All The Intel Skylake CPUs, From Desktop To Mobile

We've been talking about Intel's 6th gen Core (and Pentium) processors, more commonly known as "Skylake," for about a year now, since IDF 2014. We published our "full" review of the first two Intel desktop Skylake chips, the Intel Core i7-6700K and the Core i5-6600K already, but we qualify "full" here because Intel opted not to share architectural details with anyone, so we were unable to discuss or evaluate that extremely crucial chunk of information in that review.   

At IDF this year, we learned the full details of the Skylake architecture, finally, and a lengthy in-depth article on all of it is forthcoming, but we're also bringing you the details on all of the currently-released Skylake CPU SKUs.

These run all across Intel's product stack, from tablets and 2-in-1s, to mighty desktop chips, and everything in, around and between, and at various TDPs.

The various power points are a key element to Skylake. In briefings, Intel hammered on the wide range of wattages it achieved on its various Skylake chips (the engineering team is clearly proud), which spans from just 4.5 W up to 91 W.

Intel's numerous Skylake CPUs land at multiple points along that range of TDPs, which allowed the company to build chips for all manner of form factors. And that is how we're presenting them below. They're also sorted more or less by form factor.

Desktop Processors

Unlocked K SKUs at 91 W TDP

First on the list is the flagship desktop chips, the Core i7-6700K and Core i5-6600K, which, as we mentioned at the top of this article, we know well.

Core i5, i7 at 65 W TDP

The previous pair of CPUs sported a TDP of 91 W, and this next group of desktop chips comes in significantly lower, at 65 W TDP. The main differences you'll see here compared to the flagships is lower base clocks and Turbo speeds. Most of these SKUs have Intel vPro and Intel TXT, which the flagships lack.

They're also non-K SKUs, meaning they're locked, so overclockers should stick with the Core i7-6700K and Core i5-6600K.

Core i3, Pentium at 47 W TDP

These Core i3 and Pentium desktop processors are meant to live under the same general umbrella as the 65 W desktop chips shown above, but they're predictably lower-spec'd and produce less heat. Their base frequencies are high relative to the 65 W parts, but they have fewer cores and threads.  

Core i5, i7 at 35 W TDP

At this point in the chip stack, we're landing on the "T" SKUs (note the letter at the end of a processor's name). Intel designates these processors as good for a "power-optimized lifestyle," meaning they're the coolest (meaning temperature) desktop CPUs in a given line of Intel processors.

Note, however, the high core/thread count on these Core i7's and i5's. Their base clocks and Turbo boosts are a bit lower than the 47 W and 65 W parts, but they still sport Intel HD Graphics 530. At this tier, users may well be happy to use the IGP, whereas the higher-spec'd CPUs would mostly warrant a discrete GPU pairing.

Core i3, Pentium at 35 W

The Core i3 and Pentium CPUs at 35 W TDP are the lowest-end of Intel's desktop Skylake processors. Rounding out the bottom seems like a pejorative designation, but something has to be the lowest-end, and these chips are priced commensurately. Note that they still offer Intel HD Graphics 530 (except for the Pentium G4400T, which has the HD Graphics 510) and maintain the same RAM support as the more powerful CPUs.

Core And Pentium Mobile

Core i3, i5, i7 at 45 W

For as many desktop processors as Intel has put out for Skylake, it has just as many mobile Core SKUs (20 each), as well as a lone Pentium chip.

The first group is Intel's highest-end HQ (high-performance graphics, quad core) and H (high performance graphics, dual core) chips. These offer Intel HD Graphics 530, like the desktop SKUs. The four Core i7's in this batch sport four cores and eight threads; look for these in high-end gaming notebooks.

There is one nice surprise in these high-end mobile CPUs: an unlocked SKU. The Core i7-6820HK will be an interesting one to follow as it makes its way into notebooks that you can overclock.

Core i3, i5, i7 at 28 W -- U-series

Intel produced a quartet of Ultrabook chips at 28 W TDP, and they include a single Core i7, two Core i5's and a lone Core i3. All are dual-core CPUs with four threads, and all but the Core i3 offer Turbo Boost 2.0.

Note that, unlike the H/HQ/HK mobile processors, these are augmented by Intel's Iris Pro Graphics 550, the latest generation of Iris Pro. Oddly, none of these chips have pricing yet.

Core i7 at 15 W -- U-series

With Skylake, Intel was generous with the SKUs. In addition to the four 28 W TDP parts, there are four Core i7 SKUs (and six more Core i5, Core i3 and Pentium CPUs, further below) at 15 W TDP. These Core i7 U-series 15 W chips have lower base clocks than the 28 W CPUs, but all offer Turbo Boost 2.0. They also have slightly lesser graphics -- Iris Pro Graphics 540 and 520 versus the 28 W parts' 550.

Core i3, i5, Pentium at 15 W -- U-series

These Core i5, Core i3 and Pentium CPUs round out the U-series stack.

Mobile Xeon

Yes, mobile Xeons. Amid Intel's wide and deep mobile Core and Pentium Skylake CPU stack is a pair of mobile workstation-class chips, the Xeon E3-1535M v5 and E3-1505M v5, which have Intel HD Graphics P530. We've already seen these mobile Xeons appear on the Lenovo P50 and P70 workstation notebooks, and it's a good bet they'll find their way onto more burly notebooks.

Both chips are quad-core with eight threads, and they land at 45 W TDP.

Core m

Core m is Intel's 'tweener mobile CPU series that sits between the U-series processors and Cherry Trail (for phones and tablets), and they land at just 4.5 W TDP. (The Pentium chip hits 6 W TDP.)

Skylake does not want for Core m chips, although it's noteworthy that Intel has applied the 7, 5 and 3 nomenclature from the more powerful Core series to Core m this time around with the Core m7, Core m5 and Core m3.

Intel admitted that the only real reason for changing up the naming scheme is for clearer marketing purposes, so don't read too much into it.

All the Core m chips (and the Pentium CPU) are dual core with four threads, with low base frequencies -- note that the Core m3-6Y30 has a base freq of just under 1 GHz -- and they have Intel HD Graphics 515 on board.

The pricing also points to the continued trend of Core m devices that cost a pretty penny. The Core m7-6Y75 costs nearly $400; the BOM (Bill Of Materials) for any device based on that chip will be steep.

Seth Colaner is the News Director at Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on