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.
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twotwotwo - Sunday, March 13, 2016 - link
Coincidentally, I just got one of this model set up yesterday.In line with what the review says, it subjectively feels about as fast as the Broadwell i7 I use for work. I expected more difference just eyeballing the specs (though the i5's turbo clock is still 2.8GHz).
It's fun that you can now get a pretty decent computer, with perks like a PCIe SSD or lots of RAM, in a case no larger than some sandwiches I've eaten.
Setup wasn't fun. I had to use legacy boot to start Ubuntu off a Samsung NVMe drive, which was odd because BIOS could browse the EFI partition, Secure Boot was off, it could UEFI-boot off the SD card, etc. Lots of annoying trial and error to find the right config to get it booting, too.
In Ubuntu, I needed to use Intel's Linux graphics stack installer from 01.org to fix jerky video. Other than that hardware has worked out of the box.
soryuuha - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link
How does this box handle* H264 Hi10p
* HEVC
* HEVC Main 10
milkod2001 - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link
I still don't get why would anyone wanted to get NUC over laptop with screen,keyboard and OS already there.I can understand a few nerds who have time and knowledge to make the best of it but what about the average customers. Do NUCs actually sell well at all?
damianrobertjones - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link
Yes. They also look quite nice next to a large television in a front room.Also, for a company like the one here, buying Nucs seems like a reasonable choice.
Drazick - Monday, March 14, 2016 - link
Ganesh,Does Intel have any plans giving us GT3e in higher TDP configurations?
When I say higher I mean 90 Watt.
Even better to see it in the Extreme Edition (6829K + GT3e).
Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - link
$700 and it bricks when you update the BIOS? Where do I sign up?Brian_R170 - Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - link
"It all started with the first Intel NUC (Next Unit of Computing) based on a Sandy Bridge processor."Actually, the first NUCs were DC3217IYE (Ice Canyon) and DC3217BY (Box Canyon) and they both had an Ivy Bridge i3. The first (an only) NUC with a Sandy Bridge CPU was the DCCP847DYE (Deep Canyon) that came a few months later.
NextGen_Gamer - Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - link
I bought and configured one of these just a few weeks ago, and absolutely love it. I bought the NUCi5SYK, the same 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-2400 kit as reviewed here, and a 512GB Samsung 950 Pro. It is amazing - I have had no glitches, freezes, or any issues so far. Of course, my unit started with the 33 BIOS as well. I built one of these for my office at work, and have two curved Samsung 23" 1080p monitors hooked up to it (one through the HDMI, one through a mDP-to-HDMI adapter). I would highly recommend it :)bogda - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link
NUC is not really intended for gaming or 3D rendering but if we test the GPU why do we get 3D Mark results instead of real game benchmarks?jacksonjacksona - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
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