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Intel Core i5-6600

Intel Core i5-6600: Review and Relevance in 2025

Skylake architecture, 14 nm, 4 cores, 4 threads — is this processor worth considering today?

Key Characteristics: Architecture, Process Technology, and Key Features

The Intel Core i5-6600 processor, released in 2015, is part of Intel's 6th generation codenamed Skylake. It is manufactured using a 14 nm process technology, which was a significant advancement in energy efficiency at the time.

Specifications:

- Cores/Threads: 4/4 (without Hyper-Threading).

- Base/Max Frequency: 3.3 GHz / 3.9 GHz (Turbo Boost).

- L3 Cache: 6 MB.

- TDP: 65 W.

- Integrated Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 530 (base frequency 350 MHz, max — 1150 MHz).

Key Features:

- Support for DDR4-2133 (a transitional phase from DDR3).

- PCIe 3.0 (16 lanes) — relevant for NVMe SSDs and discrete graphics cards.

- Technologies such as Intel Quick Sync Video (video encoding acceleration) and Virtualization.

Performance:

- Geekbench 6: 1293 (Single-Core), 3579 (Multi-Core).

- For everyday tasks (office, browser), the processor demonstrates sufficient speed, but in multi-threaded scenarios (rendering, streaming), it falls short compared to modern counterparts.

Compatible Motherboards: Sockets and Chipsets

The processor uses the LGA 1151 (v1) socket, which is physically compatible with 100/200 series chipsets:

- H110, B150, H170, Z170 — for the 6th generation (Skylake).

- B250, H270, Z270 — for the 7th generation (Kaby Lake), but with a BIOS update.

Selection Features:

- Z170/Z270 — support overclocking (though the i5-6600 is locked for overclocking).

- B150/B250 — optimal for budget builds.

- H110 — minimalist boards without frills (suitable for office PCs).

Important: As of 2025, new motherboards for LGA 1151 are no longer produced. Prices for remaining stock range from $80 (B250) to $150 (Z270).

Supported Memory: DDR4 and Its Limitations

The i5-6600 operates with DDR4-2133 (official support). The maximum capacity is 64 GB (4 slots of 16 GB).

Nuances:

- Incompatibility with DDR5 or higher frequency DDR4 (e.g., 3200 MHz) — Skylake motherboards do not support XMP profiles for overclocking.

- Upgrading old systems with DDR3 will require a motherboard replacement.

Recommendation: Use two DDR4-2133 sticks (2x8 GB) in dual-channel mode for optimal performance.

Power Supply: How Many Watts Do You Need?

With a TDP of 65 W, the i5-6600 is one of the most energy-efficient processors in its class.

Scenarios:

- Without a discrete graphics card: A power supply of 300-400 W is sufficient (e.g., Be Quiet! System Power 10, 400W — $45).

- With a graphics card like the NVIDIA GTX 1660: A power supply of 500-550 W is recommended (EVGA 500 BR — $55).

Tip: Avoid cheap noname power supplies — even low-power systems require stable voltage.

Pros and Cons of the i5-6600 in 2025

Pros:

1. Low power consumption — ideal for compact PCs and media centers.

2. Integrated graphics — HD 530 handles 4K video and light gaming (e.g., CS:GO on low settings).

3. Reliability — proven architecture with a low failure rate.

Cons:

1. 4 threads — insufficient for multitasking (Chrome + Photoshop + streaming).

2. Outdated platform — difficulties with upgrades (new processors require a socket change).

3. Lack of PCIe 4.0/5.0 — a limitation for modern SSDs and graphics cards.

Usage Scenarios: Where is the i5-6600 Still Relevant?

1. Office tasks and web browsing — Word, Excel, a browser with 10+ tabs.

2. Media center — 4K video via HDMI 1.4, streaming services.

3. Light gaming — Dota 2, Minecraft, GTA V (on low settings with a discrete graphics card like GTX 1650).

4. Home server/NAS — thanks to low TDP and support for virtualization.

Real example: A Reddit user built a PC with an i5-6600 + GTX 1060 in 2023 for playing Fortnite (60 FPS on medium settings).

Comparison with Competitors: Ryzen and Newer Intel

1. AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (6 cores/12 threads, 14 nm):

- Pros: Multithreading, unlocked multiplier.

- Cons: Higher TDP (65 W vs. 95 W for Ryzen).

