Going from a Q6600 to an i5-6600K – Intel Skylake CPU review

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by McGyver, Aug 19, 2015.

  1. McGyver

    McGyver Experimental Pedagogue

    Messages:
    6,533
    Likes Received:
    31
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,


    My name is McGyver, and you might know me from critically acclaimed reviews about the Dell P2715Q monitor or the Radeon 7870XT graphics card. If Google brought you here, this is a forum about a FREE Source engine mod called Empires. You should try it!


    Today we are going to look at my new CPU, the Intel i5-6600K Skylake generation.

    [​IMG]

    Let me tell you a little history. After several years of only using a laptop, in 2008 I decided to build a gaming PC once again. Back then, the choice was between a higher-clocked dual core and the slightly slower clocked quad-core. I chose the quad and that rewarded me with several years more of usage out I got of this CPU.

    [​IMG]

    This month I had to make a similar decision, go for an i5 or an i7 or even a hexa-core CPU? This time I went for the i5, because I do not think that the upcoming advances in multi-threading are worth the additional price tag. Although it feels pretty strange that after seven years I only upgraded from a quad-core to another quad-core CPU.

    Skylake is the code name for Intel's newest processor architecture and it comes from a delicious 14nm facturing process. After two years Intel finally released CPUs for the desktop based on a new tech, I scantily survived the time I had to wait for it and almost got talked into getting a Haswell CPU.

    Installation was pretty painless, my Noctua NH-U12P cooler I already used for the Q6600 will serve to cool the 6600K as well.

    [​IMG]
    Professionally applied thermal paste.


    But let's take a look at the performance increase:
    I used my old Q6600 at 2.7 Ghz and the new i5-6600K was set to a mild overclock of 4.0 Ghz.

    First let's take a look at just the pure single thread performance with CPUmark99, no fancy new instructions are used here, just raw integer processing power.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    From 383 to 719 points!
    That's quite impressive, but doesn't even double the seven year old CPU.


    Then we try the build in benchmark tool from CPU-Z:

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Here single threaded performance improves from 740 to 1658 points!


    Also in gaming, Skylake does deliver:
    Guild Wars 2 went from below 20 FPS in large World versus World battles to 80+ FPS and that is with higher settings. GTA V FPS doubled in the integrated benchmark from 30 to (possibly GPU limited 60) FPS.


    Then there is the improvement for people that use full disc encryption (everyone should use that!)

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Look at that, AES encryption test went from 383 MB/s to 3500 MB/s! Dat AES instruction set integration.


    And there are the energy savings too:

    Idle (with dedicated graphics card): 42W down from 100W. My router alone needs 8W!

    Load with Prime95: 138W down from 180W


    Conlusion: New CPU better than old CPU, but seven years don't change THAT much.

    Thank you for your attention.
     
  2. CRITAWAKETS

    CRITAWAKETS Member

    Messages:
    236
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Does it power 4K easily?
     
  3. w00kie

    w00kie Mustachioed Mexican

    Messages:
    3,863
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Cooler keepers Masterrace!
     
  4. McGyver

    McGyver Experimental Pedagogue

    Messages:
    6,533
    Likes Received:
    31
    Trophy Points:
    0
    without a dedicated graphics card? Yes for desktop mode and 60hz. With a decent graphics card and for gaming? Yes.

    @wookie
    That Noctua cost me 60€, but it was worth it ^^
     
  5. w00kie

    w00kie Mustachioed Mexican

    Messages:
    3,863
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Mine was worse, the Megahalems was a custom order that caseking imported for me -> 97€ *the shit I did with too much money back in the day*

    That fucker better last 10 years.
     
  6. BigTeef

    BigTeef Bootleg Headshot master

    Messages:
    7,036
    Likes Received:
    36
    Trophy Points:
    0
    what is a print screen button?
     
  7. Z100000M

    Z100000M Vithered Weteran

    Messages:
    9,120
    Likes Received:
    70
    Trophy Points:
    0
    A key that copies the current display as a bitmap and stores it in the clipboard?

    ```
    This is some serious fucking deja-vu. Just today I had a random though about what would i answer if i was in a show and someone asked me this exact question.
     
  8. 101010

    101010 Member

    Messages:
    996
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    This is the main reason I am still using a 250u..
     
  9. Lazybum

    Lazybum :D Staff Member Moderator

    Messages:
    4,827
    Likes Received:
    190
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I'm sorry but that cpu is poop. My brother has the same thing and it's ass for a lot of stuff. Shit felt so slow.

