While the glut of gaming news from the 2015 edition of E3 might be fresh in the memories of many, it’s now time to gear up for the prospect of Gamescom 2015. The annual event, hosted by the city of Cologne in Germany, looks set to be the site for all manner of unveiling and announcements when it gets underway this Wednesday.
We already know that Intel will be in attendance, prompting speculation that the event will see the company unveil its new Skylake processors. Now, retail packaging designs for the i7-6700K and the i5-6600K have leaked online, giving us a few more details about what to expect from the new components.
The box for the i7 confirms that it will boast four cores, and support eight threads thanks to Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology. It also packs an 8MB L3 cache and an Intel HD Graphics 530 graphics component, according to a report from Hexus.
Meanwhile, the i5 also has four cores, but a lack of Hyper-Threading support means that it will only be able to offer four threads. Outside of that difference, its specs look broadly similar to the i7, with both offering compatibility with two-channel DDR4/DDR3L memory and Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0.
There’s a reason that these processors look set to make an appearance at Gamescom 2015 — they look set to be a very attractive proposition for anyone putting together a capable gaming rig. Indeed, both chips seem to be designed for a user that’s comfortable with tweaking their set-up for the best possible results, as they have been designed with overclocking in mind.
We still don’t have an exact date for when Intel’s Skylake processors are set to begin shipping, but that could all change by the end of Gamescom. A packaging leak such as this certainly suggests that we’re getting close to release, so it’s sensible to expect that Intel will make a concrete announcement sooner rather than later.
