Memory Frequency Scaling on Intel’s Skull Canyon NUC – An Investigation

Overclocking has generally been the domain of enthusiasts with desktop rigs. However, increasing the CPU frequency beyond the official specification is not the only way to extract more performance from a computing system. Memory-bound workloads can benefit from memory hierarchies with increased bandwidth and/or lower latencies. Small form-factor (SFF) systems usually do not allow the DRAM to be operated beyond the standard JEDEC guidelines (up to 2133 MHz for DDR4). However, the Skull Canyon NUC (NUC6i7KYK) can support DDR4 SODIMMs operating at 2133 MHz+. Do increased memory frequencies deliver benefits in the Skull Canyon NUC? We benchmarked the system using five different SODIMM kits operating at various frequencies and latencies beyond the standard 2133 MHz. Read on for the results and analysis.