Intel Gen9 Skylake

Rather than being due to Broadwell's L4, Skylake's slight deficit in discrete gaming performance found in reviews was probably due a reduced ''FCLK' setting in initially released motherboards (http://www.anandtech.com/show/9607/skylake-discrete-graphics-performance-pcie-optimizations).

 

Having currently re-done our CPU-benchmarks with a new set of programmes and of course the most recent UEFI versions, I still see BDW performing on-par with SKL at the highest DT SKU level and certainly quite a bit better per clock mostly, given that the i7-6700K runs at least 300 MHz faster than i7-5775C in multithreaded workloads.

 

Even in the linked Anandtech review above, the results of the firmware changes were mixed at best. Still nice to know Skylake has the ultimate clock advantage, however I'd still love to see some Skylake E

 

Intel just released a beta graphics driver Windows with Vulcan support. Unlike Linux, where Vulcan support might extend to Ivy Bridge, on Windows only Skylake is (for now?) supported.

Also, the release notes have a ton of "known issues". IIRC, way more than before. Have there been some major changes to the driver, or maybe are the issues the same as before but validation has improved?

https://downloadmirror.intel.com/25848/eng/ReleaseNotes_GFX_15 40 4404.pdf

 

Well, a longer "known issues" list should be expected on a beta driver - comparing to the bugs in production release code should always go in favor of the production code if the devs / QA staff are doing their jobs.

I wouldn't touch those drivers with a ten meter cattleprod ( props to those who get the reference ) unless I was actively targeting Vulcan development.

 

And here is Skull Canyon

http://www.legitreviews.com/meet-intel-nuc-nuc6i7kyk-skull-canyon-arrives-thunderbolt-3_180007

$650, 45W, GT4e and every feature you can think of. Add in an M2 SSD and DDR4 and you have a tiny little gaming-capable computer.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/change-the-game-with-nuc.html

 

Any chance this link could be fixed, Andrew? Looks dead now

 

Ugh, yeah I sorta knew that was going to happen. If you go to the IDF 2015 San Francisco page and go to the technical sessions and search for the relevant one it should work. I whined about this at the time but unfortunately it got Web 2.0'd too hard for complicated things like "links" to work...

I'll try and pull a copy to mirror on my personal site when I get the chance.

 

...So tell me, if anyone can, why is Intel so dead-set against releasing eDRAM equipped skylake desktop chips? It's stupid. They are being stupid. It's a huge performance buff in so many ways.

 

Because for the extra margins they want to charge for eDRAM-equipped models, people would be better off buying a discrete graphics card.

My guess is Broadwell-C didn't move a lot of units. People preferred to buy a Haswell i7 than the Broadwell i5 with eDRAM.

 

Here's a new link.

 

Excellent, thanks!

 

Andrew, any chance you could see if a version of the GDC2016 sponsored talk F1* 2015 Case Study: Enabling for Multi-Core and DX12 is made open to see, I appreciate this is not directly linked to you but would be interesting as it touches on optimisation-development with Intel Skylake-others and DX12. - I get it may need amending before it can be opened to general public.
The Just Cause 3 one was interesting but would be great to see the experience gained from the F1 development.
https://software.intel.com/en-us/event/gdc/2016/sponsored-talks

Thanks

 

I'm sure they will post slides when they have them prepared - unfortunately I don't have any particular insight into that presentation.

 

Just going through one of the GDC 2016 presentations from Intel : https://software.intel.com/sites/de...n-The-Trenches-Optimizing-UE4-For-Intel_X.pdf
This is titled Into The Trenches Optimising UE4 For Intel.
Now what I found interesting is that slide 5 shows Skylake 2015-2016 with GT4 (this can be associated with EDRAM-Iris Pro), and then slide 6 shows benefit of EDRAM.

For me this would be great as I have been waiting ages for a top EDRAM Skylake processor, but does this mean we will see an I7 model anytime this year?
Ironically it has been shown that the EDRAM still has benefits even when using dGPU, and still wondering why the heck they would add it to Broadwell and not Skylake yet.
Anyway wonder if those slides really do mean we will see Skylake with EDRAM this year, and on what models (please not just laptops).

Edit:
Wonder if this pertains to Kaby Lake *shrug*
Cheers

 

Well, there will be http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016...core-mini-pc-with-iris-pro-and-thunderbolt-3/
A 45W TDP NUC with GT4e. Which is still not quite what I want, as at least Broadwell-C could benefit from even >65W TDP, and as I would like a socketed platform. No, I will never be upgrading the CPU, but I do want to choose what is on my motherboard.

 

Sadly, 45W hard-enforced TDP won't be enough to even satisfy the GPU's need, let alone the CPU alongside as well. Still waiting for a 90ish-Watt model.

 

The Intel presentation I linked was interesting in inferring we would see EDRAM on a gaming skylake CPU.
But could it be pointing to Kaby Lake instead of an actual Skylake model or would the presentation specifically differentiate between them (unsure myself as I have seen reports associating Kaby Lake to that of Skylake)?

Agree kinda annoying we are still waiting as you say for a 90-ish Watt model.
Cheers

 

Yes perhaps you have to wait for baby cake and even a mandatory Z270 chipset.

If it's time to be grumpy : I am still waiting for an Intel graphics card!