Intel Skylake i7 6700K

[MadManCK]

The new 14nm Skylake will be only 14% faster than its predecessor 4790K.

Some benches of the Intel Skylake i7 6700K have been leaked. Of course we have to wait for more test results before becomes clear what will be true or not.
It makes use of the 1151 chipset and DDR3L/DDR4 support.





So it performs more or less as good as the current hexa cores. Not too bad. But it does not blow me away either.
It seems that with 14nm there are already quantum issues that prevent just making the transistors smaller and smaller. Maybe they will need to invent completely new materials to use for the wafers. The limit of the current technology has been reached. Production already shows a lot of errors. It will be interesting to see if there will be ways to keep the "Moore Law" going. But i think that we reach the smallest size at which chips can be produced quickly now. It is not just the material but the stability of the environment that plays a role when producing at these very small factors.
And the Earth always moves.

[Beardroid91]

Yea i think you are right you the limit having been reached, but i do think the CPU's physical die and socket size will be the next area of focus, ast he PC industry have been using the same basic layout for about the last 15 years. Also GPU's need to be much more powerful while being a heck of a lot smaller.

But Samsung and Radeon just started using HBM memory or stacked memory for SSD's and fewer but higher bandwidth vram chip, so HBM chips could in theory replace the DDR(X) ram sticks we know today with smaller modules the size of a coin.

So there is still room for improvements

HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), it's not the data rate, but the insane I/O futures it offers that is impressive

[Bez]

I'm glad I went for the 4790 Devil's Canyon now, it isn't that much slower than the new chips.
And I guess the new chips will be pricy, so hopefully the 4790 will keep me going till something better comes along.

[Beardroid91]

Yes, the 4xxx series i7's might finally drop down in price, i have my eyes on the retail prices now and again to follow the trend, and maybe once i get some more money upgrade from the i5 to the i7, eventhough the i5 still does well, it's just those 8 treads i want

[MadManCK]

In addition to that, it is never smart to buy the first stepping of a new chip. They will improve the design with every new step and fix small errors in both the production process and performance.

Having said that, Intel will make sure the new chip works properly. So those who desperately want the latest and best the company has to offer, won't be disappointed.

But looking at the small boost of only 200Mhz for the Turbo, it will probably not be a very good overclocker. The 6600K might be a lot better in that respect. 3.5-3.9 and probably more headroom.

Devils Canyon had a 4.4Ghz max turbo clock. And even my good old 2700K runs at 4.2Ghz OC. So from a pure MHz perspective, it won't bring more speed. Just intelligence.

If it will be interesting or not strongly depends on the price tag. Normally they sell these new game oriented CPU's for around 500€ at release. But the 4790K was a pleasant surprise at 300€, even if retailers added 10-20% extra for beefing their pockets. But it does explain the popularity of the processor. And i don't think the new release will cut that price much soon® . We will see.

[Beardroid91]

i think it is to early to say if it will be a good clocker, but 4 ghz is still plenty fast

Now we just need AMD to drop a monster and force Intel to lower the premium on on their cpu's, i'm not kidding, since i bought my 4670k its new price has gone about 65 euros up, it crazy...

[MadManCK]

According to this data sheet from AnandTech, the Skylake will be 14% quicker as mentioned before but also a whopping 60% more energy efficient. I don't know if this is under load or idle but it is a lot.



EDIT: This probably refers to the mobile versions of the Skylake.

[Beardroid91]

Impressive efficiency, that should be a good base for new devices

[MadManCK]

Intels roadmap

[MadManCK]

Unlike the roadmap suggested, it seems that Intel will launch the Skylake in Q3 of this year. All MoBo manufacturers show Skylake ready motherboards with a lot of interesting features.
USB 3.1, M2, Pcie x4 SSD support and so on.

Like this ASUS Z170Pro


or this EVGA Z170 Classified


the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7


and the MSI Z170A-G45


Most boards are still in development, but when all these high end manufacturers show these Skylake "ready" MB, you know the launch can not be far away.