That is a lotta SKUs!

Want to see what Intel has planned for 2015 and their 4.5 watt to 91 watt processor lineup?

The slow, gradual release of information about Intel's Skylake-based product portfolio continues forward. We have already tested and benchmarked the desktop variant flagship Core i7-6700K processor and also have a better understanding of the microarchitectural changes the new design brings forth. But today Intel's 6th Generation Core processors get a major reveal, with all the mobile and desktop CPU variants from 4.5 watts up to 91 watts, getting detailed specifications. Not only that, but it also marks the first day that vendors can announce and begin selling Skylake-based notebooks and systems!

All indications are that vendors like Dell, Lenovo and ASUS are still some weeks away from having any product available, but expect to see your feeds and favorite tech sites flooded with new product announcements. And of course with a new Apple event coming up soon…there should be Skylake in the new MacBooks this month.

Since I have already talked about the architecture and the performance changes from Haswell/Broadwell to Skylake in our 6700K story, today's release is just a bucket of specifications and information surround 46 different 6th Generation Skylake processors.

Intel's 6th Generation Core Processors

At Intel's Developer Forum in August, the media learned quite a bit about the new 6th Generation Core processor family including Intel's stance on how Skylake changes the mobile landscape.

Skylake is being broken up into 4 different line of Intel processors: S-series for desktop DIY users, H-series for mobile gaming machines, U-series for your everyday Ultrabooks and all-in-ones, Y-series for tablets and 2-in-1 detachables. (Side note: Intel does not reference an "Ultrabook" anymore. Huh.)

As you would expect, Intel has some impressive gains to claim with the new 6th Generation processor. However, it is important to put them in context. All of the claims above, including 2.5x performance, 30x graphics improvement and 3x longer battery life, are comparing Skylake-based products to CPUs from 5 years ago. Specifically, Intel is comparing the new Core i5-6200U (a 15 watt part) against the Core i5-520UM (an 18 watt part) from mid-2010.

Though the new Intel HD Graphics implementation has gone back to a 3-digit naming scheme, make no mistake, the Skylake GPU is a significant jump over Haswell. We did some early testing with the Core i7-6700K and found impressive improvements but I am very interested to see  how the gains look on the 15-watt parts.

Let's dive into the guts: a table by table break down of all the Intel 6th Generation Core processors announced today! We'll start with the 45-watt mobile parts.

  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
i7-6920HQ 4/8 2.9 3.8 HD 530 2133 1600 8MB 45w $568
i7-6820HQ 4/8 2.7 3.6 HD 530 2133 1600 8MB 45w $378
i7-6820HK 4/8 2.7 3.6 HD 530 2133 1600 8MB 45w $378
i7-6700HQ 4/8 2.6 3.5 HD 530 2133 1600 6MB 45w $378
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
i5-6400HQ 4/4 2.6 3.5 HD 530 2133 1600 6MB 45w $250
i5-6300HQ 4/4 2.3 3.2 HD 530 2133 1600 6MB 45w $250
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
i3-6100H 2/4 2.7 3.7 HD 530 2133 1600 3MB 35w $225

These are the mobile CPUs that will find their way into gaming notebooks, mobile workstations and other configurations that require a lot of computing power in a mobile form factor. The top end Core i7-6920HQ is a quad-core, HyperThreaded part and has a base clock of 2.9 GHz and a maximum Tubo clock of 3.8 GHz. If you want that speed in your backpack be prepared to shell out for it – OEMs will put up $568 for one of them!

All of these CPUs use the Intel HD Graphics 530 implementation, the same that the desktop Core i7-6700K uses with 24 EUs (execution units).

Interestingly, three of the four Core i7 parts in the table have the same price – that is not a typo! Clock speeds are very similar, core counts are the same and all other specifications are the same.

