Intel Skylake Core i3 and Pentium Processors Nearing Launch – Low Cost Options For Budget Builders, New Box Art Revealed

While Intel Skylake launched to enthusiasts back in August, budget users have been waiting to get hands on the new Core i3 and Pentium series budget chips which offer more value in terms of performance and pricing. Intel has a large lineup which they are going to launch in a couple of days with online retailers listing the processors on daily basis.

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Intel Skylake Core i3 and Pentium Processors Launching In Few Days - Aimed at Budget Builders

The Skylake-S lineup is made up of 20 total SKUs, most of which have already been launched in the market along with the two Skylake-K chips. Rest of the chips feature four 65W (locked) processors and four 35W low TDP chips. These processors will be compatible with the LGA 1151 socket powered Z170, H170 and B150 chipset based motherboards which are also available, starting today. Featuring full support for DDR4 memory and next generation storage devices, the Skylake-S platform will deliver improved CPU performance and energy efficiency as compared to the Haswell generation of processors. The chips featured in the Skylake-S lineup are listed down below:

• Intel Core i7-6700K
• Intel Core i5-6600K
• Intel Core i7-6700
• Intel Core i5-6600
• Intel Core i5-6500
• Intel Core i5-6400
• Intel Core i3-6320
• Intel Core i3-6300
• Intel Core i3-6100
• Intel Core i7-6700T
• Intel Core i5-6600T
• Intel Core i5-6500T
• Intel Core i5-6400T
• Intel Core i3-6300T
• Intel Core i3-6100T
• Pentium G4520
• Pentium G4500
• Pentium G4400
• Pentium G4500T
• Pentium G4400T

Intel 65W “Mainstream” Skylake-S Processors (Core i7 / Core i5/ Core i3/ Pentium)

The mainstream lineup consists of 10 chips which include the Core i7-6700 that features same specifications as the Core i7-6700K but doesn’t come in an unlocked package. Similarly, the Core i5-6600 also has the same specifications as seen on the unlocked model but without the K-Series design that allows over-clocking support. Clocks for the Core i7-6700 are maintained at 3.4 GHz base and 4.0 GHz boost while the Core i5-6600 is clocked at 3.3 GHz base and 3.9 GHz boost. The Core i5-6500 is a quad core clocked at 3.2 GHz base and 3.6 GHz boost while the Core i5-6400 is a quad core clocked at 2.7 GHz base and 3.3 GHz boost. All of these chips feature a 65W TDP and the Core i5 models pack 6 MB of L3 cache while the Core i7 model gets 8 MB L3 cache. There are also three dual core (Multi-threaded) Core i3 and three Dual Core (Single-Threaded) Pentium processors in the lineup which are listed in the table below.

Intel 35W “Low TDP” Skylake-S Processors (Core i7 / Core i5/Pentium)

Over at the more power efficient side, Intel will launch 4 T-Series chips which stand for low-power. All chips feature just 35W TDP and include Core i7-6700T as a multi-threaded quad core with 2.8 GHz base and 3.6 GHz boost clock. It packs 8 MB of L3 cache. The Core i5 models range from the Core i5-6600T, Core i5-6500T and Core i5-6400T featuring 6 MB of L3 cache, quad core (non-multithreaded designs) and boost speeds ranging from 2.8 to 3.6 GHz. Furthermore, the Core i3-6300T, Core i3-6100T, Pentium G4500T and Pentium G4400T also belong to the low-TDP category, featuring TDPs of just 35W and prices under $150 US for Core i3 series and under $100 US for the Pentium series processors.

As one can tell from the pictures posted above, Intel is making use of the new box art that they introduced with their Skylake processors. The new box art is simple and elegant and a good departure from the previous theme that featured weird AI robots on the front of the box. The Pentium and Core i3 will be excellent choices for the users who are planning to upgrade to the new Skylake platform offering consumers to get updated to Intel's latest 100-series platform. Intel's AIB partners have already launched several H170 and B150 series boards to mark the launch of the mainstream platform. Some motherboards even support DDR3 memory although DDR4 and DDR3L are the recommended memory standards for Skylake processors as usage of high voltage DDR3 ram (1.65V) and higher clocked DDR3 rams can damage the Skylake CPUs since the integrated memory controller is not made to run with DRAM of higher voltages.

Intel Skylake-S Processor Lineup: