Intel Skylake-S Processors To Debut At IDF 2015 – 95W Quad Core Unlocked SKUs To Ship With GT2 GPU

Intel’s upcoming Skylake-S processors featuring the 6th generation Skylake core architecture will make a debut at IDF 2015 as suggested by VR-Zone. A few weeks ago, it was reported that Intel will launch Skylake-S and Skylake-U series processors in Q3 2015 and the date has been narrowed down to 15th August which is a few days before Intel hosts their annual IDF (Intel Developer Forum) conference to showcase their current and upcoming technologies.

Intel Skylake-S To Be Preseneted In August 2015 With 95,65,35W SKUs

Intel will be presenting their Skylake series processors which will include their S (desktop) and U (Mobility) variants. Both processors will be made available just a few months after the launch of their Broadwell predecessors which came to the market late and at a time when Intel already has their latest 14nm chip architecture ready for mass production and launch in Q3 2015. As expected the Skylake processors will be available in different configurations as detailed below.

The Skylake-S seems like an odd name for the upcoming desktop platform but Intel has decided to put both their unlocked and locked processors within this platform. Skylake-S product family will include both K Series unlocked SKUs and the normal locked variants which somewhat restrict overclocking unless motherboard vendors find a way to bypass the locking algorithm and pass a BIOS/firmware update to consumers. The top end variants, K-Series SKUs will ship with 95W TDP and feature a quad core design with GT2 level graphics chip. The next line will be made of several 65W and 35W quad core chips and there would also be several 65W and 35W dual core chips shipping with GT2 graphics.

While Broadwell-K that ships a quarter earlier will feature an enhanced Iris Pro GPU with 48 execution units, Skylake-S will come with GT2 graphics chip which features 24 execution units. However, there’s still a possibility of better iGPU variants to hit the market later on since the GT4e chip is supposed to come with 72 execution units and 64 MB of eDRAM cache to leverage graphics performance. Similarly, Skylake-U chips which will debut alongside Skylake-S will come with GT2 and GT3e graphics processors. A table below gives a representation of Skylake SKUs:

	Intel 14nm Skylake Configuration Table
Variant	SKL-Y (BGA)	SKL-U (BGA)	SKL-H (BGA)	SKL-S /K (LGA)
Cores Configurations	2	2 / 2	4 / 4	4 / 2 / 4
Graphic Configurations	GT1 12 EUs GT 1.5 18 EUs GT2 24 EUs	GT2 24 EUs / GT3e 48 EUs	GT2 24 EUs / GT4e 72 EUs	GT2 24 EUs / GT2 24 EUs/ GT4e 72 EUs
eDRAM	-	64MB – GT3e	128MB – GT4e	64MB – GT4e
Memory	LPDDR3 1600Mhz	LPDDR3 1600Mhz	DDR4, DDR4L	DDR4 2133Mhz
TDP	4W	15-28W	35-45W	35-95W

Skylake will feature compatibility with the LGA 1151 socketed motherboards based on the 100-Series (Z170/H170) series Sunrise Point chipset.The transition to Z170 chipset will not be a massive upgrade and would be similar to what the Z97 was to Z87 with a little added features such as more PCI-e lanes, Super Speed USB and up to 10 USB ports compared to 6 standard ones found on the current iteration of motherboards. There will be a total of six 100-series chipset SKUs which will include the Z170 (Performance)replacing the Z97, H170 (Mainstream) replacing the H97, H110 (Value) replacing the H81, B150 (Small and medium Business) replacing the B85 and the Q170 plus Q150 chips with Intel vPro / SIPP which will replace the Q87 and Q85.

The Z170 would be the flagship performance chipset which will support the unlocked K-Series Skylake processors. The chipset will feature up to 20 PCIe Gen 3 lanes, 6 SATA Gen 3 ports, 10 USB 3.0 ports and a total of 14 total USB ports (USB 3.0 / USB 2.0), up to 3 SATA Express capable ports, up to 3 Intel RST capable PCI-e storage ports which may include x2 SATA Express or M.2 SSD port with Enhanced SPI and x4/x8/x16 capable Gen 3 PCI-Express support from the processor.

Intel Mainstream Platforms Comparison Chart:

	Intel Sandy Bridge Platform	Intel Ivy Bridge Platform	Intel Haswell Platform	Intel Broadwell Platform	Intel Skylake Platform	Intel Cannonlake Platform
Processor Architecture	Sandy Bridge	Ivy Bridge	Haswell	Broadwell	Skylake	Cannonlake
Processor Process	32nm	22nm	22nm	14nm	14nm	10nm
Processors Cores (Max)	4	4	4	4	4	TBA
Platform Chipset	6-Series “Cougar Point”	7-Series “Panther Point”	8-Series “Lynx Point”	9-Series “Wild Cat Point”	100-Series “Sunrise Point”	200-Series “Union Point”
Platform Socket	LGA 1155	LGA 1155	LGA 1150	LGA 1150	LGA 1151	TBA
Memory Support	DDR3	DDR3	DDR3	DDR3	DDR4	DDR4
Thunderbolt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes “Alpine Ridge”	Yes
Platform	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA	Desktop LGA
Launch	2011	2012	2013-2014	2015	2015	2016