Intel Core i7-6700 Skylake Quad-Core 3.4 GHz LGA 1151 65W BX80662I76700 Desktop Processor

Pros: Speedy, cool, lower TDP than K series, cheaper than K series, comes with adequate (if unsexy) fan

Cons: No overclocking, but you already know this :) Requires new platform. (Engineers: backwards compatibility is a thing, just throwing that out there...)

Overall Review: I bought over K series because of the lower TDP and low-maintenance setup. Saving a couple bucks helps. (Yes, I could have underclocked and used another fan, but I don't have the time I used to have for tinkering... No-brainer for a non-tweaker...) Slices through software like butter, speedy virtual machines, compiling sloppy and broken code, obviously games as good as it gets really... My 2500k lasted since 2011 (and still ticks fine), I assume this will take me to 2020 at least. Yes, this is a worthy upgrade from the 2500k _IF_ you can tolerate the platform upgrade cost. The gains in speed and features are noticeable and future-friendly.

Pros: I will be honest, I only bought this because at the time the 6700k was out of stock. With that in mind I even considered getting the i5-6600K instead to save a little money, but since I do some video work and could use the hyper threading for video rendering I went with the 6700, and have no regrets. Physically, it’s a processor so installation was easy. Drop it in, put on a smidge of your favorite thermal paste, and install your cooler. I didn’t use the stock heatsink and went with a Cooler Master Hyper D92 which I was very happy with and wrote another review of. Once it was installed and the heatsink was mounted I installed the OS, booted up and wow it is fast! I ran a number of benchmarks and while I could bore you to death with numbers I will skip that as you can look them up easily. What I will say is that in the eyeball test it really works very well. Boot times are very low, benchmarks and games perform great, and video editing is fast. I did some encoding and am really glad I went with this instead of the i5. To test I ripped a couple of DVDs and Handbrake chewed through them in about 10 minutes. I had no plans to overclock this machine even if I got the 6700K, so to me not having that function is not an issue. The lower power usage is big, and the the temperatures have been great with the lower power draw. Combined with the better cooler it has never gone above 52 degrees C, even under full load. Also if your main performance need is gaming you may not need the hyperthreading now and be safe with an i5, but with the consoles having 8 cores I wouldn’t be surprised if ports start to perform better on systems with 8 threads.

Cons: The only con is the lack of overclocking, but to me this was not an issue. Maybe in a 5 years when it shows it’s age I will want to OC it but right now it’s totally fine. It also didn’t come with any thermal paste on it already, although to me this is a positive some might see this as a negative. It also comes with the stock cooler with no option to not buy it. Again for many this is a plus but I would prefer the option to not purchase it.

Overall Review: While this processor doesn’t have the K, for many (myself included) this is actually a better choice than the 6700K. It’s cheaper (at the time of this review $70 less on Newegg!), and while it clocks slightly lower it boosts to almost the same frequency. I don’t think a few extra Mhz is worth the extra money. It also uses less power (65w vs 95w) and as a byproduct should run cooler. You still get very close performance and in real world results you would likely not see a difference. Now if you want to overclock then the K is the only choice, but for the average user I would say go with this model. It should leave you with some extra cash to invest into other parts of your build.

Pros: - Intel's architectural improvement of its 14nm era chips looks impressive in the stats: 8 MB L3 cache, 4 physical cores (8 virtual), up to 4 GHz all operating under a TDP of 65W. - The performance that you get is very close to the extreme high end chips and the price is very reasonable. - The chip has protection on it that will underclock the CPU when the temperature runs too high. - Intel's chip have great reliability across the board.

Cons: - Compared to the previous generation, the relative improvement of this CPU is very, very small. Chip manufacturers definitely need to think more outside the box in order to scale performance with transistor counts. - Please keep in mind that the integrated memory controller of this CPU only supports DDR4/DDR3L. DDR3 needs a voltage above the Intel supported threshold and may damage the CPU in the long run. - Most people who use this CPU for gaming or 3D rendering will not use the integrated GPU because they have a dedicated/discrete GPU already that way more powerful. Many of those people complain that the GPU portion of the chip could have been used for CPU-supportive circuitry (perhaps on-chip DRAM?). I agree with them mostly, but I'm kind of torn in this regard: I like to test my system without my video card first and the audio output is useful. It's also great that Intel keeps improving their integrated GPU so maybe it will be a viable alternative soon. It's also pretty cool that more and more functions are included on the CPU itself. They also support up to 3 monitors now. - Intel has engaged in anticompetitive practices in the past and - from a moral and ethical standpoint - I definitely don't feel good when I purchased this CPU.

Pros: Let's see, where to start... •Low tdp, a full 25w lower than the 6700k •Hyper-threading means 8 logical cores :) •Low temps even with the stock cooler, which is impressive and adds value for those spending most of a check to pick one of these babies up •Fast enough and then some, plus tons of overhead for multitasking or large rendering tasks •DDR4 support means up to 64 gb of RAM for those CAD and Photoshop users

Cons: •New socket type? Not really a con as it's part of Intel's development cycles, but it does mean if you want the latest and greatest you have to get a new main board to go along with the processor

Overall Review: Great processor, I am thoroughly pleased. It's a little overkill for my needs as of right now, but could prove useful for hobbies down the road. Plus I'm at the age where I don't want to get into overclocking. I work a lot and would rather just pay the extra $$ to have a system that I know is not going to choke on much of anything for awhile to come. Paired with 16gb of memory and a gtx 1070, I couldn't be happier with this build. I wish I could upload pics.

Pros: Newegg replaced it quick and there was no hassle other than the shipping cost, which i can live with because compared to $300 + it was a winning scenario.

Cons: It literally looked like someone elbow dropped the box this processor came in, the processor itself was nearly in two pieces, I'm going to chalk this one up to an accident in the warehouse.

Pros: lower wattage = less heat suitable for virtualization

Cons: stock heatsink+fan is on the weak side

Overall Review: I was using an old phenom 965 and I can't believe how much quicker this thing is.

Pros: -not much to say it's an amazing processor and can easily handle any task u throw at it with no signs of weakness.

Cons: -none....unless ur on a budget$$$

Pros: I upgraded from a 4th gen i5 2.4ghz to this beast. It runs like a bullet out of the box. Couldn't ask for nothing better.

Cons: none