Question 1

does it come with a cpu cooler?

Accepted Answer

Yes, a cpu cooler is included in the box.  No heatsink compound required as it's also included/attached to the cooler.

Question 2

Is this a good enough processor for gaming? Upgrading from a AMD Phenom 965BE.

Accepted Answer

It will work great for all the current games. Most games rely more on a graphics card for performance, if you were thinking about using the built in GPU for games, I wouldn't really recommend it.  If you have a separate video card in mind this CPU will not disappoint.

Question 3

Do I need to apply thermal paste before using this CPU?

Accepted Answer

If you order this exact model (retail unit), no, you do not.  Thermal paste/grease is already applied to the included heatsink/fan.  As long as you do not need to attempt the installation more than once or you are not using a different heatsink/fan/water-cooling block, you will be fine.

Never hurts to have a tube of Artic Silver or whatever your favorite thermal paste is handy, though.

Question 4

does this come with a heat sink?

Accepted Answer

Yes it does and since the CPU can't be overclocked the sink is probably adequate.  I used thermal grease on the sink-chip interface when I installed it and have had no heat problems with the provided fan.

Question 5

Currently attempting to building my first computer, so I'm new to a lot of this stuff. Is this processor compatible with the ASRock H97M Pro4 motherboard?

Accepted Answer

No, that motherboard will not work with a Skylake chip. To use this CPU you will need a board with:
Socket: LGA-1151 (1150 and 2011 will NOT work)
Chipset: Z-170 or H-170 or H-110. The Z-170 is the best but also usually most expensive. H97, X97 and X99 will NOT work.

If you already have the H97 board you mentioned and just want a CPU that will work with it, search for one that fits a LGA-1150 socket.

Hope this helps.

Question 6

Does this come with a cpu fan or do I need to get one?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  It has the standard Intel stock CPU heatsink and cooling fan with thermal paste on it.

Question 7

Two i5 6500's with identical price, one says it comes with fan & heatsink, the other makes no mention. I need the one including cooling, what am I doing wrong?

Accepted Answer

this one came with cooling

Question 8

Will this processor allow for XMP? Or is that a motherboard chipset thing?

Accepted Answer

In short, yes. But, XMP is more a motherboard, bios and ram thing. As long as the processor and motherboard are capable of supporting RAM speeds you're shooting for.

From what I understand about XMP, it was more introduced during the ddr3 1333/1600 speed phases. XMP is a standard profile setting that can be stored by the RAM manufacture to help ensure your motherboard will adjust RAM settings to match the hardware, without any tweaking on your part to get the default speeds of the RAM.

Not necessarily anything you need to worry about these days. All new intel motherboard chipsets support XMP.

Question 9

Does this come with a cpu fan/heatsink and is it overclockable?

Accepted Answer

This listed DOES in fact come with a fan/heatsink. This CPU does NOT, however, allow overclocking.

look for the "k" or "x" on intel processors, which is usually an indicator that overclocking is available.

this i5-6600K for example, can be overclocked.

Question 10

Does this have a stock cooler?

Accepted Answer

The processor came with a stock cooler.  I have mine at 15% overclocked with that cooler per my MB's recommendation. No issues.
Very fast for everyday and acceptable for image and video manipulation.

Questions & Answers