my cheap skylake i7 - i7 6400T ES build

[anipia]

(There is TLDR down there)

So last December I decided to complete my build without breaking the bank too much and thought of going for a i7 skylake CPU.
There were engineering samples of skylake processors (i7 6400T ES) being sold for 500-600 Yuan on taobao.com. (this was March 2016 - now it goes for about 900). People weren't exactly interested in them since you know, engineering sample and potentially how poor they must be. They were clocked at ridiculously low speeds, from 1.2Ghz to about 2.2-2.4Ghz, depending on the batch and stepping. So people weren't interested - until they found out that you can overclock them using BCLK method. Benches showed that they perform almost identical to i7-6700 when overclocked to similar speeds, and it didn't even need much extra voltage.

But motherboards with BCLK overclocking functions are quite expensive. You have to have a Z170 chipset motherboard, and the mobo manufacturer had to be either ASUS or ASRock, because only those motherboards recognized the revision and step numbers on the CPU. It was still a sweet spot - you paid the price of a decent i3/i5 to get a premium motherboard and an underclocked i7 - until ASRock released the B150M PRO/HYPER, which is a budget board that allows BCLK OC without having a fancy chipset. The board goes for R1150, but unfortunately it is quite market-restricted and not available in South Africa.
View attachment 61754View attachment 61755

So now there is a cheap BCLK OC capable mobo and a cheap skylake i7. And these two didn't even cost much. 500 Yuan for the CPU - that's about R1000, and the motherboard is R1150. Total R2150. Looks like a deal too good to be true, but how does it perform? I paired these with 2 x 8GB Samsung DDR4 PC4-19200 and GTX 1070 and here are the benches from CPU-Z and Cinebench @ 3.6GHz.

Results:
View attachment 61756View attachment 61757View attachment 61758
(RAM was clocked to 2550MHz)

Temps reached 73 degrees, with occasional 'jumps' to 84 (comes back down to 73 in less than a second). I'm using Masterbox Lite 3 which is an mATX case with a single 120mm Sickleflow as an exhaust, and the CPU cooler is a cheap ZALMAN CNPS80F. So not too shabby. Core voltage at around 1.184, which means I could try clocking it higher if I'm lucky enough, and with a better cooler.

But of course, the downside is that there is just about no warranty whatsoever. The CPU is an ES, and you need to send motherboard overseas for warranty. While Samsung RAMs do have lifetime warranty, it must be claimed in South Korea so there's that (but R1200 for the kit so, there's that). But the motherboard/CPU combo does really open up your budget for other components, which is great.

TLDR: it's a cheap bang-for-buck build and I just wanted to show off lol. Performs like 6700 for the price of a celeron.

CPU - i7 6400T ES - R1000
Mobo - ASROCK B150M PRO/HYPER - R1150
Subtotal R2150

RAM - SAMSUNG 2 x 8GB PC4-19200 - R1200
GFX - GALAX GTX 1070 - R5100 (exchange rate ftw)
PSU - MICRONICS CLASSIC II 500W - R600
Case - COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX LITE 3 - R550
Subtotal R7450
Grand total R9600

 

[anipia]

CPUZ and HWMonitor
View attachment 61761View attachment 61762

 

[Zaggermeister]

I would get one of these if they were still so cheap.

 

[animehero]

Nice! would do this if i was in the market for a new system.
I saw that there are some sellers selling it for 550-600 Yuan still

 

[anipia]

For those who want to try this cheap'ish' build, here are some tips and info:

But before anything, you're going to have to find some reliable line of delivery for your i7 ES CPU. I was visiting Korea and had it delivered to Korea from China while I was there. But having it shipped from China to SA - that's something I don't know how to do. If the CPU+shipping goes past R2200, then just save money and buy yourself an i7 6700 from the forum here on Carb.

The different types of 'i7' ES CPUs
As you can see from the photos I attached, the CPUs don't have any comprehensive info on them except for the clock speed and the stepping and revision number. AFAIK there are four i7 variants: 1.6GHz(L448-451), 2.2GHz(L501), 2.6GHz and 2.6GHz with unlocked multiplier. However, you will mostly come across the 1.6 and 2.2 variants mostly.

The heck are those weird alphabets and numbers?
My CPU has these codes on it: QHQG 2.20 L501XXXX.

