Intel Core i7 6800k Broadwell-E Overclocked & Benchmarked

Intel recently released their Broadwell-E family of HEDT processors for the X99 platform and simply so happened to be doing and so correct as we were in the process of upgrading our Workstation/Test Demote from our older Z87 and i7 4770k. So nosotros took this opportunity to encounter how the new i7 6800k overclocks and what performance gains there are from doing so.

Processor Proper noun	Intel Core i7-6950X	Intel Cadre i7-6900K	Intel Core i7-6850K	Intel Cadre i7-6800K
Procedure Node	14nm	14nm	14nm	14nm
Cores/Threads	10/20	viii/16	vi/12	6/12
Core Clock	iii.00 GHz	3.20 GHz	iii.lx GHz	3.40 GHz
Boost Clock	3.l GHz	3.70 GHz	iii.eighty GHz	3.threescore GHz
L3 Cache	25 MB L3 Cache	20 MB L3 Enshroud	fifteen MB L3 Cache	15 MB L3 Enshroud
Unlocked Multiplier (BCLK OC)	Yep, Full Range OC	Yes, Full Range OC	Yep, Full Range OC	Yes, Full Range OC
Chipset	X99	X99	X99	X99
Socket	LGA 2022-three	LGA 2022-3	LGA 2022-3	LGA 2022-iii
PCI-East Lanes	twoscore	forty	40	28
Retentivity Support	DDR4-2400 MHz	DDR4-2400 MHz	DDR4-2400 MHz	DDR4-2400 MHz
TDP	140W	140W	140W	140W

We went for the i7 6800k mainly because nosotros were buying this setup every bit non of the upgrade was being provided past whatsoever vendor and, at this fourth dimension, are only doing single GPU testing so at that place really isn't any benefit for united states of america to have been too concerned about PCI-e lanes. As far as the rest of the setup nosotros ordered an ASUS X99A-II motherboard along with a 32GB (4x8GB) Kit of CORSAIR Vengeance LPX DDR 2400MHz.

Test System

Component	Pick
CPU	Intel Core i7-6800k (Silverstone TD02-lite)
Motherboard	Asus X99A-Two (BIOS 0401)
Power Supply	Libation Master V1200platinum


Storage Disk	Crucial MX100 512gb SSD/Seagate 2TB SSHD
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 2400mhz
Monitor	Monoprice Crystalview 4k
Video Cards	EVGA GTX 980ti SC ACX+
Operating System	Window 10 64-Fleck (Build 10586)

Overclocking

We wanted to find the baseline so we gear up the XMP of the memory and ran through all of the tests, then we went for a mild overclock and settled on 4.2GHz at 1.22v as it was relatively easy to striking and didn't give us much trouble. Going by 4.2GHz is when things started getting a bit funky for u.s., requiring more voltage than we wanted to put through it and generating a massive amount of estrus that was quickly overwhelming the Silverstone TD02-low-cal 240mm AIO that nosotros were using for these tests. But, nosotros eventually settled on a iv.4GHz overclock at 1.4v.

Benchmarks

We ran through a battery of CPU specific benchmarks in order to see the baseline operation of the i7 6800k and and then again at both of the overclock values that we settled on. All of the benchmarks nosotros utilize are readily available for free from their respective websites. I understand that this may come off as us beingness cheap, but the reality of it is that it'southward so that you can use these numbers to compare your personal arrangement to and meet whether or not it would be a worth investment for you to make.

HWBot x265

This benchmark came from HWBot and is an excellent way to stress the CPUs x265 encoding and for this we merely ran the 1080p benchmark with priority set to loftier.

x265.1080p

Cinebench r15

Cinebench is a rendering criterion from the folks over at Maxon that is used to stress and test performance of either a single core or entire CPUs available threads by rendering out a 3D scene.

Firestrike Physics

Yep, I know this is office of a 3D Gaming Performance benchmarking suite but the Physics portion is specific to CPU performance and a skilful measure out of overclocking performance increase. We ran the entire benchmark in social club to go this result rather than running merely the Physics portion on information technology's ain.

Firestrike

Geekbench 3 32-bit

Geekbench iii is a slap-up tool for measuring a CPUs integer core functioning. We ran the 32-fleck version of this benchmark and recorded the Single and Multi Core operation of the i7 6800k

Intel XTU

Intel's XTU or Farthermost Tuning Utility has a built in benchmark that stresses diverse parts of the CPU and amass a full score.

XTU

Power Draw and Thermals

Overclocking does not go without its disadvantages, and typically those are felt most in terms of thermal output and power draw. We took our thermal readings from the highest core temperature and power depict reading while running the Intel XTU benchmark every bit it represented a worst case for both of these.

Power Draw

Temps

Conclusion

In the end I would be incorrect if I didn't mention how disappointed I was with the overclocks we were able to reach with this setup. It'southward not a high end overclocking board, just it'southward not a deal basement stripped downward board either. Perhaps we just lost the silicon lottery with this 6800k, but a search through HWBot and OCN prove a similar story amidst other owners also. So I can say that going from a stock setting to an overclock of 4.2GHz nets some measureable and noticeable gains without being besides hard to manage on terms of thermals and ability draw, going that extra 200MHz to 4.4GHz yields very small gains but much higher thermals and power describe. I don't see much benefit going past four.2GHz even if the lath and chip could handle information technology. Perhaps with BIOS revisions to the motherboard perhaps we could manage improve overclocks, but for now I'1000 pretty happy with the functioning we're getting at 4.2GHz. We hope our experiment and look into the Intel Cadre i7 6800k brought y'all a trivial insight into this CPU, and if you have a new Broadwell-E let us know in the comments how yours is doing.