Intel Skylake CPU details revealed: These faster, more power-efficient chips can even drive three 4K monitors
PC World, August 18, 2015. Image credit: Chris Potter
After weeks of teasing us, Intel finally lifted the kilt to show us details of its 6th generation CPU. Besides being faster and using less power than its predecessors, Skylake chips can drive multiple 4K displays, feature new instructions to speed up security operations, and even hardened memory defenses.
Power savings
New to Skylake is a feature called Speed Shift which is a power-saving technique that lets the CPU intelligently change its power state. Intel’s power clock savings technique is fairly rigid today, but Speed Shift in Skylake laptops should improve responsiveneswhen coming out of a low power mode (compared to a Broadwell or Haswell CPU) as well as more performance when in a low power state. Speed Shift is just one of the power saving modes Skylake implements, but it’s probably the coolest sounding.
Intel didn’t specifically say how much of an increase in battery life Skylake would offer over its 5th gen Broadwell chips. PC OEM’s I’ve spoken to said it’s a good improvement, but don’t expect that major leap we saw going from Ivy Bridge to Haswell.