Intel Core i7-6700K Skylake Processor Review

By Nathan Kirsch August 5, 2015

Intel Z170 Test System For Skylake

Before we look at the numbers, let’s take a brief look at the test system that was used. All testing was done on a fresh install of Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit and benchmarks were completed on the desktop with no other software programs running. These platforms are aimed at mainstream users and all feature integrated graphics, so it will be interesting to see how the systems compare. We will use an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti reference card for discrete gaming performance tests.

Intel Z170 Test Platform:

The Intel Z170 platform that we used to test the Intel 1151 processors was running the ASUS Z170 Deluxe motherboard with BIOS 0603 that came out on 07/30/2015. The Corsair Vengeance 16GB 2666 MHz DDR4 dual channel memory kit was set to XMP 2.0 memory profile settings, which is 1.20v with 15-15-15-36 1T memory timings. The Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB SSD uses 19nm NAND and was using M311 firmware.

Intel Z97 Test Platform:

The Intel Z97 platform that we used to test the Intel 1150 processors was running the ASUS Z97-A motherboard with BIOS 2401 that came out on 04/24/2015. The Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2133MHz memory kit was set to XMP 1.3 memory profile settings, which is 1.65v with 9-11-11-31 1T memory timings. The Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB SSD uses 19nm NAND and was using M311 firmware.

Here is a quick look at the CPU-Z information for our main test system that we’ll be doing the testing on.

Intel LGA1150 Test Platform
Component	Brand/Model	Live Pricing
Processor	Intel Pentium G3258	Click Here
Motherboard	ASUS Z97-A	Click Here
Memory	8GB Dominator 2133MHz	Click Here
Video Card	N/A	Click Here
Hard Drive	Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB SSD	Click Here
Cooling	Corsair H105	Click Here
Keyboard	Corsair K95	Click Here
Mouse	Corsair M95	Click Here
Power Supply	Corsair AX860i	Click Here
Operating System	Windows 8.1 64-Bit	Click Here