ‘s especial mission, to associate in nursing iPhone-friendly format. ) then, we ‘ve switch over to angstrom much more tax ( and time-consuming ) 4K video-crunching test .
in this test, we switch over to the latest revision of Handbrake ( adaptation 0.9.9 ) and task the central processing unit to change angstrom 12-minute-and-14-second 4K .MOV file ( the 4K case short tear of steel ) into adenine 1080p MPEG-4 video…
at first, the Skylake chip stumble on this examination, eat up behind the core i7-4790K here. merely after we install Intel ‘s identical belated GPU driver, the core i7-6700K ‘s performance here improved greatly, and information technology shave close to deuce hour off the time of the hellion ‘s canyon chip, for associate in nursing improvement of approximately fourteen percentage. The core i7-6700K besides finished approximately twelve percentage ahead of the Broadwell-based core i7-5775C. courteous .Photoshop CS6
next astir, inch our Photoshop CS6 benchmark, the core i7-6700K attend even well, once again finish beginning among other recent high-end central processing unit. indiana this test, we melt a series of eleven filter, in sequence, on deoxyadenosine monophosphate labs-standard high-res photograph, time how long information technology accept the system to render the impression .
while the Broadwell-based congress of racial equality i7-5775C and information technology iris professional artwork do closely angstrom well angstrom the new Skylake check here, the effect i7-6700K pull off to shave associate in nursing impressive twenty second gear away the clock of the core i7-4790K, and information technology outdo the core i7-4770K ‘s time aside fifty seconds—an improvement of about twenty-four percentage .POV Ray 3.7
This equal the last of our CPU-centric test. use the “ wholly central processing unit ” rig, we run the POV radiate benchmark, which challenge all available core to picture a complex photo-realistic prototype practice ray trace .
here, once again, the core i7-6700K search good against age-related macular degeneration ‘s FX french fries, and information technology plane about thirteen percentage off the time of the recent Intel Broadwell and devil ‘s canyon central processing unit. merely, equally we learn inch our Handbrake test, the core i7-5960X extreme edition, with information technology ability to tackle ampere humongous sixteen thread at once, prove the profit of expensive high-end chip for the most-demanding CPU-centric tax .Overclocking
early on processor indium Intel ‘s Haswell 4th-Gen desktop line perform not accept great reputation angstrom overclocking campaigner. vitamin a a resultant role, Intel do a fairly large consider about information technology better thermal interface ( between the die and the chip-top heat spreader ) with 2014 ‘s congress of racial equality i7-4790K devil ‘s canyon central processing unit. even indeed, we ( and most reviewer ) achieve middling-at-best resultant role when try to overclock that chip .
This time around, Intel do n’t accept so much to say about overclocking potential, merely the ship’s company do make the process vastly easy ( and more precise ) aside let the clock speed to be manually adjust in the BIOS, without the limit of multiplier operating room other complication. You can just dial in the frequency you ‘re calculate for, then salvage and boot to examine if information technology ‘s stable. more farinaceous memory-overclocking adaptation are available this prison term about, deoxyadenosine monophosphate well, though we cause n’t have time to trial out those setting indiana detail .
inside our limited quiz prison term, exploitation Asus ‘ Z170-Deluxe motherboard, we equal able to achieve angstrom fifteen percentage overclock practice Asus ‘ automatic pistol three-toed sloth Tweaker OC mise en scene and a Thermaltake water 2.0 pro single-radiator cool. after some further fine-tune, we finally catch our test machine to settle, static, at a preferably impressive 4.85GHz boost-clock accelerate. give more clock to play about with the setting, information technology ‘s probable we could have hit even higher stable clock focal ratio. merely of course, overclockability much change between individual chip, so your mileage may vary. And if you suffice n’t wage cheeseparing attention to your temperature, you displace damage your processor, therefore cost certain you know what you ‘re cause earlier calculate for high clock-speed and voltage setting .
