Some slides have leaked out with information about Intel's forthcoming 6th Generation Core processor, code named Skylake. We have known that Skylake was coming, and coming this year, but there have been a lot of questions about enthusiast parts and what that means for DIY builders. The slides were first seen over at WCCFTech.com and show some interesting new information.

Dubbed Skylake-S, the LGA (socketed) processor will use a new derivative with 1151 pins as well as a new set of chipsets, the Intel 100-series. Skylake is built on the same 14nm process technology used with Broadwell but will feature a new microarchitecture for both the IA cores and the graphics systems. Obviously you can read the slide yourself above, but some of the highlights are worth touching on individually. Skylake will support both DDR3L and DDR4 memory systems with the enthusiast grade parts likely the only ones to attempt to push the newer, faster DDR4 speeds.

Enthusiasts will also be glad to know that there are planned 95 watt quad-core SKUs that will support unlocked features and overclocking capability. Intel lists an "enhanced" BCLK overclocking with the term "full range" which likely means there will no longer be a need for straps to 125 MHz, etc. A 95 watt TDP is higher than the 88 watt limit we saw on Haswell processors so there is a chance we might actually witness usable performance gains if Intel can get the clock speeds up and above where they sit today with current generation parts.

The use of DMI 3.0, the connection between the processor and the chipset, sees the first increase in bandwidth in many generations. Rated at 8 GT/s, twice that of the DMI 2.0 interface used on Haswell, should allow for fewer bottlenecks on storage and external PCIe connections coming from the chipset.

The new Intel 100-series chipsets will come in three variants at launch: the Z170, the H170 and the H110. The one we are most concerned with is the Z170 of course as it will be paired wit the higher end 65 watt and 95 watt enthusiast processors. Based on these specs, Skylake will continue to operate with only 16 lanes of PCI Express 3.0 capable of running at 1 x16, 2 x8 or 1 x8 and 2 x4 connections. With either DDR3L or DDR4 you will have a dual-channel memory system.

For storage, the Z170 still has six SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports, moves to 14 USB ports maximum with 10 of them capable of USB 3.0 speeds and it upgrades Intel RST to support PCIe storage drivers. Of note here is that the Intel chipset does not include USB 3.1 capability so motherboard vendors will continue to need an external controller to integrate it. Without a doubt the 100-series chipsets will be able to support booting and compatibility with the new Intel 750-series PCIe SSDs, the current king of the hill.

As for timing, the roadmap lists the Z170 chipset and the Skylake-S processor as a Q3 2015 release. I would normally expect that to line up with Computex in early June but that doesn't appear to be the case based on other information I am getting.