- Price: New units — from $120 (but already discontinued).

2. Intel Core i5-7600K (4 cores/4 threads, 14 nm):

- Pros: Overclocking up to 4.2 GHz.

- Cons: No HT, price from $150 (new).

3. Modern equivalents (2025):

- Intel Core i3-13100 (4 cores/8 threads, 10 nm) — $130.

- AMD Ryzen 5 5500 (6 cores/12 threads, 7 nm) — $140.

Conclusion: The i5-6600 lags in multithreading and support for new technologies but offers good value on the second-hand market (from $30).

Practical Assembly Tips

1. SSD is a must: Install NVMe (via PCIe adapter) or SATA SSD to eliminate boot speed bottlenecks.

2. Cooling: Even the stock cooler will suffice, but for quiet operation, consider a DeepCool Gammaxx 400 ($20).

3. BIOS: Update the motherboard firmware for compatibility with Windows 11 (requires TPM 2.0).

4. Graphics card: Choose models without additional power requirements (GTX 1650, RX 6400) for energy savings.

Final Conclusion: Who is the i5-6600 Suitable For in 2025?

This processor is worth considering only in two cases:

1. Upgrading an old PC: If you already have an LGA 1151 motherboard and DDR4.

2. Budget build with leftover parts: For tasks that do not require multithreading (office, HTPC).

Alternative: For $100-150, you can build a system based on Ryzen 5 5500 or Intel i3-12100F with warranty and support for new standards.

In summary: The Intel Core i5-6600 is a respected veteran, but by 2025, its time has come to an end. Opt for it only with a tight budget or for niche tasks.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

July 2015

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

i5-6600

Code Name

SkyLake

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Basic Frequency

3.30 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

3.90 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

3.90 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

2.0

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

L3 Cache

6 MB

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

FCLGA1151

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

14 nm

TDP

65 W

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

3.0

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Yes

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

Up to 1x16 | 2x8 | 1x8+2x4

Memory Specifications

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR4-1866/2133 | DDR3L-1333/1600 @ 1.35V

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

64 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Bus Speed

8 GT/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

34.1 GB/s

ECC Memory Supported

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® HD Graphics 530

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

350 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

1.15 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

64 GB

4K Support

Yes | at 60Hz

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096x2304@24Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096x2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096x2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (VGA)

N/A

Number of Displays Supported

Graphics Output

Graphics Output defines the interfaces available to communicate with display devices.

eDP/DP/HDMI/DVI

Miscellaneous

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

6 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Intel® Device Protection Technology with Boot Guard helps protect the system’s pre-OS environment from viruses and malicious software attacks.

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, like its predecessor, Intel® Clear Video Technology, is a suite of image decode and processing technologies built into the integrated processor graphics that improve video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel® Clear Video HD Technology adds video quality enhancements for richer color and more realistic skin tones.

Yes

Intel Clear Video Technology

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Yes

Intel OS Guard

Yes

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

4.5

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

1293

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

3579

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

970

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

3237

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

2335

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

6329

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Xeon W-2155

1377 +6.5%

Core i5-9600T

1344 +3.9%

Core i5-6600

1293

Core i5-8600T

1256 -2.9%

Xeon Gold 6246

1210 -6.4%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Core i3-10100TE

4028 +12.5%

Core i7-4770

3815 +6.6%

Core i5-6600

3579

Core i3-8300T

3357 -6.2%

Core i5-7440HQ

3101 -13.4%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Pentium Gold G6600

1019 +5.1%

Xeon E-2254ML

997 +2.8%

Core i5-6600

970

Xeon Silver 4316

951 -2%

Core i5-10500TE

932 -3.9%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Core i5-10300H

3487 +7.7%

Core i7-5750HQ

3363 +3.9%

Core i5-6600

3237

Xeon E3-1285 v3

3125 -3.5%

Core i7-8706G

2993 -7.5%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Xeon Gold 5220

2399 +2.7%

Core i5-9500T

2366 +1.3%

Core i5-6600

2335

Ryzen 5 3400GE

2303 -1.4%

Pentium Gold G6505T

2271 -2.7%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i7-5850HQ

6866 +8.5%

Xeon E5-1620 v2

6549 +3.5%

Core i5-6600

6329

FX-9370

6114 -3.4%

Atom x7425E

5777 -8.7%