Intel Skylake / Kaby Lake

[JoeRambo]

My DDR3 is 1.35V

So is mine. +I have never been shy to overclock and overvolt things, I doubt +10% or so voltage will burn controller before I move on to some other CPU.

 

[jpiniero]

It's not just the DIMM form factor, Skylake only supports DDR3 voltages of 1.35V, and nearly all the stuff that's currently out there is 1.5V or 1.65V. I suspect it's a concession they've made mostly for portable system manufacturers, rather than those who might want to hang onto their DDR3.

It doesn't have anything to do with portables. It's all about giving OEMs the option of using cheaper DDR3 with their Skylake desktops. Keep in mind Cannonlake is DDR4 only, so even if Intel does end up releasing Cannonlake desktops it wouldn't be supported.

Really, if you are buying Skylake you have to assume you are going to use DDR4.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I know that some Crucial 1.5v DDR3 sticks work fine @ 1.35v. I have been testing. Those rated @ 1.65v might still work, at reduced clocks/timings though. Motherboard will play a factor here. Vendors know this, more memory types supported = more sales.

But, if they have good 16gb DDR4 sticks, I might just buy that. 2x16gb > 4x8gb > 8x4gb, sounds about right. For X99 you can already buy single 16gb sticks, but Xeon is needed.

DDR4 Non-ECC is not looking attractive at the moment. No matter how you look at it. Might as well keep my ddr3 kit.

 

[Dave2150]

I just bought a Z97 motherboard lol.

What a thoroughly well researched purchase

 

[PPB]

It supports DDR3, but you need to use a new form factor that's compatible called UniDIMM. It's mainly for OEMs only.

DDR4 sticks also are in UNIDIMM fashion for SKL, so regardess you are needing new RAM. Dont think OEMs are too happy with this after they just released DDR4 DIMMs for the loner Haswell-E

 

[ShintaiDK]

DDR4 sticks also are in UNIDIMM fashion for SKL, so regardess you are needing new RAM. Dont think OEMs are too happy with this after they just released DDR4 DIMMs for the loner Haswell-E

Its OEM requested. So I am sure they are happy with it.

 

[PPB]

Its OEM requested. So I am sure they are happy with it.

Any proof to back this claim?

 

[danjw]

My (admittedly tenuous) understanding is that the DDR3L memory will be required to have the UniDIMM form factor to work with skylake. I don't know if anyone will produce some sort of adapter letting you use standard DDR3L DIMMS with it or not. Anyway, I wouldn't get too much hope of getting to use your standard DDR3 or DDR3L DIMMs with Skylake.

 

[danjw]

DDR4 sticks also are in UNIDIMM fashion for SKL, so regardess you are needing new RAM. Dont think OEMs are too happy with this after they just released DDR4 DIMMs for the loner Haswell-E

From the last roadmap I saw, Broadwell-E is still planned. But, it seems like Intel has a new roadmap every few days, right now. ;-)

 

[ShintaiDK]

Any proof to back this claim?

http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/event/20140912_666489.html
http://www.hardware.fr/news/13901/unidimm-ddr3-ddr4-lpddr3-sont-barrette.html

 

[PPB]

http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/event/20140912_666489.html
http://www.hardware.fr/news/13901/unidimm-ddr3-ddr4-lpddr3-sont-barrette.html

Intel slides? So you have nothing on the RAM OEM side? Not surprising.

 

[therealnickdanger]

It's not as though DDR4 will be expensive forever. As production ramps up, prices will drop down. A mainstream platform from Intel (and AMD) will help drive that demand.

 

[ShintaiDK]

It's not as though DDR4 will be expensive forever. As production ramps up, prices will drop down. A mainstream platform from Intel (and AMD) will help drive that demand.

Yep, but it takes time. Its quite clear DDR4 is behind schedule. And DDR3 chip inventories and capacity is quite high.

 

[frozentundra123456]

It's not as though DDR4 will be expensive forever. As production ramps up, prices will drop down. A mainstream platform from Intel (and AMD) will help drive that demand.

The point is not that DDR4 is so expensive, but that you csnt re-use the ram you already have. I guess we have to move on eventually, but i think this will slow DIY adoption of skylake, especially if performance gains are minimal.

