Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK Review
Intel NUCs are small form factor PCs generally fit for low-power applications and - unlike other small form factor PCs from the likes of Gigabyte or others - include no options for dedicated graphics. Thus, we were a bit surprised that the NUC6i7KYK Skull Canyon SKU is being marketed as a machine for "intense game play". Most hardcore gamers tend to avoid integrated graphics like the plague when it comes to gaming machines. For mainstream gamers, however, can Skull Canyon really play the latest titles on decent settings?
The Core i7-6770HQ CPU and its integrated Iris Graphics 580 GPU are not commonly found in notebooks, so their benchmarks should prove interesting against the likes of mainstream Nvidia GPUs and other quad-core Skylake processors.
Skull Canyon is currently available for about $650 to $700 retail and is already several hundred dollars cheaper than dedicated gaming notebooks and within reach of a Surface Pro 4.
(June 21, 2016 update): Corrected page to reflect that the system does indeed support both RAID and NVMe options. Thanks to those who sent in the comments.
Case
Build quality is firm all around with very minimal creaking when attempting to twist or bend the unit. Pushing down on the center of the top will depress it slightly, but not nearly enough to be worrisome. The underside is the only metal part of an otherwise all-plastic chassis. Fortunately, removing the top plastic plate reveals another metal plate protecting the motherboard, so very little space is wasted.
As for the size of the unit, the shape is now less cubic and more rectangular without necessarily increasing weight or volume compared to previous Intel NUCs like the NUC5i5RYH. This flatter approach can potentially allow the unit to fit into tighter spaces while giving users easier access to internals because of the wider surface.
Connectivity
There are a healthy number of ports despite the small size that rival even some 15-inch notebooks. The most notable is its USB Type-C + Thunderbolt 3 port for a theoretical transfer rate of 40 Gb/s. Most gaming notebooks still lack this very versatile port that can allow for a wider range of docking ports and the ability to daisy chain external monitors. 7.1 surround sound audio is supported through HDMI and mDP with TOSLINK on the rear. A native VGA port and MicroSD reader would have been excellent additions to the system.
Communication
WLAN is provided by a 2x2 Intel 8260 module capable of theoretical transfer rates of up to 867 Mbps. Bluetooth 4.2 is integrated and access to this WLAN module requires further disassembly of the unit since it is on the other side of the motherboard. We did not experience any connectivity issues during our time with the test unit. The infrared port is on the front of the unit for HTPC functionality.
Accessories
The core package includes a handy Quick Start guide, a size 2 Allen wrench for removing the top cover, a VESA mount with 8 screws, and an alternative second top cover that is identical to the existing cover but without the etched skull. Disassembly requires a Philips screwdriver as well.
Maintenance
The two SODIMM slots and M.2 slots are accessible from the bottom of the unit with a simple Philips screwdriver. The M.2 slots accept any combination of 2280 and 2242 modules. Direct access to the other side of the motherboard, however, is a bit more involved as one must disconnect the fan, unscrew additional screws on both sides of the unit, and desolder the power wire before the top metal plate can be removed.
Warranty
Intel supports a 36-month limited warranty as standard with every new purchase of the system. This is two years longer than most notebooks and is certainly a plus compared to the competition.
Performance
As of this writing, the quad-core Core i7-6770HQ is found on no other notebook in our database. The reasoning is simple: The i7-6770HQ is identical in clock rates and Lx cache sizes to the i7-6700HQ that is available on almost every mainstream and enthusiast-level Skylake gaming notebook. Instead, the differences between the two processors lie in the integrated GPU as the i7-6770HQ carries the much more powerful Iris Pro Graphics 580 compared to the HD Graphics 530 in the i7-6700HQ. Notebooks that carry the i7-6700HQ are usually paired with powerful discrete GPU options and so the beefier iGPU in the i7-6770HQ is not needed.
