The Intel Core i5-6400 was a desktop processor with 4 cores, launched in July 2015, at an MSRP of $182. It is part of the Core i5 lineup, using the Skylake architecture with Socket 1151. Core i5-6400 has 6 MB of L3 cache and operates at 2.7 GHz by default, but can boost up to 3.3 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is making the Core i5-6400 on a 14 nm production node, the transistor count is unknown. The multiplier is locked on Core i5-6400, which limits its overclocking potential.
With a TDP of 65 W, the Core i5-6400 consumes typical power levels for a modern PC. 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 computer, Core i5-6400 uses a PCI-Express Gen 3 connection. This processor features the HD Graphics 530 integrated graphics solution.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i5-6400, 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) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel is including the newer AVX2 standard, too, but not AVX-512.