The first code (QHQG) is the CPU stepping. It indicates how many steps(stages) have passed since the prototype. First batch of prototypes would have AXXX stepping, and every time Intel improves their batch, it would increase a letter on the alphabet - i.e. BXXX, CXXX --> QXXX. So the more 'later' the alphabet of the stepping, the more likelihood of the CPU being close to the market release i7 in terms of function and performance.

2.20 is self-explanatory - base clockspeed.

L501XXXX is where it gets slightly interesting. L stands for Malaysia (correct me if I'm wrong), 5 is the last digit of the year of production - 201'5', 01 is the week number of that year. I assume the remaining code is just batch number. The reason why we kind of want to understand this info is that you can 'win' the silicone lottery beforehand. Look up for certain batch numbers of specific CPU and their OC capability. Then, you can try hunt for the same CPU that was made in the same batch - which would significantly improve your luck at overclocking that chip.

But heck, I've yet to see these chips fail to overclock to at least 3.2GHz on stock cooler so it really doesn't matter. Just nice to know.

Which chip is the best to OC?
If you can get your hands on a Z170 mobo from ASUS/ASRock for cheap, then go for the 1.6 rather than 2.2. 1.6 variant is just cheaper, and you can just OC the damn thing without hiccups if you have a Z170 chipset. I'm struggling on my motherboard because it's an entry-level B150m. Z170 can push it to 3.7-3.9 just fine. If you're going for the same combo as I did, then go for 2.2 - it's going to give you less headache - trust me on that.

Why can't I use other board brands? Why does it have to be ASRock or ASUS?
It's because other manufacturers and their BIOS do not allow the computer to post when it has an ES CPU in it. They do this by checking the abovementioned step and batch numbers. Also, do not go for Z270 boards of ANY manufacturer. They have blocked all ES 1151 CPUs afaik. Do note that Z170 boards with updated BIOS for Kaby Lake would not recognize the ES chipset either, but you can rollback the BIOS to old ones, so not to worry. However, I do recommend you get an ASUS board if possible - they require less voltage, and are much stable compared to ASRock at higher OC. Oh, and get RAM sticks that have good overclocking potential, otherwise it's going to screw you over when it comes to OCing.

I have the board and the CPU. How do I overclock?
I really hope you've had some experience with BCLK overclocking before. I will post a guide about it if someone does manage to get a hold of this chip in this country. I also suggest you get yourself an external GPU, because the iGPU may not work once the CPU clock goes past 3.3.

 

[anipia]

Got free time on my hands - a delid and temp update.

I decided to delid my skylake CPU because of the temps. I wanted to play games without worrying that the CPU might die any time soon. So the usual options are to either upgrade the cooler, or in my case, a new mobo which allows me to OC without hitting such high temps (anyone willing to find me a decent price for a Z170m Asus board, do hit me up with a PM).

I actually wanted to get a decent air cooler with a 120mm fan, but the case can only support heights up to 158mm, and there aren't that many options to upgrade to. They're also heavy, and I'm not too keen on putting weight stress on the motherboard.

So obviously, I delidded the CPU using a 3D printed delid tool, and replaced the TIM with TG Conductonaut. I even resealed the IHS with a bit of new silicone adhesive and used CM MasterGel Maker between the IHS and the Zalman cooler.
View attachment 64652View attachment 64653

And...
Temps are fine. Real fine - like 10-15 degrees C fine.
After benching on Cinebench and CPU-Z and undergoing 15 rounds of LinX, temps are amazing: 68 degrees.
View attachment 64654
Previously it was hitting 80-84 degrees.
The whole shebang cost around R500, but the liquid metal is good enough for 6 uses, and still have plenty of thermal paste left. Adhesive is practically full. Managed to delid my friend's other 2 CPUs and drop their temps as well.

Yup.
I win.

 

[Vip3r011]

very nice, from site how long did it take to arrive the cpu in south africa??
checking some nice xeons there...
wana do a cheap 10core build

 

[anipia]

very nice, from site how long did it take to arrive the cpu in south africa??
checking some nice xeons there...
wana do a cheap 10core build

I brought the CPU along with me on the plane
Friends say that it takes anything from 2 weeks to 2 months.