 

[Valantar]

My Q9650 is still rocking it. I'm surprised that it still handles everything well. Admittedly I've upgraded my gpu.

Same here, my Q9450 is still going strong with a newer GPU. Looking to upgrade soon, though.

 

[CHADBOGA]

Yep, but it takes time. Its quite clear DDR4 is behind schedule. And DDR3 chip inventories and capacity is quite high.

If DDR3 prices fall to what they were 2 years ago, then one could stack up on DDR3, go Haswell i7 4790K and be set for 5+ years.

 

[Fizzy Coca-Cola]

@ sweeper, those are the embedded U versions of the skylake CPUs which are very low speed and power use compared to the desktop versions. I think the fastest one i saw was 28 watts at 3.2 GHz or something relatively close to that.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Along that line as well, if you have to buy a new motherboard and DDR4 for Skylake, I would consider goin 5820K instead.

 

[jpiniero]

The point is not that DDR4 is so expensive, but that you csnt re-use the ram you already have. I guess we have to move on eventually, but i think this will slow DIY adoption of skylake, especially if performance gains are minimal.

I'm sure Intel would be more than happy to sell people Devils Canyon or Broadwell-C if they want to use their DDR3.

 

[JM Popaleetus]

If DDR3 prices fall to what they were 2 years ago, then one could stack up on DDR3, go Haswell i7 4790K and be set for 5+ years.

Count me in on that plan.

I'd happily buy another 16 or even 32GB for a nice ramdisk on top of the 16GB I have now. Can't wait for the DDR3 clearance sales.

 

[yours truly]

So DDR3L is 1.35v only or 1.35 and lower?

I have 16gb of G Skill Sniper 1.25 that I wouldn't mind transferring over to new system.

 

[Bearmann]

Quick comparison using AnandTech results for Haswell and older chips. Assuming ~12,5% better performance (Core i7 6700K vs Core i7 4790K) and a 12% bump from Core i7 4770K to Core i7 4790K, here's how the new Skylake compares to current Intel processors @ stock:

26% faster than Core i7 4770K.
36% faster than Core i7 3770K.
47% faster than Core i7 2700K.
81% faster than Core i7 965.

I can see lots of Nehalem/SB/IB users finally upgrading.

Nehalem! Oh, did somebody call my name? Sorry, I fell asleep while standing in line.

 

[lopri]

^ I went to that linked page to see if that were the case, and the first graph shows:

Cinebench Single-Threaded

4770K (3.50 GHz) - 1.78
4670K (3.40 GHz) - 1.70
3770K (3.50 GHz) - 1.66
2700K (3.50 GHz) - 1.54

Normalized per GHz;

4770K (3.50 GHz) - 0.508/GHz
4670K (3.40 GHz) - 0.500/GHz
3770K (3.50 GHz) - 0.474/GHz
2700K (3.50 GHz) - 0.440/GHz

The rest of benches look similarly uninspiring. How do you get 26%, 36%, 47%, 81%? 2700K to 4770K is mere 15%.

P.S. To be sure, Nehalem to Sandy is better.

 

[lopri]

BTW - What is the difference between DDR3L and LPDDR3?

 

[frozentundra123456]

^ I went to that linked page to see if that were the case, and the first graph shows:

Cinebench Single-Threaded

4770K (3.50 GHz) - 1.78
4670K (3.40 GHz) - 1.70
3770K (3.50 GHz) - 1.66
2700K (3.50 GHz) - 1.54

Normalized per GHz;

4770K (3.50 GHz) - 0.508/GHz
4670K (3.40 GHz) - 0.500/GHz
3770K (3.50 GHz) - 0.474/GHz
2700K (3.50 GHz) - 0.440/GHz

The rest of benches look similarly uninspiring. How do you get 26%, 36%, 47%, 81%? 2700K to 4770K is mere 15%.

P.S. To be sure, Nehalem to Sandy is better.

He is not normalizing by clockspeed. So you get a 14% increase from 4770k to Skylake, on clockspeed alone (base clocks), and he is assuming (optimistically I think) another 12.5% from ipc increase. So 1.14 x 1.125 = 28% actually, because you should multiply not add the gains, but that is how he is gettng the number.