The Intel 6th Gen Skylake Review: Core i7-6700K and i5-6600K Tested
by Ian Cutress on August 5, 2015 8:00 AM ESTGenerational Tests on the i7-6700K: Linux Performance
Built around several freely available benchmarks for Linux, Linux-Bench is a project spearheaded by Patrick at ServeTheHome to streamline about a dozen of these tests in a single neat package run via a set of three commands using an Ubuntu 11.04 LiveCD. These tests include fluid dynamics used by NASA, ray-tracing, OpenSSL, molecular modeling, and a scalable data structure server for web deployments. We run Linux-Bench and have chosen to report a select few of the tests that rely on CPU and DRAM speed.
C-Ray: link
C-Ray is a simple ray-tracing program that focuses almost exclusively on processor performance rather than DRAM access. The test in Linux-Bench renders a heavy complex scene offering a large scalable scenario.
NAMD, Scalable Molecular Dynamics: link
Developed by the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NAMD is a set of parallel molecular dynamics codes for extreme parallelization up to and beyond 200,000 cores. The reference paper detailing NAMD has over 4000 citations, and our testing runs a small simulation where the calculation steps per unit time is the output vector.
NPB, Fluid Dynamics: link
Aside from LINPACK, there are many other ways to benchmark supercomputers in terms of how effective they are for various types of mathematical processes. The NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB) are a set of small programs originally designed for NASA to test their supercomputers in terms of fluid dynamics simulations, useful for airflow reactions and design.
Redis: link
Many of the online applications rely on key-value caches and data structure servers to operate. Redis is an open-source, scalable web technology with a b developer base, but also relies heavily on memory bandwidth as well as CPU performance.
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taltamir - Friday, October 23, 2015 - link
Recognizing reality as it is, and being willing to admit that AMD is a joke, does not make someone an intel fanboy nor does it mean they want intel to win and AMD to fold.Samus - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
This launch and the performance of skylake over haswell/broadwell is entirely unexpected because it is wholly unnecessary. The ipc improvement is upward of 10% in some cases, when normally it has been 4-6% in the past. It's amazing that the ipc improvement over nehalem is almost 50% while using nearly half the power. They are finally progressing after dogging along since sandybridgeptmmac - Saturday, August 8, 2015 - link
Intel has been turning a double decked supertanker to catch mobile chips on dozens of smaller platforms. Notably Apple is riding on a trialled super yacht and is leading the pack. The real,race going on right now is who will build the first photonics based chip and actually make money selling it. Intel is in that race, but we don't really have much data as to who will take the lead there. The real race is heading towards where the puck will be in 10 years. This is like watching Americas cup in the 50's. It is not important to the average person.Jaybus - Monday, August 10, 2015 - link
Expect hybrid chips first. These will have photonic i/o with electronic cores. This will allow an inter-chip [serial] bus at core-clock speeds, drastically reducing the need for on-chip caching and replacing 64 (or more) traces from CPU to DRAM with a single optical trace. L3 (maybe L2) could likely be eliminated, freeing up real estate and reducing power. Essentially, it allows using DRAM modules, peripheral chips, and even GPUs and other CPUs as if they were all on-chip. Actual photonic cores would come later, perhaps much later.CaedenV - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
And we would all buy that processor rather than eternally waiting in purgatory. I really hope AMD puts out something amazing, even if I am not going to buy it.TheGladiator2212 - Friday, October 16, 2020 - link
Yup...This comment aged badly
Mariosti - Friday, September 10, 2021 - link
Well, this comment didn't age well.prisonerX - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
I think the funniest thing is how people bag AMD and praise Intel while paying through the nose for CPUs that are marginally faster (or marginally slower) than last generation.It's especially funny since Intel is selling its hottest chips (TDP wise, compared to other CPUs it makes) to the "mainstream" while wasting a huge % of the die on a useless integrated GPU that no-one who is willing to pay actually uses.
I always buy AMD because I support competition, it gives me much better value for my money, provides more balanced and batter matched performance and because I'm not a child I have no need for bragging rights about the singe threaded performance of my CPU that I don't need.
D. Lister - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
"I always buy AMD because I support competition, it gives me much better value for my money, provides more balanced and batter matched performance and because I'm not a child I have no need for bragging rights about the singe threaded performance of my CPU that I don't need."That's right... children brag about single-thread performance (was there anyone in this section actually doing that though?). Adults, on the other hand apparently, brag about several things simultaneously, like the better performance per dollar of their purchase, and having a superior sense of maturity, morality, economics and technology.
You sir, are duly nominated for the AnandTech comment section's esteemed "Irony of The Month" award for August '15... bravo!
Eugene86 - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
Well he's gotta justify that purchase decision to himself somehow...