Basic Skylake 6700K Overclocking review and performance.

opethdisciple · 7 Aug 2015 at 19:44

It's interesting really why Intel did not go 6 core for its mainstream i7. Surely if its true, they must know that DX12 is going to unlock some performance potential out of AMD's weaker but more multi core FX series CPU's making then more cost effective as gaming CPU's.

Mustang · 7 Aug 2015 at 19:54

Teuton said:
Thing is with TTL's review that it doesn't account for the lower price of 5820k now (obviously not his fault, the review is 10 months old) and the fact that Skylake is pretty much the same price and also requires DDR4.

The 5820k price hasn't changed at all, it was available from £275 at launch.

opethdisciple · 7 Aug 2015 at 21:09

Early adopters tax.

It's still a really really hard choice.

If this was still the DX11 era, the 6700k would be the better chip I reckon. Stronger IPC and higher clocks for games that still prefer single core performance.

But DX12 is literally round the corner which is supposedly going to favour more cores over IPC and frequency.

skiersteve321 · 7 Aug 2015 at 21:17

opethdisciple said:
Early adopters tax.

It's still a really really hard choice.

If this was still the DX11 era, the 6770k would be the better chip I reckon. Stronger IPC and higher clocks for games that still prefer single core performance.

But DX12 is literally round the corner which is supposedly going to favour more cores over IPC and frequency.

so true, upgrading myself and just gna risk it and go with 5820k, tbh i think either that or the 6700k are fine chips for someone like me who only games

Orangey · 8 Aug 2015 at 03:11

opethdisciple said:
Early adopters tax.

It's still a really really hard choice.

If this was still the DX11 era, the 6700k would be the better chip I reckon. Stronger IPC and higher clocks for games that still prefer single core performance.

But DX12 is literally round the corner which is supposedly going to favour more cores over IPC and frequency.

DX12 will not change the code of all current games overnight. It won't be a factor until 2017. That said Skydozer does not have stronger IPC, it's the same.

Devrij · 8 Aug 2015 at 09:38

skiersteve321 said:
so true, upgrading myself and just gna risk it and go with 5820k, tbh i think either that or the 6700k are fine chips for someone like me who only games

5820k also allows for quad gpu setups, if you are so inclined, so those extra lanes could make it a better choice for gamers

colinmcr · 8 Aug 2015 at 09:57

Would you recommend an upgrade from x79 4930k to x99 5930k or pretty pointless?

Joe! · 8 Aug 2015 at 10:14

Devrij said:
5820k also allows for quad gpu setups, if you are so inclined, so those extra lanes could make it a better choice for gamers

Only 3 way with NVidia, since NVidia requires 8 lanes per GPU.

Flake87 · 8 Aug 2015 at 10:16

Interesting DX12 page complete with a video of Final Fantasy in DX12 / DX11 comparison

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-why-directx-12-is-a-gamechanger

KoM · 8 Aug 2015 at 10:16

It is rather pointless, but saying that I went from x79 to x99, just because I like to upgrade. Don't care if its a waste of money or not as I enjoy it.

ZeroG · 8 Aug 2015 at 10:18

colinmcr said:
Would you recommend an upgrade from x79 4930k to x99 5930k or pretty pointless?

From all the posts I've read recently most people are saying it's not really worth it, but then again if you've got the money and willing to spend it, why not.

I'm still currently on a 2500k and have been looking to upgrade for a while now but with Skylake not being all that great of an improvement I think I might just keep it a while longer and invest in a better monitor.

ALXAndy · 8 Aug 2015 at 12:17

ZeroG said:
From all the posts I've read recently most people are saying it's not really worth it, but then again if you've got the money and willing to spend it, why not.

I'm still currently on a 2500k and have been looking to upgrade for a while now but with Skylake not being all that great of an improvement I think I might just keep it a while longer and invest in a better monitor.

Anadtech said it best..

How much faster is Haswell-E over Ivy Bridge-E? Clock for clock, 8% on average.

How well do these CPUs overclock? Not as well as Ivy Bridge-E or Sandy Bridge-E, but performance is comparable.

I have an i7-3960X at 4.8 GHz / i7-4960X at 4.5 GHz, should I upgrade? Only if you need more cores.

I already have the i7-4960X and run at stock, should I upgrade? Only if you need more cores.

Do the 28 PCIe 3.0 lanes on the i7-5820K affect gaming? Not at 1080p in SLI.

ZeroG · 8 Aug 2015 at 12:23

Usually when I've had a processor this long there's a decent upgrade available but at the moment there's just nothing. I don't need more cores as I don't do anything that warrants more and I have already overclocked my 2500k to a modest 4.3GHz and added a 980 ti to my system so I'm getting decent performance in games. So the only thing really I could do with at the moment is a new monitor which I am currently looking into but there's so much choice in what to go for.

I did contemplate upgrading to Skylake but only for the sake of upgrading I guess.