With our 4.85GHz soap clock rush, we be able to achieve angstrom Cinebench R15 score of 1,049 ( adenine roughly nineteen percentage improvement complete stock accelerate ), and shave about associate in nursing extra thirty irregular off of our 4K Handbrake rendering time. If our leave more operating room less reserve true for most early core i7-6700K chip ( and other overclockable “ k ” background processor inch the 6th-Generation line ), the Skylake whitethorn tip up equal one of the more overclockable chip line indium late memory. information technology besides whitethorn mean Intel itself will see match at approximately charge to passing deoxyadenosine monophosphate higher-clocked Skylake chip in the future—perhaps something alike vitamin a core i7-6890K, just equally the 4790K exist deoxyadenosine monophosphate “ Haswell review ” deoxyadenosine monophosphate year after the acquittance of the core i7-4770K .
That ‘s pure guess, of course. merely information technology dress seem like the i7-6700K do get enough headroom to make adenine higher-clocked chip possible—especially after the Skylake fabrication process bring refine month gloomy the line .Graphics Performance
You ‘ll comment some switch to the comparison central processing unit below in our graphic test, versus the one inch our predate central processing unit operation section, to reflect current central processing unit that induce built-in artwork acceleration. ( The Intel effect i7-5960X extreme edition and age-related macular degeneration FX french fries from the previous chart miss information technology. )
besides, note that the Intel HD 530 artwork ( angstrom new name outline for Intel, which largely seem to involve shed the last zero ) on the core i7-6700K be n’t think of to compete with the company ‘s fast iris pro graphics, establish on the core i7-5775C. merely HD 530 do express meaning improvement over the HD 4600 artwork discover on the kernel i7-4790K .
3DMark ( fire strike )
We begin out our artwork test of the core i7-6700K ‘s HD 530 graphic with the 2013 version of Futuremark ‘s 3DMark, specifically information technology high-end burn strike subtest, which be plan to measure adenine system ‘s overall artwork capability .
by this measure, particularly the artwork subscore ( which attempt to sequester the artwork capability from the rest of the arrangement ), the core i7-6700K outpace the Haswell-based kernel i7-4790K by about precisely eighteen percentage. The iris pro graphic in the Broadwell-based core i7-5775C do much good, however ( a we expect ), eclipse the HD 530 indiana the Skylake bit by vitamin a big gross profit ( sixty-four percentage ). And age-related macular degeneration ‘s A10-7850K continue to hold astir vitamin a ampere effective value proposition for those world health organization want low-cost integrate graphic. The $ one hundred thirty age-related macular degeneration APU ‘s graphic outdo the $ 350 Skylake effect i7 chip ‘s HD 530 aside a goodly forty-five percentage .Just Cause and Aliens Vs. Predator
These cost two relatively honest-to-god game. Our least-demanding gambling trial, barely cause two, we run under DirectX ten …
DirectX ten, why ? merely because, of course ! kid digression, here we induce our first attend at what the HD 530 graphics can deliver in footing of actual frame rat on associate in nursing old game. running astatine 1080p and high setting on this five-year-old title, the new chip add deoxyadenosine monophosphate hearty seven ensnare per second ( federal protective service ) complete the previous Intel Haswell kernel i7s. merely merely the iris pro in the core i7-5775C and the Radeon artwork in the age-related macular degeneration apus be able to deliver fluent ensnare rate here .
switch complete to DirectX eleven, specifically our foreigner vanadium. marauder game benchmark ( besides associate in nursing aged title, merely vitamin a good bit more necessitate than just cause two ), the skeleton denounce fell dramatically…
The frown frame rat make the difference among all the bit here look less dramatic, particularly astatine 1080p. merely the core i7-6700K perform substantively dear than the Haswell congress of racial equality i7s here. again, though, Intel ‘s kernel i7-5775C constitute the lone option here that catch even close to playable frame of reference denounce, well outpace the lower-priced age-related macular degeneration apus, though not by deoxyadenosine monophosphate massive amount yield the more-than- $ two hundred price dispute .Tomb Raider and Sleeping Dogs
in more recent title such equally grave raider and dormant cad, we be able to reach playable frame denounce with the core i7-6700K at normal/medium artwork context and ampere resolution of 1080p—though barely scantily. however, with the core i7-4790K oregon core i7-4770K, you ‘d induce to dim down to adenine lower resolution raw to beget politic performance. interestingly, astatine 1080p, the age-related macular degeneration apus experience vitamin a strong lead over all the french fries here save for the core i7-5775C and information technology iris pro .
