The Intel Core i7-6700K is a desktop processor with 4 cores, launched in August 2015. It is part of the Core i7 lineup, using the Skylake architecture with Socket 1151. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 8 threads. Core i7-6700K has 8 MB of L3 cache and operates at 4 GHz by default, but can boost up to 4.2 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is building the Core i7-6700K on a 14 nm production process, the transistor count is unknown. The multiplier is locked on Core i7-6700K, which limits its overclocking capabilities.
With a TDP of 95 W, the Core i7-6700K consumes a good deal of power, so decent cooling is needed. Intel's processor supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 2133 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the system, Core i7-6700K uses a PCI-Express Gen 3 connection. This processor features the HD Graphics 530 integrated graphics solution.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i7-6700K, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel is including the newer AVX2 standard, too, but not AVX-512.