Intel Core I7-6700K Processor (4 GHz, 8 M Cache, LGA1151)

Purchased this processor for a gaming pc upgrade and paired it with an Asus Z170M-Plus motherboard, 16GB Ram and an Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB.As this unlocked 'K' version processor does not come with any cooling kit at all I opted for a Noctua NH-U9S heatsink, the case I'm using this in doesn't have a great deal of room and it fitted perfectly.The performance of this processor is quite impressive, even as stock without any overclocking. I don't really intend to overclock as I find it handles everything I can throw at it at present - but if any future game releases need a bit more power I will have the option to do so over the standard 6700 and it was only a few £'s more to buy!Paired with a Z170 chipset this makes for a very powerful and responsive pc, and editing video so much faster than my previous setup. After a 4 hour Fallout 4 gaming session the temperature barely went over 27 degrees celcius so that's also pleasing and I no longer get to hear any cooling fans!With the forthcoming Kaby Lake processors being released, this model may drop in price and make it even more of a bargain for those looking to upgrade to Skylake. I did look at holding off for the Kaby Lake but the improvements over this processor (mainly clock speed) were very small and as I use a graphics card over the iGPU it became less attractive to me. I'm hoping this processor will last me around 5 years of happy gaming until needing an upgrade!

After building a budget AMD system with what seemed like an acceptably good CPU (x4 880k) for a project that would later be my brothers gaming rig, I found AMD didn't quite cut the mustard and was the biggest bottleneck by far in the whole system and it wasn't exactly packing any amazing hardware (GTX 770, 16gb ddr3 2133mhz). Not that thought it was gonna blow mind or anything, I just didn't expect it to be anywhere near as bad as it was!!Decided to leave the budget tagline behind and make a switch back to intel as I have an i7 5930k in my gaming setup and rave about it's performance in and out of games. This 6th series Skylake chip though... this just plows through everything!! Even had me thinking twice about handing it over my brother when it was finished... hahaPair this with any GPU on the market and it will tear any game a new one! Stands toe to toe with my 5930k, hell it wouldn't surprise me if it beat it in most cases! Performance next to the 880k is lightyears ahead, obviously but AMD can't even touch this with their top tier offerings! Sorry fanboys, I used to be an AMD nut back in the day when they could make stuff to rival Intel but now? INTEL, INTEL, INTEL!! ;)Paired with a basic MSI B150m Mortar mobo as I didn't want or need to OC and 16gb of Vengeance 2133mhz ram I had laying about and it's a killer machine. Sprung new life into my old GTX 770 which as it happens still kills most games at 1080p max settings these days!Anyone who says CPU doesn't make a blindest bit of difference in games needs a reality check. This chip rocks and looks like I may have to pick up another for a second gaming rig of mine!! ;)

So excited to use this beast in my rig, will update once its settled in :DEdit:Now that im settled in around 2 months later the processor has wow'd me. Its fast and boy was it worth it. However, i am struggling to overclock this to even 4.1GHz let alone 4.5GHz without my system crashing, ive spoken to several peers on discord and tomshardware and i just couldn't figure it out. But thats no problem as its already a beast with its current clock speed. I've paired this processor with the H100i V2 and im idling at around 25'C which is nice but when overclocked and on full usage its near enough the 90'C - i don't know, maybe its me, maybe its my processor but it doesn't bother me that much!

