i7-6700 (non-k) showing as i7-6700k in BIOS and OS

[coldsky]

I recently put together a PC build for gaming and work purposes. I decided, despite the OC-ability of the 'k' build of processors, that the non-k version would suffice for my needs (and save me a bit of cash). I settled on the Intel i7-6700.

The processor arrived in the i7-6700 box with stock cooler, and I'm 99% certain that the CPU itself had 'i7-6700 @ 3.4GHz' written on it - in other words... I am completely sure that I bought the 6700. I installed it on my motherboard (AsRock Z170 Extreme4) and booted into BIOS. Immediately, the CPU info page told me that my processor was an i7-6700k at 4.0GHz (as opposed to what I expected - i7-6700 at 3.4GHz).

I was obviously a bit puzzled and decided to check in the OS. Both Intel's Processor Identification tool and CPU-Z told me the same thing - that I have a 6700k at 4.0GHz.

Now I am aware that the 6700 has Turbo Boost to 4.0GHz, which I feel may account for the clock readings that I see, but I am baffled as to how my BIOS, Intel's own identification tool and CPU-Z all register it as a 6700k. Could anyone shed some light onto this?

EDIT: You can find my CPU-Z validation here.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Sounds like you have a "k" cpu. Perhaps they put the k in the wrong box, thus the stock cooler. How are your temps? Does your motherboard support the k?

 

[Barty1884]

That is very strange. It's entirely possible there was a mix up at the factory, and a 6700K made it into 6700 retail packaging - it would be rare, but hey, that's some pretty good luck if that is the case.

Where did you buy the product from?

 

[coldsky]

Sounds like you have a "k" cpu. Perhaps they put the k in the wrong box, thus the stock cooler. How are your temps? Does your motherboard support the k?

Hi, thanks for replying.

Yes, my motherboard does support the K. Temps are also fine - or at least what I would call fine - never higher than 60, usually 50 under stress. Sitting happily at 22 at the moment (Centigrade).

 

[coldsky]

That is very strange. It's entirely possible there was a mix up at the factory, and a 6700K made it into 6700 retail packaging - it would be rare, but hey, that's some pretty good luck if that is the case.

Where did you buy the product from?

Was bought from Amazon. Would be quite the mix up (especially considering I'm pretty sure it said 6700 @ 3.4GHz on the chip itself).

 

[mjslakeridge]

If you do indeed have the K, I wouldn't overclock it without getting an aftermarket cooler. But that would be a good investment to go along with your good fortune.

 

[Justiceinacan]

I believe the i7 6700 has 65W TDP so that's likely a 6700k. Score 😛

note ; right on that validator it says 95W TDP so thats how I know

 

[Georgivs]

Run a 1 thread loading app and look at freq. If it up to 4.4 then we can talk about good fortune

 

[coldsky]

I believe the i7 6700 has 65W TDP so that's likely a 6700k. Score 😛

note ; right on that validator it says 95W TDP so thats how I know

Yeh - I've been comparing my validator output to others with the 6700k - mine is identical except some have multipliers up to 44, whereas mine is only up to 42. The latter would make sense though, as the 6700k comes with Turbo Boost to 4.2GHz as standard.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Run WPrime and watch the frequency to see if it turbo's up to 4.2. Just keep an eye on your temps with that stock cooler.

 

[coldsky]

Run a 1 thread loading app and look at freq. If it up to 4.4 then we can talk about good fortune

I ran a single threaded stress test and reached 4.2GHz.

 

[coldsky]

Run WPrime and watch the frequency to see if it turbo's up to 4.2. Just keep an eye on your temps with that stock cooler.

I've run WPrime, and also CPUBenchmark's single threaded test. My CPU will sit at 4.0GHz for the majority of time, but did read 4.2GHz briefly. I'm not sure if this is standard behaviour for turbo boost?

Temps reached 65 centigrade max.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Sounds like you are the proud owner of a i6700K! I missed the part in your original post where you mentioned the motherboard. Yes, that is good for a K.

I would guess they stamped the wrong processor ID on the CPU, and thus it got boxed as a non-K.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Are you talking about Passmark's test? How does your CPU score compare to the i6700k composite score (10,984)? Keep in mind, the scores probably reflect overclocked cpu's, as people try to max out their scores.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

 

[coldsky]

Are you talking about Passmark's test? How does your CPU score compare to the i6700k composite score (10,984)? Keep in mind, the scores probably reflect overclocked cpu's, as people try to max out their scores.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

My overall score is 9977, which is closer to the 6700 benchmark. However, my individual test scores are much closer to the 6700k: http://imgur.com/a/sVU2a. It falls short only in Physics and Prime Numbers.

EDIT: The two comparisons are benchmarks which were listed as 'stock' and had the same or similar motherboard as me.

 

[mjslakeridge]

From what I have been reading, the performance difference between the 2 processors at stock frequencies is only about 5% for single threaded, a little more for multi-threaded applications. The big difference is that the K can be easily overclocked.

 

[coldsky]

And that the 6700k ships with 4.0GHz base clock and 4.2GHz Turbo.

I think the question that may clinch it is what is the expected behaviour of Turbo? My processor will sit at 4.0GHz for almost all heavy operations, but will reach 4.2GHz for brief moments (according to CPU-Z). Is this behaviour that's more expected of a 6700 that's running at Turbo, or a 6700k running at base?

 

[mjslakeridge]

If I use cpu-z and task manager at the same time to monitor cpu frequency, they show different results, but I am using an AMD FX 6300 cpu so I don't know if cpu-z is accurate for that. What does your task manager/performance tab show for cpu frequency when stressing the cpu?

 

[synphul]

Sounds like a packaging error in your favor. If speeds and tests both in bios and in windows confirm the specs to be that of the 6700k. If it came with the stock cooler then what you 'bought' was a 6700, the 6700k doesn't come with a stock cooler. It wasn't a mixup at amazon but one at the intel packaging plant and they got it that way. It might have even said 6700 on the ihs which would be more interesting, meaning it got the wrong lid/stamp in production somehow.

 

[coldsky]

So I did the following:

I ran a single threaded test with Task Manager open and recorded the peak clock speed (4.12GHz). I then went into BIOS and disabled Intel Turbo Boost and reran the test. The peak clock speed then never exceeded 3.96GHz.

Had this been a 6700 I would have expected no more than 4.0GHz in the first test and no more than 3.4GHz in the latter. I can only conclude from this that I somehow am the proud owner of a bona fide i7-6700k (albeit with Intel's stock cooler).