We’ve been talking about the impending Skylake processors for quite a while now, but what we’ve been lacking is a lot of cold, hard facts about the chips’ performance and efficiency. Now we’re able to start piecing together some of the relevant information, if the leaked screenshots of Intel slides from FanlessTech are to be believed.
Among known differences like improved power efficiency and wireless connectivity, gaming performance is a standout feature. Intel claims that improvements to memory handling and a greater diversification of chipsets results in a 50 percent increase in 3D gaming performance compared to the previous generation. That would be absolutely splendid, because our experience with Intel integrated graphics lately has been less than stellar, to say the least.
Power efficiency is greatly improved too, according to the slides. A 30 percent increase in total battery life is nothing to scoff at, especially when you consider how thin and light systems have become lately.
The slides also clarify some odds and ends about the new chips that users might not have thought about until now. The chips support a 4K camera, or four full-HD cameras, as well as a pair of RealSense cameras. Touch sensing is now built into the processor’s architecture too, for more responsive and cohesive touch-screen experience.
The slides also shared some preliminary performance data, broken down by processor category. Across the board, CPU speeds are increased by about 12 percent from the Broadwell counterparts, with anywhere from 16 to 41 percent increase in graphics performance.
Of course, the slides aren’t official, so the information should be taken with a grain of salt for now. It is, however, in line with a lot of the other info we’ve already heard about the new Skylake architecture. With a release just around the corner, these slides will likely be confirmed or denied by Intel within the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
