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Intel Core i7-6660U

Intel Core i7-6660U: Review of an Ultraportable Processor for Everyday Tasks

April 2025

Introduction

The Intel Core i7-6660U processor, released in 2015, became part of the Skylake lineup and remained popular in business-class ultrabooks for a long time. Despite its age, as of 2025, devices based on it can still be found in the budget segment (new models range from $500 to $700). In this article, we will explore who would benefit from such a CPU today, what tasks it can handle, and what compromises may need to be made.

1. Architecture and Process Technology: A Dual-Core Hybrid with Integrated Graphics

Skylake on 14nm: A Balance Between Efficiency and Power

The Core i7-6660U is built on the Skylake microarchitecture, which was a significant step forward at the time due to IPC (instructions per clock) optimization. The 14nm process technology enables reduced power consumption while maintaining acceptable performance.

- Cores and Threads: 2 cores, 4 threads (Hyper-Threading).

- Clock Speeds: Base frequency of 2.4 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 3.4 GHz.

- Integrated Graphics: Intel Iris Graphics 540 with 64 MB of eDRAM.

iGPU Features

The Iris 540 is one of Intel's first GPUs capable of competing with entry-level discrete solutions. It supports DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.4, and 4K video (via HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort). For gaming, low settings are relevant:

- CS:GO — 45-60 FPS (720p);

- League of Legends — 60-70 FPS (1080p).

2. TDP 15W: Energy Efficiency at the Expense of Power

A TDP of 15W indicates that the processor is designed for compact systems with passive or modest active cooling. This is ideal for thin ultrabooks but imposes limitations:

- Turbo mode (3.4 GHz) operates for a short duration (10-15 seconds under load);

- Under sustained load (e.g., rendering), frequency drops to 2.8-3.0 GHz.

Energy Saving Technologies

- Intel SpeedStep: Dynamic frequency adjustment based on load.

- C-States: Transitioning cores to "sleep" mode during idle.

- Adaptix Thermal Framework: Smart temperature management to prevent overheating.

3. Performance: What Can the Core i7-6660U Do in 2025?

Office Work and Multimedia

- Google Chrome: 10-15 tabs + YouTube 1080p — smooth operation, but slowdowns can occur when launching background tasks.

- Microsoft Office: Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations — no problems.

- 4K Video: Hardware decoding via Quick Sync, but power is insufficient for 4K/60fps streaming.

Gaming

Iris 540 handles only less demanding games:

- Minecraft (1080p, medium settings) — 40-50 FPS;

- Stardew Valley — 60 FPS;

- Fortnite (720p, low settings) — 25-35 FPS (uncomfortable).

Turbo Boost Mode: When Is It Relevant?

Turbo kicks in during short bursts of load: opening "heavy" applications, rendering PDFs. In games, it almost doesn’t affect FPS due to iGPU limitations.

4. Use Cases: Who Is This Processor For?

- Students: Text processing, online courses, Zoom conferences.

- Office Workers: Email, spreadsheets, presentations.

- Users of "Light" Operating Systems: Chrome OS or Linux Mint run faster on it than Windows 11.

Who Is It Not Suitable For?

- Gamers: Even cloud gaming (GeForce NOW) requires stable internet, which isn't available everywhere.

- Designers/Video Editors: 2 cores are insufficient for Adobe Premiere or Blender.

5. Battery Life: Up to 8 Hours Under Ideal Conditions

With a battery capacity of 50 Wh (typical for ultrabooks from 2016-2018), the working time is:

- Web surfing: 6-7 hours;

- Video (local, 1080p): 8 hours;

- Load (programming in VS Code): 4-5 hours.

Tip: In 2025, laptops with this CPU often come with weak batteries (20-30% wear). Look for models with a replaced battery.

6. Comparison with Competitors: Against Apple M1 and AMD Ryzen 5

- Apple M1 (2020): Single-thread performance is 60% higher, multi-thread performance is three times better. MacBook Air's battery life is up to 15 hours compared to 6-8 for the i7-6660U.

- AMD Ryzen 5 5500U (2021): 6 cores/12 threads, Vega 7. In games and multitasking, it outperforms Intel by 40-70%.

- Intel Core i5-1135G7 (2020): 4 cores, Iris Xe — nearly twice as fast in graphics.

Conclusion: The Core i7-6660U lags behind even budget CPUs from 2020-2022, but it has a price advantage.

7. Pros and Cons

Strengths:

- Low-cost laptops ($500-700);

- Support for Thunderbolt 3 for external GPUs (though this is impractical due to a weak CPU);

- Sufficient for basic tasks.

Weaknesses:

- 2 cores — a bottleneck in 2025;

- No support for PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6;

- Outdated platform (DDR3L, maximum of 32 GB RAM).

8. Recommendations for Choosing a Laptop

Device Type: An ultrabook with a 13-14 inch diagonal. Examples of models from 2025:

- Dell Latitude 7370 (updated version): Durable body, touchscreen.

- HP EliteBook 840 G3: Backlit keyboard, dust protection.

What to Look For:

- Display: At least Full HD. HD+ (1366x768) is outdated.

- Storage: Only SSD (256 GB or more).

- Ports: USB-C with Power Delivery for charging from a power bank.

9. Final Conclusion: Who Should Get It?

The Core i7-6660U in 2025 is suitable for those who:

- Are looking for the cheapest new laptop;

- Do not plan to run "heavy" applications;

- Value compactness and quiet operation.

Alternative: For $700-800, you can find laptops with Ryzen 5 7530U or Intel Core i3-1215U (2023), which offer 4-6 cores and modern technologies. But if your budget is strictly limited, the i7-6660U is still a workhorse for Word, Excel, and YouTube.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

January 2016

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.

i7-6660U

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

2.40 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.

3.40 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

3.40 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.

Yes

CPU Socket

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

FCBGA1356

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

15 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

100°C

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.

1x4 | 2x2 | 1x2+2x1 and 4x1

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.

DDR4-2133 | LPDDR3-1866 | DDR3L-1600

Max Memory Size

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

32 GB

Memory Channels

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

Bus Speed

4 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® Iris® Graphics 540

Graphics Base Frequency

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

300 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.

1.05 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

32 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

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.

4 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 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 Flex Memory Access

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

1071

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

2129

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

786

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

1793

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

1899

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

3549

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Core i7-7700HQ

1144 +6.8%

Core i3-4340

1105 +3.2%

Core i7-6660U

1071

Ryzen 7 2800H

1016 -5.1%

Xeon W-2104

966 -9.8%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Core i5-4670T

2581 +21.2%

Core i3-4340

2380 +11.8%

Core i7-6660U

2129

Xeon E5-4620 v3

1957 -8.1%

FX-8300

1783 -16.3%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Xeon E3-1220

820 +4.3%

Athlon Silver PRO 3125GE

804 +2.3%

Core i7-6660U

786

Ryzen 7 3700C

769 -2.2%

Core i7-4770TE

746 -5.1%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Xeon E5607

2067 +15.3%

Pentium Gold G6400T

1931 +7.7%

Core i7-6660U

1793

Athlon X4 880K

1652 -7.9%

A10-7860K

1559 -13.1%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Ryzen 3 3350U

1953 +2.8%

Core i7-7500U

1929 +1.6%

Core i7-6660U

1899

Core i7-3720QM

1869 -1.6%

Xeon E5-1607 v3

1817 -4.3%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i3-10110U

3924 +10.6%

Pentium Gold G6405T

3746 +5.6%

Core i7-6660U

3549

Core i3-4150

3384 -4.6%

A10-6800K

3215 -9.4%