The Intel NUC6i5SYK Skylake UCFF PC Review
by Ganesh T S on March 11, 2016 8:00 AM ESTPerformance Metrics - I
The Intel NUC6i5SYK was evaluated using our standard test suite for low power desktops / industrial PCs. Not all benchmarks were processed on all the machines due to updates in our testing procedures. Therefore, the list of PCs in each graph might not be the same.
Futuremark PCMark 8
PCMark 8 provides various usage scenarios (home, creative and work) and offers ways to benchmark both baseline (CPU-only) as well as OpenCL accelerated (CPU + GPU) performance. We benchmarked select PCs for the OpenCL accelerated performance in all three usage scenarios. These scores are heavily influenced by the CPU in the system. The benchmark numbers show that it is a toss-up between the Broadwell-U Iris Core i7-5557U in the NUC5i7RYH and the Core i5-6260U in the NUC6i5SYK. The former is a 28W TDP part and can sustain higher clocks. Despite that, the performance of the two are comparable for day-to-day usage activities (such as web browsing and spreadsheet editing), as tested by PCMark 8.
Miscellaneous Futuremark Benchmarks
The Futuremark GPU benchmarks present a different story. The advancements in the Skylake GPU enable the Skylake NUC to easily outscore every other mini-PC that has been evaluated before.
3D Rendering - CINEBENCH R15
We have moved on from R11.5 to R15 for 3D rendering evaluation. CINEBENCH R15 provides three benchmark modes - OpenGL, single threaded and multi-threaded. Evaluation of select PCs in all three modes provided us the following results. In the single threaded case, the higher clocks and TDP ratings help the NUC5i7RYH (based on the 28W TDP Core i7-5557U), ECS LIVA One (based on the 35W TDP Core i3-6100T) and the GIGABYTE GB-BXi7H-5500 (based on the Core i7-5500U - usual TDP of 15W configured upwards to 28W) to outscore the Skylake NUC (based on the 15W TDP Core i5-6260U).
However, in the OpenGL case, the Skylake GPU with eDRAM enables the NUC6i5SYK to have a comfortable lead over other UCFF PCs.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
95 Comments
View All Comments
Teknobug - Sunday, March 13, 2016 - link
"for external graphics"^ did you miss that?
AnnonymousCoward - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link
I read "external graphics" as a monitor. Now I guess he meant a GPU. So who exactly would want to match a 15W CPU with a discrete GPU?TheinsanegamerN - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link
Given the sales of the alienware 13, my guess would be more then you think. Most games dont need a quad core i7 to run properly.AnnonymousCoward - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link
It's true that games can run ok, but still. This cpu would likely be a big bottleneck in loading, and processing all the elements of a big game that has hundreds or thousands of moving things. VR will want more cpu. But sure, if you just wanna run CS, you can use any cpu.TheinsanegamerN - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link
The AW13 cn oush games like shadow of mordor with an external dock. Slower, yes, but it can still hit 50fps+.Of course, nobody who wants maximum settings would buy the NUC, but more midrange gamers would be served well. And since the skull canyon will most likely be a quad core part, CPU performance will be a moot argument,
zodiacfml - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link
The CPU power limits are quite impressive compared to my i5-5200u. this makes its performance not far from the ECS LIVA One.Sivar - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link
Thank you for the article.I am a little disappointed with vendors that fanless NUCs are still unavailable except as specialty parts with low-volumeish markups like Logic Supply (which makes great stuff, but not cheap).
HTPC Credentials typo: "Refresh Rate Accura[n]cy"
Zingam - Sunday, March 13, 2016 - link
$675 - and this includes the price of Win10 too?ganeshts - Sunday, March 13, 2016 - link
The configuration posted (256GB NVMe drive + Corsair 2400 MHz SODIMMs) doesn't include WIn 10 cost. However, I see now that 2133 MHz SODIMMs are available for a much lower price and, even the NVMe drive can be replaced by a much cheaper AHCI drive (IIRC, Mushkin's 256GB M.2 AHCI drive is only $85 or so - less than half the price of the NVMe Samsung drive).So, yes, it is possible to build the whole configuration along with Windows 10 for $675 (even lower is possible).
In our cost comparison tables as well as spec tables, we have never considered OS cost. So, the number quoted is consistent with our previous reviews.
twotwotwo - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link
If you go with 2x4GB DDR4, i3, and 256GB 850 EVO m.2 SSD, it's $400 (and, for the moment, there's Prime shipping on all that from Amazon). You can also opt for the taller one with the 2.5" drive slot to do the small SSD+big HDD thing. All to say, there are lots of compromises for cost short of, like, going to an older gen, a much larger box, or Atom.