Thus, the Iris Pro Graphics 580 GPU is what makes this particular NUC so special. It carries three times the number of unified shaders than the more common HD Graphics 530 (72 vs. 24) while integrating dedicated eDRAM for faster memory access. These two core features separate the Iris Graphics series from the typical HD Graphics series.
Processor
CineBench scores show the i7-6770HQ to be essentially identical to the i7-6700HQ. This alone is impressive considering that the NUC is just a fraction of the size of gaming notebooks that carry the i7-6700HQ as an option. Unsurprisingly, our system trounces older Intel NUCs that run on ULV dual-core Skylake and Broadwell processors by well over 2x in multi-threaded applications. The desktop-class i7-6700K is roughly 20 percent faster than the i7-6770HQ with its significantly higher TDP requirements (45 W vs. 91 W).
See our dedicated CPU page on the Core i7-6770HQ and i7-6700HQ for more technical details and comparisons.
| Cinebench R15 | |
| CPU Single 64Bit (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| DogHouse Systems Mobius SS | |
| MSI GE62 2QC-468XPL | |
| EVGA SC17 | |
| Asus Strix GL502VT-DS74 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 | |
| Razer Blade Stealth UHD i7-6500U | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| Intel NUC5i3RYK | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| CPU Multi 64Bit (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| DogHouse Systems Mobius SS | |
| MSI GE62 2QC-468XPL | |
| EVGA SC17 | |
| Asus Strix GL502VT-DS74 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 | |
| Razer Blade Stealth UHD i7-6500U | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| Intel NUC5i3RYK | |
| Intel NUC5i3RYK | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| Cinebench R11.5 | |
| CPU Single 64Bit (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| DogHouse Systems Mobius SS | |
| MSI GE62 2QC-468XPL | |
| EVGA SC17 | |
| Asus Strix GL502VT-DS74 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 | |
| Razer Blade Stealth UHD i7-6500U | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| CPU Multi 64Bit (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| DogHouse Systems Mobius SS | |
| MSI GE62 2QC-468XPL | |
| EVGA SC17 | |
| Asus Strix GL502VT-DS74 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 | |
| Razer Blade Stealth UHD i7-6500U | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| Cinebench R10 | |
| Rendering Multiple CPUs 32Bit (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| DogHouse Systems Mobius SS | |
| MSI GE62 2QC-468XPL | |
| EVGA SC17 | |
| Asus Strix GL502VT-DS74 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 | |
| Razer Blade Stealth UHD i7-6500U | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| Rendering Single 32Bit (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| DogHouse Systems Mobius SS | |
| MSI GE62 2QC-468XPL | |
| EVGA SC17 | |
| Asus Strix GL502VT-DS74 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 | |
| Razer Blade Stealth UHD i7-6500U | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| wPrime 2.10 - 1024m (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| DogHouse Systems Mobius SS | |
| MSI GE62 2QC-468XPL | |
| EVGA SC17 | |
| Asus Strix GL502VT-DS74 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 | |
| Razer Blade Stealth UHD i7-6500U | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| Intel NUC5i3RYK | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS 32M - 32M (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| DogHouse Systems Mobius SS | |
| MSI GE62 2QC-468XPL | |
| EVGA SC17 | |
| Asus Strix GL502VT-DS74 | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 | |
| Razer Blade Stealth UHD i7-6500U | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| Intel NUC5i3RYK | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
* ... smaller is better
System Performance
PCMark 8 ranks the Intel ahead of other NUCs and most notebooks running on integrated graphics since the Iris Graphics 580 gives our system a sizable boost in graphics power. Final scores are even ahead of both the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book Core i7 SKUs.
