Opinions on new i7 and MBs for a new build

[Lyonheart]

I'm about to build a new PC. I build a new one every two or three years. I was reading through some reviews of the new CPUs and MBs and wanted advice as I am not that tech savvy. Mainly, are they a true and noticeable upgrade to the previous offerings? All this from a multiboxers perspective. Another way to put it, if you had 3kish to spend on a new build, would you buy these new parts and why?

For my new build i will not need a GPU or Montiors.. i'm plenty happy with my two 27' screens and I have a 780ti classified gpu. ( might buy a second for the new rig )

cpu review http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-cpu,3918.html

There were a ton of x99 MB reviews.. i just picked one
MB review http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages...review,21.html

[MiRai]

Mainly, are they a true and noticeable upgrade to the previous offerings?

I'd say there are a few different ways to answer this based on what you've currently got, so I'll just throw out some stuff and you can see if it helps.

1) If you only have a stock quad-core CPU (even one with hyper-threading), the 6 or 8-core HW-E (2011-3 / X99) CPUs are likely going to be a noticeable upgrade because real cores are better than virtual cores in terms of total thread count. However, if you already have a Devil's Canyon 4790K with a sexy overclock, then you're probably going to need a 5960X in order to see any real difference.

2) If you're coming from something like a 4930K OC'd > 4GHz and you find yourself CPU-limited, then I'm guessing that you're close to being GPU-limited as well, and if you're already running current-gen GPUs (not necessarily you, but whomever), then it's unlikely a CPU upgrade is going to be that noticeable... especially since it's going to cost a pretty penny to upgrade from a 4930K (X79) to a 5960X (X99).

3) If you're thinking of changing out a 6-core 4930K for a 6-core 5930K and you're not really CPU-limited, then I couldn't recommend that given that it's going to cost a bit of money to completely change out the motherboard, RAM, and CPU. If you can save CPU elsewhere by dropping background FPS or whatever, then I'd suggest taking that route for now.

4) If you're thinking of going with the "budget" 5820K 6-core CPU, I can't recommend that if you're going to be running a multi-GPU setup because Intel purposely gimped the amount of PCIe lanes on the lowest offering. However, if you're only ever going to be running < 2 PCIe components at any one time, then the "budget" 5820K may be worth looking at (again, assuming you're coming from a quad-core which is a generation or two behind).

5) From what I understand, the current offering of DDR4 is actually slower than the fastest DDR3 RAM available on the market today. I would like to iterate that the speed of today's RAM -- regardless DDR3 or DDR4 -- is highly unlikely to affect your gaming one bit, but I just wanted to throw this tidbit out there.

I haven't read everything there is to read on these new CPUs/chipset, but the only thing that turns me off about the new 5960X is that it's base/turbo clock are fairly low for its price tag. Yes, some of the samples are overclocking nicely (4.5 - 4.7 GHz), but sometimes review sites get cherry-picked samples directly from Intel, so it's difficult to say how well a store-bought CPU may overclock because Intel only guarantees that their CPUs will run at the speeds they're sold at.

So, if you currently have a nicely overclocked 4930K at the moment then an 8-core CPU running at stock, or near stock, speeds is probably going to give very similar performance.

Another way to put it, if you had 3kish to spend on a new build, would you buy these new parts and why?

Based on what I've said above, I'd say if you're currently using something like a stock 4770K or earlier, then the new 6 or 8-core 2011-3 CPUs may be worth looking at, but if you don't have the GPUs to back that up then the build is likely going to be pretty pricey right now. New GPUs are supposed to be coming from nVidia in the next month or so, so it'll be interesting to see how they perform -- Although I'd say that if you're currently using top-tier nVidia hardware at the moment then the performance increase will be small.

And while I'm not ecstatic about the X79 chipset, I'm currently happy with my OC'd 4930K and I'd like to believe I'm not CPU-limited (from monitoring my hardware), but who's to say that more total threads won't help something along the way? I'm not going to drop $2,500 for a CPU/RAM/Motherboard to find out, though.

[Lyonheart]

Thank you Mirai for your very detailed reply! I would like to apologize for being an idiot and not posting what i currently have.

i7 2600K 3.40GHz( currently un-OCd )
ASUS P8P67 LE (Intel P67 Chipset)
780ti classified

[Grail]

Thanks MiRai,

This was helpful to me also; as I try to catch up on hardware since the 2500K and 2600K were being released.

-Grail

[Lyonheart]

So i ordered the stuff for my new rig..took so long to pick parts.. not a ton of reviews on X99 stuff yet..but enough for me to make a good guess on what i wanted.

• CASE: Cooler Master HAF-X
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-5930K
• HDD: 500GB Samsung 840 EVO
• MEMORY: 16GB (4GBx4) DDR4/2666MHz ( will add 16 more when the prices level off a tad lol )
• MOTHERBOARD: MSI X99S GAMING 7
• I already have a GTX 780ti classified ( will be selling this as soon as I get a GTX 980ti or whatever they call the upgrade ( rumored to be out soonish )

[rfarris]

5930K? Is that the 8-core Haswell?

[MiRai]

5930K? Is that the 8-core Haswell?

The 8-core HW-E is the 5960X.