The Intel NUC6i5SYK Skylake UCFF PC Review
by Ganesh T S on March 11, 2016 8:00 AM ESTNetworking and Storage Performance
Networking and storage are two major aspects which influence our experience with any computing system. This section presents results from our evaluation of these aspects in the Intel NUC6i5SYK. The NUC supports both M.2 SATA SSDs and M.2 PCIe SSDs (2242 / 2280). NVMe is also supported and provides the best possible performance. One of the evaluation options is a repetition of our strenuous SSD review tests on the drive in the PC. Fortunately, to avoid that overkill, PCMark 8 has a storage bench where certain common workloads such as loading games and document processing are replayed on the target drive. Results are presented in two forms, one being a benchmark number and the other, a bandwidth figure. We ran the PCMark 8 storage bench on selected PCs and the results are presented below.
Note that the problems we encountered with PCMark 8 and NVMe SSDs in a previous NUC review has been fixed now (by an update to PCMark 8). The benchmark now brings the full performance of the NVMe SSD to the forefront, yielding leading numbers in both the storage bench score as well as bandwidth. Unlike Broadwell-U, the M.2 SSD can interface with the Skylake package using a PCIe 3.0 x4 link (instead of PCIe 2.0 x4).
On the networking side, we restricted ourselves to the evaluation of the WLAN component. Our standard test router is the Netgear R7000 Nighthawk configured with both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. The router is placed approximately 20 ft. away, separated by a drywall (as in a typical US building). A wired client is connected to the R7000 and serves as one endpoint for iperf evaluation. The PC under test is made to connect to either the 5 GHz (preferred) or 2.4 GHz SSID and iperf tests are conducted for both TCP and UDP transfers. It is ensured that the PC under test is the only wireless client for the Netgear R7000.
The WLAN functionality in the NUC6i5SYK is handled by the Intel AC8260 2x2 802.11ac chipset. While the number of spatial streams supported is the same as the AC7265 used in the Broadwell NUCs, the AC8260 integrates Bluetooth 4.2 (compared to Bluetooth 4.0 in the AC7265).
We evaluate total throughput for up to 32 simultaneous TCP connections using iperf and present the highest number in the graph below.
In the UDP case, we try to transfer data at the highest rate possible for which we get less than 1% packet loss.
The benchmark numbers in both cases point to a retrogression in performance compared to the previous-generation AC7265 used in the Intel NUC5i5RYK and NUC5i7RYH. In addition, we ran into a strange issue with the WLAN component. Occasionally after startup, the Wi-Fi adapter wouldn't see any 5 GHz networks to connect to. Repeated restarts helped in resolving the problem. Apparently, we are not alone in noticing this behavior. Intel has also been able to recreate the problem at their end and efforts are on to resolve it.
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Spunjji - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link
I vote you leave the conversationdsumanik - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link
vote denied.patrickjp93 - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link
Nope, with Skylake Iris = 64MB of eDRAM. Iris Pro = 128MB of eDRAM. You're thinking of Broadwell.damianrobertjones - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link
I have the NUC615SYH model in front of me now with the following:-HyperX Impact 16 GB 2400 MHz
-Samsung 250GB 850 EVO M.2
-Samsung 850 500GB evo 2.5"
All okay, updated to the latest firmward, installed Win10 fine BUT, as is often the case, the auto-driver facility from Intel fails to install a few drivers. You have to manually download and install.
Issues? Yes... The ethernet connection states that there's no internet connection despite being able to get onto the net. No other driver to try at this point in time so I'm using a USB nic.
All in all not bad.
blahsaysblah - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link
NUC5i7RYH- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900)
- Micron M510 M.2 128GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
- Intel X25M G2 80GB :)
Except for updating BIOS, do NOT install any drivers from Intel. You will get random crashes and issues. Only use what Windows Update gives. Has been rock solid once i did a clean install. Intel's Update tool was broken several months back too. Very surprising that it could not install drivers on a NUC.
From reading the benchmarks, the new 6i5 is a just because release. Unless you really want card reader, but you need a HUB to attack K,M, printer,.. anyway...
I wish they'd gone another direction.
It would be nicer if there was a plain office/developer and non HTPC version. Strip out all the radios, SDXC, HDMI,...
Just
- TPM,
- Lan(dual for VMs would be great),
- DP(1.3 chaining is fine, soon enough real 39"-44" 4k monitors will allow one monitor setups),
- USB (2 USB 2.0: KB,M; 4 USB 3.0: Webcam, printer, UPS, spare; 2 USB 3.0 front: spare, dedicated cellphone charger)
- combined headphone/mic
- 2x M.2 slots. Boot and data. Able to do backups internally. Also for VMs. Running Hyper-V VMs on mine is super smooth.
- the 2.5" drive option is really out of place/ancient. Without it, the bottom plate could be vented instead of sides.
- The removal of radios would allow the cooling solution to be almost doubled in size. I personally have the plastic top removed to allow better cooling.
A non HTPC, office/developer oriented NUC.
TheinsanegamerN - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link
2.5" isnt out of place until M.2 can actually catch up. M.2 is still limited to 512GB drives, and a 512GB m.2 cost more than a 1TB 2.5" SSD. And M.2 runs much hotter than 2.5"blahsaysblah - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link
Having the 5i7 in hand and using it for about 4 months now, the 2.5" is out of place in it. It interferes with cooling of everything on underside. It adds almost 3/4" height to the NUC where it was only 4.53" x 4.37" x 1.26" to begin with.Besides a vented bottom plate allowing the RAM, M.2(air flow is all they need) and other chips much better cooling its really the size issue.
I am running VMs on it with no issue. Taking a tiny NUC with you is much better than a laptop. For all the non-email jobs that require larger display and real keyboard. Again, saying a second non-HTPC line, the HTPC version can be used by folks just doing email.
The 5i7 was only offered in the larger format. I would not have gotten it given a choice. Hibernate, put in pocket. That 3/4" makes huge difference in usability.
Just a different point of view. For developers, engineers you need two internal drives and two M.2 drives are just fine.
kmmatney - Sunday, March 13, 2016 - link
As someone who uses a lot of VMs, I don't see how this is better than a laptop. Needing power, keyboard, mouse, and a monitor any time you need to use it doesn't sound convenient. I'm the opposite extreme, using a 17" laptop and 1.2TB of SSD space - but it's great for running software development VMs anywhere I need it, and I dock it to a 24" monitor in the office.bsly1314 - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link
+1. Furthermore, there seems no enough space to include power-loss protection in M.2 SSD. PLP is important for NUC which, unlike laptops, has no battery to act as backup. I live in third world where the electricity fails about once in a month...watzupken - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link
The real star of the Skylake is the GPU. CPU wise, its not much faster than Broadwell. And quite disappointed in areas where performance actually regress.