We did not run into any hardware or software issues during our time with the test unit. We did, however, have to update our GPU to the latest version at the time of review (20.19.15.4454) in order to properly benchmark games without constant crashes.
| PCMark 8 | |
| Home Score Accelerated v2 (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| HP Spectre 13 | |
| Intel NUC5i7RYH | |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYK | |
| Microsoft Surface Book Core i7 | |
| Dell XPS 13 9350 WQXGA | |
| Lenovo Yoga 900-13ISK 80MK | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| Work Score Accelerated v2 (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| HP Spectre 13 | |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYK | |
| Microsoft Surface Book Core i7 | |
| Dell XPS 13 9350 WQXGA | |
| Lenovo Yoga 900-13ISK 80MK | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| Creative Score Accelerated v2 (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| HP Spectre 13 | |
| Intel NUC5i7RYH | |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYK | |
| Microsoft Surface Book Core i7 | |
| Dell XPS 13 9350 WQXGA | |
| Lenovo Yoga 900-13ISK 80MK | |
| Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH | |
| PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2 | 4323 points | |
| PCMark 8 Creative Score Accelerated v2 | 5581 points | |
| PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2 | 4966 points | |
Help | ||
Storage Devices
Owners will need to rely on one or two internal M.2 drives for all their content or resort to external storage for additional space. Both RAID 0/1 and NVMe SSDs are supported. Our test model is equipped with a single SATA III 120 GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO M.2 SSD.
Performance from the Samsung SSD is very good for a drive limited by its controller. Sequential read and write rates cap out at about 500 MB/s as expected whereas the SSDs in the Intel NUC6i5SYH and Microsoft Surface Book return much faster average transfer rates due to their NVMe speeds.
See our growing table of SSD and HDD benchmarks for more comparisons.
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK Iris Pro Graphics 580, 6770HQ, Samsung SSD 850 EVO m.2 120GB | Intel NUC6i5SYH Iris Graphics 540, 6260U, Samsung SSD XP941 MZHPU256HCGL | Intel NUC5i3RYK HD Graphics 5500, 5010U, Intel SSDSCKHW360A4 SSD 530 360 GB | Microsoft Surface Book Core i7 Maxwell GPU (940M, GDDR5), 6600U, Samsung MZFLV512 NVMe | Microsoft Surface Pro 4, Core i5, 128GB HD Graphics 520, 6300U, Samsung MZFLV128 NVMe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS SSD | 23% | -112% | 108% | -4% | |
| Copy Game MB/s | 295.8 | 389 32% | 105.6 -64% | ||
| Copy Program MB/s | 213.1 | 273 28% | 63.5 -70% | ||
| Copy ISO MB/s | 358 | 518 45% | 121.9 -66% | ||
| Score Total | 919 | 1191 30% | 505 -45% | 2298 150% | 1190 29% |
| Score Write | 268 | 334 25% | 113 -58% | 683 155% | 239 -11% |
| Score Read | 424 | 578 36% | 263 -38% | 1090 157% | 645 52% |
| Access Time Write * | 0.047 | 0.064 -36% | 0.31 -560% | 0.033 30% | 0.037 21% |
| Access Time Read * | 0.075 | 0.1 -33% | 0.26 -247% | 0.048 36% | 0.079 -5% |
| 4K-64 Write | 145.2 | 208 43% | 78 -46% | 520 258% | 138.5 -5% |
| 4K-64 Read | 337.4 | 439 30% | 198 -41% | 919 172% | 528 56% |
| 4K Write | 76.9 | 58.6 -24% | 14.1 -82% | 109 42% | 86.5 12% |
| 4K Read | 35.55 | 26.4 -26% | 19.4 -45% | 37.25 5% | 34.24 -4% |
| Seq Write | 460.4 | 672 46% | 213 -54% | 545 18% | 142.5 -69% |
| Seq Read | 508 | 1127 122% | 452 -11% | 1342 164% | 832 64% |
* ... smaller is better
GPU Performance
The Core i7-6770HQ carries one of the fastest integrated GPUs available. Raw performance according to 3DMark benchmarks place it roughly 10 percent ahead of the Iris Graphics 6200 for the desktop Core i7-5775C and about on par with the semi-custom GT 940M in the Microsoft Surface Book at higher resolution settings. Nonetheless, a standard GTX 950M is still significantly ahead of our Skull Canyon system by almost 90 percent according to 3DMark Fire Strike.
