- Improvement over Devil's Canyon
- 4.2 GHz stock performance
- Top quad core performance
- Not entirely overclocking friendly
- Very hot when overclocked
- Premium quad core pricing
Final Thoughts
The Intel Core i7-6700K Skylake processor is essentially a smoother, cooler running, and slightly faster version of Devil’s Canyon. It features cooler running cores, and DDR4 memory support. The integrated memory controller performs slightly faster than its DDR3 predecessor mostly due to higher frequencies of DDR4. In either case, memory timings continue to be the major influencing factor. The lower the timings, the better the CPU performance. That would be a good reason to buy high frequency memory so that you can manually run the memory at a lower (1600-1866 MHz) frequency with lower timings.
While not really a big deal, it’s surprising to see that only a DX11 capable Intel HD 530 iGPU is built in to Skylake. Then again, it’s essentially a racing car purchased for its speeds rather than its crushed velour interior. This processor will support any discreet graphics card exceptionally well as shown in testing overall.
The bottom line for most desktop DIY users will be pricing. The Core i7-6700K Skylake processor will cost you $360 USD. The Core i5-6600K unthreaded processor costs about $250 USD. If your budget is in between and simply can’t afford the Core i7-6700K, I would recommend buying a threaded Intel Core i7-5775C processor with a Z97 motherboard because it will be noticeably faster than the 6600K. You’ll save some money and get great performance.
However, if you’re buying a brand new platform today, and you’re looking at keeping it for the long haul, then the DDR4 support will give you more high frequency memory to play with down the road, and updated socket will be worth a couple more processor upgrades in the future.
