CPU/MB upgrade.

[ssjwizard]

So I have been rocking my FX8320 since the week they came out, and while I definitely still like it I'm just in the mood to upgrade.

I'm looking at my current options and the X99 platform hasn't been refreshed since 2014, so while I think it would be a cool setup I just don't really feel like id be getting my moneys worth out of it yet.

Z170 sounds attractive and I will admit that the IPC gains going over to Intel would be sweet, but going down to a 4 core CPU seems like a step in the wrong direction(I don't need a lecture on how the FX isn't 8 true cores I get it ok).

So I guess it leaves me here thinking, well next gen Intel is scheduled for this year sometime, and Zen is in theory going to launch this year(we will see about that).

What are your thoughts?

 

[Evil-Mobo]

I went through the same thing and more myself and have finally settled on X99 myself. I believe though it is an older platform than Z170 it will out live it, but that's just me. Also the price between a 6700k setup and 5820K was too close to not get more cores. And DDR4 RAM has come down a lot form initial launch too. There will be no right or wrong answer here, but I just got tired of waiting for what if and looked at price to performance now. I built an AMD rig to mess with and gtet it out of my system after having owned skylake at launch and going X99 now.

 

[ssjwizard]

So you went from Z170 to an X99 system?

 

[Evil-Mobo]

With an 860K in the middle to mess with as I set it up for my wife

My X99 should be up and running Wed/Thurs

 

[ssjwizard]

Well ill be interested to hear how that goes for you. IDK the X99 chip selection doesn't seem bad, but knowing intels upgrade patterns Im kinda thinking that we will see the 7k series chips hit sometime around summer, and I don't really want to jump twice as I dont have much time to fuss with changing components anymore.

Love to hear a few other opinions on the subject.

 

[Alaric]

I'm hoping to build a gaming rig in the next month or so , and having the same indecision , for the reasons Evil-Mobo gave. And I'm leaning the same direction. No matter how much I "know" better I don't want go down on core count , but more multi threading in game titles gives some real weight to that argument. I already talked myself in to not waiting for Zen and going to the Dark Side , then ran in to this conundrum. A 5820K and 16 GB of fast RAM will hold me for a few years and I can have my two cores worth of security blanket. LOL I thought I read somewhere Intel isn't going over 4 cores with Skylake?

 

[ssjwizard]

Well thats pretty much their standard for a long while. 4 cores on the desktop platform and any more and you step up to the enthusiast/professional level platform. Im ok with going up to the x99 platform, but to me to drop around $1000 for a platform thats almost 2 years old now makes no sense. I have no immediate need to upgrade I simply want to. Of course I could get into x99 now with the lowest level CPU I can get on that plat then upgrade to the new broadwell-E cpus when they launch to stagger the cost, but IDK yet. I guess Im kinda looking for someone to try and sell me on a current product, but also looking for user experiences.

 

[Alaric]

I'm wondering if the clock for clock speed difference will even be noticeable between a Skylake and a Haswell-E. With both chips at 4 GHz , is a 6700K going to give an obvious advantage over a 5820K anywhere but benching ?

 

[Alaric]

Interesting comparison here. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1543?vs=1320 And that's with the [email protected] GHz and the 6700K@4 GHz. Pretty good showing for the 5820K , which can be had for $50 less. At the same clock speeds I can't see a reason for me to buy a 6700K.

 

[ssjwizard]

IDK that post basically shows the Haswell-E getting owned on almost every bench. Given that its also running almost 20% slower its still loosing. Definitely not sold yet.

 

[Alaric]

The 5820K was ahead in 14 of 33 , and there was a pretty big difference in clock speed. Most of Skylake's advantage was in single threaded tests , which is an increasingly less relevant measure of performance for the average user. That margin would close considerably if the 5820K were run at the same speed.

 

[Evil-Mobo]

If you're not benching it's basically personal decision. I wanted more cores, I will messing around with learning new things on this PC like some programming and video stuff, and the difference in price to me made the X99 platform a no brainer. When I had Skylake the processors were cheaper this price hike is crazy, and to me just shrinks the gap in cost between the two platforms even more, and just out of principle I couldn't pay more money for a CPU with less cores lol

Now the $$ argument people always swing it to whichever side of the argument they're on, if you compare apples to apples, and make a "fair" comparison of items for both platforms at the same tier level and price range, you will see that cost really shouldn't be a deciding factor here. For me the biggest thing was longevity and I just still see X99 around for a while and even when it gets older there will be killer deals on some Xeon chips by then etc. This platform will also be better for benching GPU's which is something I have started to like a lot, and my wife's build her cpu was choking my 970. So everyone's situation is different, but I just really can't see a reason to not go X99 when comparing the i7's. Now if you're just gaming, then grab a 6600K and call it a day. But that's for a different thread.

Just my opinion. FWIW.

 

[Johan45]

It looks to me like the first official "ZEN" for desktop won't be here till early 2017. Just from what I've been reading. I have both systems and I just "like" using the z170 a lot more than the X99. Broadwell E is almost here and Kaby lake near the end of this year so both have an "upgrade " available soon. If you want an "all around" platform good for benching I'd go Z170. The X99 really only shines for certain 3D benchmarks that have a heavy CPU/physics test. Or if you have a specific software that can use all the cores

 

[ssjwizard]

I actually do run software that takes advantage of the extra cores/threads. I am into benching, and gaming, but I also use my computer for video encoding along with alot of other CPU intensive tasks. TBH either one is going to be an upgrade from my current setup and I know that. At the same time I just have some holdups on my end. Appreciate the opinions.

 

[Johan45]

What are the concerns??

 

[ssjwizard]

So I think I have decided to go ahead and do the upgrade while I have the extra money available. Ill need to get ahold of my Ex wife to reclaim all the spare parts for my waterblock so I can swap it over to the Intel board, but thats not really relevant. I dont know that Im going to jump on this today as I would like to try and find a CPU for a little less money just because I feel like penny pinching right now, but I think $800 for the overall increase in system performance I should get out of this is acceptable.



Note the motherboard and memory selections are for aesthetics. I want the 3200mhz dragon ram, but its not available right now. I suspect its the same memory so if I have to OC it to 3200 myself no big deal. This will be going inside of the green gorilla, so itll have a bit of a pop to the black / green of the case. Might swap out my UV CCFL(which seems to be dying anyway) for a green one.

 

[wingman99]

What are you going to use for cooling the CPU?

 

[ssjwizard]

Same CPU block I already have. EK Supremacy full copper.