| 3DMark 11 | |
| 1280x720 Performance GPU (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| MSI GL72 6QF | |
| MSI PE60 2QD | |
| Core i7-5775C Desktop | |
| Microsoft Surface Book Core i5 | |
| Acer Aspire V3-372-57CW | |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i7RYH | |
| HP Spectre 13 | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| 1280x720 Performance Combined (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| MSI GL72 6QF | |
| MSI PE60 2QD | |
| Core i7-5775C Desktop | |
| Microsoft Surface Book Core i5 | |
| Acer Aspire V3-372-57CW | |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i7RYH | |
| HP Spectre 13 | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| 3DMark | |
| 1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| MSI GL72 6QF | |
| MSI PE60 2QD | |
| Core i7-5775C Desktop | |
| Microsoft Surface Book Core i5 | |
| Acer Aspire V3-372-57CW | |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| Intel NUC5i7RYH | |
| HP Spectre 13 | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| 1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| MSI GL72 6QF | |
| MSI PE60 2QD | |
| Core i7-5775C Desktop | |
| Microsoft Surface Book Core i5 | |
| Acer Aspire V3-372-57CW | |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 | |
| Intel NUC6i5SYH | |
| HP Spectre 13 | |
| Intel NUC5i5RYH | |
| 1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Graphics (sort by value) | |
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK | |
| MSI GL72 6QF | |
| Core i7-5775C Desktop | |
| Microsoft Surface Book Core i5 | |
| Acer Aspire V3-372-57CW | |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 | |
| Intel NUC5i7RYH | |
| HP Spectre 13 | |
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 3510 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 99287 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 11346 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 1836 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score | 823 points | |
Help | ||
Gaming Performance
With raw performance somewhat comparable to a GT 940M, the Iris Graphics 580 is generally unable to play most games in 1080p at high quality settings. Users will have to settle for 1080p on low settings or 720p on medium settings for decent frame rates on modern 3D titles. Newer and more demanding titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider are essentially unplayable on anything but lower resolutions and settings. RTS players, however, can enjoy the fact that titles like DOTA 2 and Starcraft 2 will play well on higher graphical settings while maintaining averages above 30 FPS.
Note that certain titles would not launch at all even after upgrading the graphics driver. We tried running Batman Arkham Knight and Doom, but both would crash immediately before even hitting their splash screens.
See our dedicated GPU page on the Iris Graphics 580 for more technical information and benchmark comparisons.
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sleeping Dogs (2012) | 107.2 | 81.2 | 37.3 | 8.8 |
| Guild Wars 2 (2012) | 115.8 | 38.7 | 16.7 | |
| StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (2013) | 380.6 | 127.1 | 73.6 | 36.2 |
| BioShock Infinite (2013) | 101.3 | 57.9 | 51 | 14.9 |
| Metro: Last Light (2013) | 63.7 | 50.8 | 28.5 | 14.3 |
| Thief (2014) | 43.8 | 30.1 | 25 | 12.4 |
| Batman: Arkham Knight (2015) | 0 game wont start | |||
| Metal Gear Solid V (2015) | 59.9 | 58.6 | 23 | 14.9 |
| Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 59.8 | 37.2 | 15.3 | 14 |
| Fallout 4 (2015) | 0 severe graphical problems | |||
| Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | 30.2 | 18.2 | 12.2 | 8.9 |
| Doom (2016) | 0 game wont start | |||
| Overwatch (2016) | 60.5 | 53.3 | 42.9 | 23.1 |
Stress Test
Skull Canyon performs very well when under extreme stress, but it's obvious that the cooling system is just barely enough to keep the hardware afloat at such high processing loads. Running Prime95 will launch core temperature to 99 C before stabilizing in the mid-to-upper 90 C range. Clock rates are stable at the 3.0 to 3.1 GHz rated maximum for multi-threaded processes, but the system is hanging by a thread in order to maintain such high speeds. Running only FurMark will bump core temperature to a stable 85 C.