  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
i7-6567U 2/4 3.3 3.6 Iris 550 1866 2133 4MB 28w 23w $—
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
i5-6287U 2/4 3.1 3.5 Iris 550 1866 2133 4MB 28w 23w $—
i5-6267U 2/4 2.9 3.3 Iris 550 1866 2133 4MB 28w 23w $—
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
i3-6167U 2/4 2.7 2.7 Iris 550 1866 2133 4MB 28w 23w $—

A step down to the 28 watt parts puts us in the only set of processors that uses the Intel Iris 550 Graphics with 48 EUs and 64MB of eDRAM. That seems to be the differentiating feature here – we just don't yet know the pricing for ANY of the processors with Iris graphics implementations. The cTDP (configurable TDP) is 23 watts on these parts which allows OEMs to set lower thermal limits and lower clock speeds to help fit into different form factors and chassis.

  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
i7-6650U 2/4 2.2 3.4 Iris 540 1866 2133 4MB 15w 9.5w $—
i7-6600U 2/4 2.6 3.4 HD 520 1866 2133 4MB 15w 7.5w $393
i7-6560U 2/4 2.2 3.2 Iris 540 1866 2133 4MB 15w 9.5w $—
i7-6500U 2/4 2.5 3.1 HD 520 1866 2133 4MB 15w 7.5w $393
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
i5-6360U 2/4 2.0 3.1 Iris 540 1866 2133 4MB 15w 9.5w $—
i5-6300U 2/4 2.4 3.0 HD 520 1866 2133 3MB 15w 7.5w $281
i5-6260U 2/4 1.8 2.9 Iris 540 1866 2133 4MB 15w 9.5w $—
i5-6200U 2/4 2.3 2.8 HD 520 1866 2133 3MB 15w 7.5w $281
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
i3-6100U 2/4 2.3 2.3 HD 520 1866 2133 3MB 15w 7.5w $281
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
Pentium 4405U 2/4 2.1 2.1 HD 510 1866 2133 2MB 15w 10w $—

Now to the meat of the release – the 15 watt processors that will fill the majority of the notebooks that ship with Skylake CPUs. New to this series of parts is the optional Iris 540 graphics implementation with almost every SKU. The Iris 540 part also has 48 EUs and 64MB of eDRAM; we have no idea about the price difference between those options and those that ship with Intel HD 520 implementation but I am genuinely intrigued by the possible performance advantages of this as an L4 cache for general purpose computing.

The top end offering in this category is the Core i7-6600U, with a 2.6 GHz base clock and 3.4 GHz Turbo clock, 4MB of L3 cache and $393 price tag. The Core i7-6500U has the same price tag but runs at slightly lower base and Turbo clocks. Every other specification is identical – Intel is obviously planning on an availability shortages on some of these faster SKUs.

I'm not going to talk through each of these parts, but you can clearly see the Core i5 and even a single Core i3 SKU on the books. One of the more interesting aspects is the 9.5 watt and 7.5 watt cTDP options for these U-series processors – this should allow for some incredibly thin and light designs from notebook vendors if they work within the performance constraints correctly.

  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
Core m 6Y75 2/4 1.2 3.1 HD 515 1866 4MB 4.5w 7w/3.5w $393
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
Core m 6Y57 2/4 1.1 2.8 HD 515 1866 4MB 4.5w 7w/3.5w $281
Core m 6Y54 2/4 1.1 2.7 HD 515 1866 4MB 4.5w 7w/3.5w $281
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
Core m 6Y30 2/4 0.9 2.2 HD 515 1866 4MB 4.5w 7w/3.5w $281
  Cores / Threads Base Clock (GHz) Max Turbo Clock (GHz) Graphics LPDDR3 Mem Speed (MHz) DDR3L Mem Speed (MHz) L3 Cache TDP cTDP Price
Core m 4405Y 2/4 1.5 1.5 HD 1866 2MB 6w 4.5w $—

For the ultra low power Core m family we have CPUs priced as high as $393! That beast includes a dual-core, HyperThreaded design with a base clock of 1.2 GHz and a maximum Turbo clock of 3.1 GHz! That is a wide range, just don't expect the CPU to be running at the 3+ GHz range for very long. This kind of scaling is really just meant for usability improvements and short bursts when they are needed to make the user experience snappy.

All of the standard Core m parts can be configured at both a lower and a higher TDP, allowing higher performance when the OEM designs around a capable chassis or lower performance (with other positive tradeoffs) if designed for a tablet form factor.

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