Intel Core i5 6600K Skylake CPU Arrives: What Linux Tests Would You Like To See?

Written by Michael Larabel in Intel on 12 August 2015 at 08:06 PM EDT. 28 Comments
INTEL
I now have my hands on an Intel Core i5 6600K "Skylake" processor for Linux benchmarking!


Intel launched Skylake last week in the form of the Core i5 6600K and Core i7 6700K. There were plenty of Windows benchmarks but sadly no real Linux numbers. I was told last week that I wasn't sampled for Linux testing as they were waiting to "supply improves for samples", but I've grown impatient and plenty of Phoronix readers have been wondering about Skylake on Linux. Yesterday I found the i5-6600K in stock at NewEgg so ended up ordering a retail part with next-day delivery to begin Linux testing... When the "supplies improve", hopefully Intel will be able to supply the Core i7 6700K for Linux testing in the near future.


Anyhow, the Core i5 6600K Skylake CPU is now here and I'm beginning Linux testing tonight under Ubuntu and Fedora. Intel's i5-6600K is quad-core and has a base frequency of 3.5GHz with a 3.9GHz turbo frequency. The i5-6600K Skylake has a 91 Watt TDP and 6MB cache. Pricing on this current lower-end Skylake is around $260 USD.


I'll be running plenty of Intel Skylake Linux benchmarks in the days ahead along with comparing the performance to various Intel and AMD CPUs, including the 50+ systems within the LinuxBenchmarking.com lab -- similar to my recent Intel Core i7 5775C "Broadwell" Linux testing. However, for any special test requests or anything else, I'm now soliciting feedback.

As always, and especially given the i5-6600K had to be bought retail for Linux testing, priority on honoring feedback is given to Phoronix Premium subscribers and those assisting with PayPal tips (feel free to provide your feedback/comments when making the tip) or even via Bitcoin. For those helping out in those forms I try to always honor those requests where possible over the past 11 years of running Phoronix (often 80~100 hour work weeks) with the goal of "enriching the Linux hardware experience", the funds generated help purchase hardware when needed, cover operating expenses, etc. So few readers do contribute financially that crazy hours are required, beyond managing open-source benchmarking, etc, and at times like this leaves me beyond exhausted. Even if you're not able to contribute to the cause, please consider viewing this site without any ad-blocking software and following us on Facebook and Twitter.

Additionally, if you're not able to contribute financially, if you're looking for a Skylake CPU test on something not listed on our 100+ test profiles your best bet would be to contribute your desired test to our upstream open-source software... It's easy, take a look at like my C-Ray or Xonotic raw test profile examples. Other feedback can be directed to the Phoronix Forums.
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About The Author
Michael Larabel

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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