Running both Prime95 and FurMark simultaneously brings the system down to its knees. When core temperature reaches 101 C, the CPU and GPU will throttle to a stable 1.4 GHz and 350 to 800 MHz range, respectively. Core temperature then plateaus in the mid 80 C range instead of the high 90s as a conservative action.
Fortunately, no such throttling occurs when under gaming loads. The system remains stable with its fluctuating CPU Turbo Boost and stable 950 MHz GPU when running Unigine Heaven. Core temperature is stable in the 80 to 90 C range, but this is still much warmer than what we would have liked. Gaming notebooks with the Core i7-6700HQ tend to stabilize in the 65 to 75 C range when running the same benchmark.
| CPU Clock (GHz) | GPU Clock (MHz) | Average CPU Temperature (C) | |
Prime95 Stress |
3.0 - 3.1 | -- | ~97 |
FurMark Stress |
-- | 800 | ~85 |
Prime95 + FurMark Stress |
1.4 | 350 - 800 | ~84 |
Unigine Heaven Stress |
2.6+ | 950 | ~80 |
Emissions
System Noise
The cooling system consists of a single 40 mm fan and heat pipe. Notebooks sporting the comparable Core i7-6700HQ usually carry larger 50 mm fans with longer heat pipes in comparison. The relatively tiny cooling apparatus for this particular NUC explains why our stress test temperatures above plateau at such high levels.
Subsequently, it's unsurprising that the fan never idles even when simply sitting on the desktop screen. Fan noise remains quiet in the low 30 dB(A) range when browsing, word processing, or during movie playback. Gaming, however, will bump fan noise to a stable 43 dB(A). This is loud and comparable to many high-end gaming notebooks with dedicated Nvidia GPUs.
Stressing the system even further with Prime95 and FurMark simultaneously will not result in higher fan noise due to system throttling. Running Prime95 only, however, will bump fan noise to an even louder 46 dB(A).
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK Iris Pro Graphics 580, 6770HQ, Samsung SSD 850 EVO m.2 120GB | Intel NUC6i5SYH Iris Graphics 540, 6260U, Samsung SSD XP941 MZHPU256HCGL | Acer TravelMate P648-M-757N HD Graphics 520, 6500U, Lite-On CV1-8B256 | Acer Aspire V3-372-57CW Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Kingston RBU-SNS8152S3256GG2 | Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 Iris Graphics 540, 6650U, Samsung MZFLV256 NVMe | Asus G501VW-FY081T GeForce GTX 960M, 6700HQ, Samsung CM871 MZNLF128HCHP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noise | 2% | 8% | 4% | 8% | -2% | |
| off / environment * | 29.5 | 30.4 -3% | 31.2 -6% | 29.1 1% | 31.2 -6% | |
| Idle Minimum * | 31.6 | 33 -4% | 31.2 1% | 29.1 8% | 28.4 10% | 32.1 -2% |
| Idle Average * | 32.2 | 33 -2% | 31.2 3% | 29.1 10% | 28.6 11% | 32.1 -0% |
| Idle Maximum * | 32.3 | 33 -2% | 31.6 2% | 29.1 10% | 28.7 11% | 32.1 1% |
| Load Average * | 43 | 33 23% | 33.3 23% | 41.1 4% | 40.8 5% | 43.3 -1% |
| Load Maximum * | 43.2 | 42.7 1% | 32.4 25% | 46.4 -7% | 41.4 4% | 44.3 -3% |
* ... smaller is better
Noise Level
| Idle |
| 31.6 / 32.2 / 32.3 dB(A) |
| Load |
| 43 / 43.2 dB(A) |
 | ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
||
min:  , med:  , max:  BK Precision 732A (15 cm distance) environment noise: 29.5 dB(A) | ||
Temperature
Surface temperatures are warmest on the side of the unit closest to the fan and heat sink. We were able to record a maximum of about 45 C when under Prime95 and FurMark stress, so the system is never uncomfortably warm during use.