Gazb · 8 Aug 2015 at 19:50

Isn't potentially the biggest issue with skylake the fact that it only has 20 pcie lanes 16 for GPU and 4 are used for the DMI 3.0 to the chipset which all the other controllers are connected to.
So even though the chipset has 20 pcie lanes itself, communication between the chipset and cpu is limited to 4 which if you were using an NVMe SSD you could almost be saturating that link never mind anything else that is connected.

r7slayer · 8 Aug 2015 at 20:29

i'm going to go with skylake i7 this round (4C/8T) instead of the x99 route. I know DX12 is round the corner but its going to be a minimum of two years before we see anything good come along with DX12 and see DX12 settle in. So in three years time ill probably upgrade to x99 when we see DX12 games become more of the norm!

uscool · 8 Aug 2015 at 20:39

r7slayer said:
i'm going to go with skylake i7 this round (4C/8T) instead of the x99 route. I know DX12 is round the corner but its going to be a minimum of two years before we see anything good come along with DX12 and see DX12 settle in. So in three years time ill probably upgrade to x99 when we see DX12 games become more of the norm!

me too im going for the skylake route, and probably upgrade again in 2 years , by then im sure we will have a better idea

Thanks

ALXAndy · 8 Aug 2015 at 21:17

r7slayer said:
i'm going to go with skylake i7 this round (4C/8T) instead of the x99 route. I know DX12 is round the corner but its going to be a minimum of two years before we see anything good come along with DX12 and see DX12 settle in. So in three years time ill probably upgrade to x99 when we see DX12 games become more of the norm!

The first game is due in November apparently. It either uses DX12 or it doesn't.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 8 Aug 2015 at 21:23

r7slayer said:
i'm going to go with skylake i7 this round (4C/8T) instead of the x99 route. I know DX12 is round the corner but its going to be a minimum of two years before we see anything good come along with DX12 and see DX12 settle in. So in three years time ill probably upgrade to x99 when we see DX12 games become more of the norm!

Or just get the X99 platform now?? In the end if you keep doing small upgrades here and there,you end up wasting more money.

Unless you are going mini-ITX where the X99 mini-ITX motherboards are very expensive,the ST difference I don't think is massive enough to make such a big difference,and after all if MT performance is not an important metric for you,the Core i5 6600K is much cheaper.

r7slayer · 8 Aug 2015 at 21:53

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
Or just get the X99 platform now?? In the end if you keep doing small upgrades here and there,you end up wasting more money.

Unless you are going mini-ITX where the X99 mini-ITX motherboards are very expensive,the ST difference I don't think is massive enough to make such a big difference,and after all if MT performance is not an important metric for you,the Core i5 6600K is much cheaper.

But why spend about £100 more on x99 now? when i can get more IPC performance at less money and more OC room? I'm most likely only going to be running a single GFX card for next two years as well so im in no need for the extra lanes.

If you could explain the benefits of X99 over a i7 skylake that justifies the extra cost to me then ill jump on x99 otherwise skylake it is!

Also don't use DX12 as i can't see a majority of games running on DX12 in the next year or two. It will be like Mantle, or most likely be 5-6 games at best in the next couple of years.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 8 Aug 2015 at 22:10

r7slayer said:
But why spend about £100 more on x99 now? when i can get more IPC performance at less money and more OC room? I'm most likely only going to be running a single GFX card for next two years as well so im in no need for the extra lanes.

If you could explain the benefits of X99 over a i7 skylake that justifies the extra cost to me then ill jump on x99 otherwise skylake it is!

Also don't use DX12 as i can't see a majority of games running on DX12 in the next year or two. It will be like Mantle, or most likely be 5-6 games at best in the next couple of years.

The problem is the IPC increase is not massive,and until we get more user testing the extra OC headroom is not a given,especially with the fact the Core i7 5820K uses solder and has a larger die meaning cooling should be easier.

You are literally just splunging money for a two year upgrade and I would garner that the X99 setup will hold its value better anyway - remember it not only appeals to highend gamers but a whole lot of people doing productivity stuff too.

The problem is it isn't even £100 though unless you go for a very basic Z170 board,and even the cheaper X99 boards will be built to a higher standard anyway than a cheap Z170 board.

Something like a Gigabyte GA-X99-SLI is only realistically £40 to £50 than a equivalent Z170 Gigabyte board.

Plus there is hardly a price difference between a Core i7 6700K and a Core i7 5820K currently with a number of retailers having the Core i7 5820K at a lower price.

So,at this point I see no point in going for the Core i7 6700K unless you are doing a small mini-ITX build and even then the X99 mini-ITX motherboards are close in price to the only Z170 one which is listed ATM.

At least the Core i5 6600K is under £200,and makes the Core i7 6700K very overpriced indeed.

£100 more for HT is getting silly now.

Edit!!

Also remember that Skylake has no FIVR so the motherboard is going to be more important again when overclocking too.