    I guess mcgyver isn't feeling such a huge difference due to his older cpu being pretty good at the time, but that athlon is pretty low tier.
     
  10. 101010

    101010 Member

    Messages:
    996
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    It's stable and very low powered.(less heat)
    Down side is playing things like planet side 2 requires shutting down most processes. (Including explorer.exe)

    Best part I would have to say is I took my PC apart to clean it. 4 months later I was having issues with over heating.. I forgot to plug in the cpu fan. I only have the CPU and the GPU stock fans for cooling. Name one high end CPU that can run PS2 for hours at a time with no cooling.

    I keep thinking of upgrading to a FX-8320 build. But still have not came across 1 thing that I wanted to do that my 250u couldn't handle.
     
  11. Z100000M

    Z100000M Vithered Weteran

    Messages:
    9,120
    Likes Received:
    70
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Someone using his own giant retardation as proof of something being good is a first for me.
     
  12. Lazybum

    Lazybum :D Staff Member Moderator

    Messages:
    4,827
    Likes Received:
    190
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hold up, doesn't this crash windows? Or maybe I'm thinking of xp where it did that.

    I don't know about the heat thing, you can get away with passive cooling if you shove a big enough heatsink on it. Good case airflow can also do a lot for it. You're right though, I don't think my 2500k would last last long without a fan, even if stayed under clocked due to energy management. That said there's a couple of haswell cpus that work off 35 watts, assuming it isn't a stock cooler you've been using I would say could also perform just as well. They will most likely throttle sooner and give overheating warnings, but at the same time they will probably out perform your athlon in the same situation.
     
  13. 101010

    101010 Member

    Messages:
    996
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Not really saying it's good. the 250u is garbage compared to most CPUs. But to me it's still not worth replacing yet. I haven't hit that point of "If only I had a better CPU I could run this.."
     
  14. w00kie

    w00kie Mustachioed Mexican

    Messages:
    3,863
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    0
    ALL AMD CPUs ARE GARBAGE IN COMPARISON WITH INTEL RIGHT NOW.
     
  15. McGyver

    McGyver Experimental Pedagogue

    Messages:
    6,533
    Likes Received:
    31
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Overclocked to 4.4ghz and RAM to 2600mhz without problems.
    CPU-Z single thread score now 1817.

    Dat FPS in Star Citizen on high settings.
     
  16. McGyver

    McGyver Experimental Pedagogue

    Messages:
    6,533
    Likes Received:
    31
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Holy crap, that Samsung SSD is bad:

    [​IMG]

    My 7200rpm HD is almost faster:

    [​IMG]
     
  17. w00kie

    w00kie Mustachioed Mexican

    Messages:
    3,863
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    0
    why are you burning your SSD?
     
  18. 101010

    101010 Member

    Messages:
    996
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    All CPUs are garbage. If it wasn't for smart phones and tablets we would be seeing some truly amazing shit right now. But instead all the major development companies are focusing on tablets, phones, useless shit.

    Yes Intel is faster but for that little bit of speed your paying 2x as much. For the most part you wouldn't even notice a difference.
    Intel = fanboys trying to be cool by overpaying
    AMD = being smart and not over paying

    Now if you get a good deal on an Intel or already have a compatible MB then yeah go Intel.

    Doing a pretty decent gaming PC from scratch... Amd will save you a lot more money and still be able to run any game out right now for under $500.
     
  19. Lazybum

    Lazybum :D Staff Member Moderator

    Messages:
    4,827
    Likes Received:
    190
    Trophy Points:
    0
    But that's wrong, intel has a bunch of decent celerons for around 50-60$, which will most likely do better then the apus in that range for gaming. At around that 100$ mark sure the fx-6300 will do better then the i3 in multithreaded things, and i3 will do better in single threaded cases.

    There's also a case to be made that the intel stuff uses less power so you could save a bit of cash in the rather long run, but that probably matters more to someone who's looking to reuse a older psu for whatever reason.

    Oh forgot about the x4 athlon, those are decent at 75$. Still though, if someone has that little money and are looking to play games they probably don't have a ton for the gpu so they should probably put that 20$ into either the gpu or ram or hard drive, depending on what they want/need more.
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2015
  20. complete_

    complete_ lamer

    Messages:
    6,438
    Likes Received:
    144
    Trophy Points:
    0
    you dont know how to put on thermal paste lol

    did you also spread it with a credit card
     

Share This Page