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 41.2 °C / 106 F, compared to the average of 40.4 °C / 105 F, ranging from 21.2 to 68.8 °C for the class Gaming.
(±) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 44.4 °C / 112 F, compared to the average of 43.3 °C / 110 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 26.7 °C / 80 F, compared to the device average of 33.9 °C / 93 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are reaching skin temperature as a maximum (33.2 °C / 91.8 F) and are therefore not hot.
(-) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.9 °C / 84 F (-4.3 °C / -7.8 F).
Energy Management
Power Consumption
The Skull Canyon NUC demands more power than notebooks with ULV CPUs both when idling and when under gaming loads. Users can expect a power draw of just over 60 W when gaming on the system compared to about 40 W on ULV notebooks, 20 W on the Surface Pro 4, and 80 W on the Asus G501 under similar loads. Note that power demand drops to just under 50 W when running both Prime95 and FurMark since the system will throttle once core temperature reaches triple digits.
The power adapter itself is about half the size of the actual system (16 x 7.5 x 2.5 cm) with a rated output of 120 W. The power overhead here is sufficient, so it is clear that the system throttling is due to core temperature concerns and not a lack of power from the adapter.
| Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK Iris Pro Graphics 580, 6770HQ, Samsung SSD 850 EVO m.2 120GB | Acer TravelMate P648-M-757N HD Graphics 520, 6500U, Lite-On CV1-8B256 | Acer Aspire V3-372-57CW Iris Graphics 550, 6267U, Kingston RBU-SNS8152S3256GG2 | Microsoft Surface Pro 4, Core i5, 128GB HD Graphics 520, 6300U, Samsung MZFLV128 NVMe | Asus G501VW-FY081T GeForce GTX 960M, 6700HQ, Samsung CM871 MZNLF128HCHP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption | 43% | 44% | 55% | -5% | |
| Idle Minimum * | 14.8 | 5.3 64% | 3.4 77% | 4.4 70% | 6.9 53% |
| Idle Average * | 15.7 | 9.3 41% | 6.5 59% | 9 43% | 10.7 32% |
| Idle Maximum * | 15.8 | 11.5 27% | 7 56% | 10.7 32% | 13.2 16% |
| Load Average * | 62.7 | 30.8 51% | 44.5 29% | 19.6 69% | 82 -31% |
| Load Maximum * | 48.5 | 32 34% | 49.5 -2% | 19.9 59% | 94 -94% |
* ... smaller is better
| Off / Standby | 0.67 / 0.97 Watt |
| Idle | 14.8 / 15.7 / 15.8 Watt |
| Load |
62.7 / 48.5 Watt |
   
| |
Key:
min: ,
med: ,
max: Metrahit Energy | |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
With marketing words like "Mini PC. Full-sized performance" used for the Skull Canyon NUC, buyers might get the wrong idea about the system. Its CPU power is indeed very impressive and as powerful as gaming notebooks worth twice the price of the NUC. Its GPU horsepower, however, is comparable to a GeForce 940M, which is only powerful enough for undemanding mainstream titles like LoL or Overwatch and generally insufficient for heavier titles where some may not even launch at all.
Other than its lukewarm gaming capabilities, core temperature is generally warmer than notebooks with the comparable Core i7-6700HQ while running just as loudly when under gaming loads. The size of the NUC is a major factor here, but we're still impressed that CPU Turbo Boost remains stable and with no throttling when gaming. Connectivity options are another notable plus for the system for multimedia and HTPC use. The USB Type-C + Thunderbolt 3 port in particular should give the system long legs due to its versatility.
Skull Canyon is not so much a dedicated gaming machine as it is a versatile mini PC with more CPU and GPU power than most pricier Ultrabooks currently in the market.
Price comparison