Another Amazon customer gave me a hand choosing this processor via the ask questions help system and I'm not disappointed and very grateful to him for his support.I decided to pay a little more and used prime for everything else but RAM, as they didn't have the type I wanted when I required it.In my case I have been lucky and was supplied a processor that will clock and stay at a very high frequency, when compared to a friends identical unit (although cooling it efficiently for extended periods at the top end of those very high frequencies can be a challenge)This processor arrived, factory sealed and was ,most importantly, undamaged, and I probably should have gone with Amazon from the start of my build as there usually aren't any hassles if something goes wrong. Demand made prices pretty insane for a while, it looks to *SOMETIMES* come down in price considerably.*It's worth tracking the price as i'm writing this edit near the end of April 2016, and there should be plenty of these around now.On to the processor - It's pretty powerful, whilst able to operate functionally at very low power if you want it to.I have heard that it isn't always sold in a sealed retail box. Mine was. Always check this *before you buy* if you are paying the full RRP.The sealed boxed version attracts a three year warranty (at least that is what my box says)This may not suit someone who wants the dial at 11 24/7, I did manage a (quite nervous) overclock of 4.8 GHz on all four cores using 16 G 2666 DDR4 Ram and I'm using a pretty standard Z 170-A board in a budget, but adequate corsair case.If I can achieve that with a budget motherboard, I'm sure others can do as well with better.I eventually decided on keeping it at a more sensible at 4.2/3 G to ensure a longer service life and to keep my blood pressure stable:)I found I had to add an extra inlet fan at the base of my case and top just to help with the overclocking and PCH/memory cooling - and I can turn this on or off as and when.These extra fans are not required to be on if I'm not overclocking or just using the pc for basic everyday tasks.I only override or manipulate CPU fan speeds to keep my quietest Noctua fans running at their most effective with this processor.To be honest it's fine at 4 - 4.2 GHz and probably wiser to leave it there, long termRemember all K (unlocked) processors need your own cooling kit and have no fan included in the box as the locked versions will.To summarise:The main advantages of this processor are really the speed of Ram it can handle and how it's much better at communicating with all the other motherboard components and systems.This isn't the kind of processor you will always find yourself having to kill basic to moderate programs when wanting to run one heavy one, it can tackle being pushed quite hard.I have not had a single blue screen,nor a major crash yet- since December last year. I did buy a new SSD and new Os so nothing was migrated from an old system until I knew it was stable.It actually helps draw more performance (possibly with the aid of the Z170 motherboard) out of my last GPU to a level that make s it look like an upgraded card.Z 170 On-board graphics v last gen seem a leap in static visual quality and clarity of fonts is very much improved on a good IPS monitor - a really capable and stoic raster that feels more alive to the eyes.If someone wanted a really fast non-gaming general purpose pc,they might not need to add any additional graphics cards to the Z170 motherboards with this chip installed. Adding a SSD with the OS on it makes this fly.It absolutely laughs at anything to do with productivity like word, and browsing with over 20 tabs open is no big deal ,and with a moderate level GPU it handles cad well.If you have the cash for a good GPU and are a gamer or use graphic intensive programs, you probably already know the importance of a reasonable graphics card (or two)Might be an idea to run a 64 bit browser on this if you want more stability and security.Reservations (or things to think about) are mainly that you really do need to watch the temperatures on these skylakes,it's likely going to be the norm from now on at 14 nm when combined with higher clocking frequencies.Cpu's that clock at much higher frequencies with smaller tracking will not tolerate being used to their full potential with poor cooling solutions.A stock cooler on this would likely mean you have to use power management all the time and literally underclock it.There are perhaps more robust previous gen processors at the high end at not much more price, but without the abilities in other areas like better on-board graphics for the chipset used , USB 3.1 and lower power consumption when in power saving modes.It seems to score particularly high on Encryption.In most benchmarks(when all voltages and freq's are fine) I do see a improvement over most of the last 4 core i7'sIt does* not* outperform the six core last gen I7's on anything other than encryption and what frequency of ram that can be used,but it is very very near to a substantial performance in a comparison test.When dual processor boards start to arrive, I envisage a lot of people dropping two of these in a system and that becoming a new trend.Some fine tuning was required for the ram, but that was down to my first revision motherboard, and the fact everything has changed since my last self build.With a Noctua Cpu fan and radiator this, idles at around 25-6 c for me.I noticed very sudden fluctuations in temperature for 200-800 ms at above 10 C extra a time on individual cores with an extreme (air cooled) o/c (but never all cores at once) that should serve as a warning that these things are not to be pushed to "level silly" too much once you are sure all your voltages and temps are within 'safe' tolerances.It's not worth frying this really nice processor for theoretical numbers to brag about that are not healthy for it and do not translate to stability.