First you need to know what Skylake is. Intel’s 6th-generation CPU, Skylake Desktop Processor brings DDR4 top end memory to the mainstream as well as improved overclocking features, better integrated graphics performance, and a new chipset.First you need to know what Skylake is. Intel’s 6th-generation CPU, Skylake brings DDR4 memory to the mainstream as well as improved overclocking features, better integrated graphics performance, and a new chipset.

Skylake is not backward compatible

The most in-your-face change is the new socket that’s incompatible with today’s CPUs. That means you won’t drop a Skylake CPU into your Haswell motherboard, and you won’t be dropping your Haswell processor into a Skylake Intel motherboard. Before you start groaning that Intel is playing the forced-obsolescence card, you should remember that Skylake introduces DDR4 to the mainstream. While it might feasible to design a motherboard that will work with both, making a cleaner break is usually the better choice to reduce confusion. Skylake does actually support DDR3L RAM, but that’s for servers and laptops. The DDR3 in most people’s desktop systems won’t work with it. You just need to come to grips with that: If you decide to build a new Skylake desktop, you will need to buy new RAM, too. intel skylake processor For those who always felt the 32GB of maximum desktop memory in the mainstream Haswell-based desktops was a limitation, Skylake’s use of DDR4 means you can get 64GB of RAM into your rig without having to step up to a pricier Haswell-E system.

How well does it Overclock?

You can basically expect to hit 4.6GHz to 4.7GHz with a retail Core i7-6700K chip, the company says. The absolute best samples will push 4.8GHz. That’s actually a slight improvement over Haswell, which topped out at 4.5GHz on liquid cooling for most. Higher usable overclocks were few and far between, and many had worse overclocking experiences with Haswell, so Skylake is indeed an improvement depending how you wish to travel.

Skylakes Saviour is the Z170 Chipset

The real star of the show here is the Intel Z170 chipset. The Intel Z170 is probably just as important for what it finally fixes in the limitations of the chipset it replaces. Like Haswell, Skylake features just 16 PCIe Gen 3 lanes in the CPU. Any additional PCIe lanes come from the chipset. In Haswell’s Z87 and Z97 chipset, the limit was just 8 PCIe Gen 2 lanes, which hadn’t changed since 2011’s Sandy Bridge chipset. In 2011 that was probably fine, but today, that’s not enough expansion for modern PCs with fast M.2 drives, SATA Express drives, and USB 3.1. Even worse, to get more bandwidth to run high speed devices such as, say Intel’s 750-series SSD, you had to steal bandwidth from the GPU. With Z170, Intel is finally, finally stepping up and giving the chipset up to 20 PCIe Gen 3 lanes. Intel is also doubling the interconnect from the CPU to the chipset. The new DMI 3.0 in Z170 offers up to 40Gbps using a x4 PCIe Gen 3 link. The Z97 used a 20Gbps x4 link PCIe Gen 2 link. For more info visit JPComputer Solutions for all pricing on buying computer hardware online Australia for all you Skylake processor and computer hardware needs.