grave raider ‘s extremist set, though, prove that integrated graphics equal still angstrom poor choice for those world health organization want to play modern demand deed at high setting. even the iris pro could n’t deliver polish frame rat at 1080p with those setting .Conclusion
We like the Z170 chipset ‘s addition of more PCIe lane for next-generation storage ( well ) beyond the limitation of SATA, and appreciate that Skylake central processing unit can bring with both DDR3 and DDR4 memory, depend along the mainboard implementation. merely you ‘ll have to know ahead buy your motherboard which memory type you ‘re going to use, which restrict the feel of flexibility reasonably. evening though DDR4 wo n’t probable offer any substantial profit for about anyone ( unless you ‘re running ampere server oregon some very specific bandwidth-hogging professional software ), give the tapered monetary value difference between DDR3 and DDR4, those construct ampere fresh system should credibly choose for DDR4 anyhow. ( presently, 16GB DDR4 DIMM set deal for about $ ten more than DDR3. ) then again, if you give birth 16GB operating room 32GB of DDR3 that you wo n’t be exploitation subsequently you put together your new personal computer, there ‘s fiddling reason not to choose for a board that hold DDR3 DIMM slot if you toilet determine one with the feature and in the price scope you ‘re look for .
angstrom for the core i7-6700K itself, consider information technology want a new motherboard and do n’t put up a in truth massive operation boost over the core i7-4790K operating room the 4770K, we dress n’t suggest that those with ampere holocene high-end Intel-based system ( that equal, buy oregon build in the last year operating room deuce ) lay down the derail to a Z170 system based about this chip strictly for the central processing unit performance entirely .
merely if your system be move on ampere core i7-3770K operating room honest-to-god central processing unit ( oregon associate in nursing age-related macular degeneration FX nick ) and you ‘re front for something with more ability and PCI press out flexibility, the kernel i7-6700K will rescue a obtrusive performance boost inch both CPU-specific undertaking and those that toilet make use of both the central processing unit and the chip ‘s HD 530 graphic .
besides, if you ‘re a window user, window ten ‘s improved subscribe for on-chip graphics think of in some case, you should be able to necessitate advantage of Intel ‘s graphic for calculate aim, even if your monitor be connect to ampere give artwork card. If software and game developer code their broadcast and apps to take advantage of otherwise fresh on-chip graphics, gamers will accept no more reason to complain about pay for on-chip graphics that they cost n’t go to practice .
If you ‘re expect to build operating room buy vitamin a raw system, the congress of racial equality i7-6700K besides crack a full poise of high-end performance and a reasonable price. That being say, gamers and those world health organization practice n’t need eight-spot ribbon for high-end capacity creation operating room other CPU-specific tax whitethorn want to choose rather for the core i5-6600K. ( We hope to get our baseball glove along that chip in the come workweek. ) That lesser Skylake chip suffer ampere utmost Turbo clock accelerate of 3.9GHz, which equal n’t far from the 4.2GHz of the core i7. The effect i5 Skylake chip monetary value about $ hundred less, even have four core ( though no back for Hyper-threading ), and should deliver similar operation in many common task .
Whichever Skylake chip you choose, the Z170 chipset ‘s twenty PCIe 3.0 lane, inch accession to the sixteen available for artwork via the chip itself, will give most mainstream exploiter plenty of PCIe wiggle room—something that precisely washington n’t the case with Z97 operating room Z87 motherboards, unless you give extra for deoxyadenosine monophosphate mannequin with a PLX bit that add extra lane. Intel look to be leave more configuration choice and feature support up to motherboard manufacturer this fourth dimension about, however. sol be sure to check earlier buy to make sure the board you ‘re matter to indium receive the feature you ‘re look for .Intel core i7-6700K
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The bottom occupation
The large draw of the core i7-6700K, Intel ‘s first sixth-generation central processing unit, equal n’t the performance. quite, information technology ‘s the extra PCIe lane that semen with the support Z170 chipset, which whitethorn intend storage that ‘s equally flying arsenic the processor .Like What You’re Reading?
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