Upgrade suggestion - X99 or skylake?

[setter]

Iirc, PLX can actually cause a bit of latency compared to a full blown X series setup. I've ran dual card sli on several occasions on dual x8 pcie boards. From what I've read your not gonna notice the difference between dual x16 and x8. The only dual x16 setup I own is an X58 based 930 system. Bit old now so not a great chip to compare to current offerings tbh.

 

[BornEvil]

Just to clarify, for 2 GPU setups, z170 can only do 8x8x, just the same as z97 and 5820k+x99.

X99 will also share the remaining 4 lanes of a 5820k, how it is done is probably dependent on the motherboard manufacture. You will have to buy PCI-e expansions for each of those features. That is why they are caled enthusiast class, flexible but expensive.

I can only assume the higher end x99 that has these features built-in is running from 4 lanes. Therefore sharing bandwidth with x1/x2/x4 PCI-e slots.

IMHO, x99 is just not way superior. The platform is 1 year old now, and mainstream (z170) has over taken slightly (as always it seems) in terms of feature set.

If you don't need the features than x99 is easy decision, m.2 x4 gen3 is the only worthwhile feature personally and a 5820k with that spare 4 lanes is good enough for most people.

 

[BornEvil]

Iirc, PLX can actually cause a bit of latency compared to a full blown X series setup. I've ran dual card sli on several occasions on dual x8 pcie boards. From what I've read your not gonna notice the difference between dual x16 and x8. The only dual x16 setup I own is an X58 based 930 system. Bit old now so not a great chip to compare to current offerings tbh.

Was PLX an Intel tech or motherboard manufacture tech? I did not read much at the time as I am not really into sli/xfire.

Edit: It's ok did my own reading while stuck in traffic

 

[Caracus2k]

If you think 1151 offers an upgrade path then you are upgrading wrong

i cant remember the last Intel socket which has offered a worthwhile direct upgrade in CPU.

I can it was x58 quad 920do to hex 980 both clocked at 4.4ghz. 980 was much quicker for non gaming stuff. Noticeably x58 was an enthusiast platform, like x79 and x99. With z170 you'll get one more batch of 4c/8t cpu's (kabylake) with marginal ipc improvements at best. Because of the inherent longevity of x58 because of this and the superior memory and pci-e lane configuration x58 boards retain far more value then a contemporary high end 1156 board

 

[Avenged7Fold]

^
Exactly my point.

Best to go x99 and have the option of bumping up to an octocore or wait for a new series of heavy hitters on the x99 than take a wait and see approach on the 1150/1151 socket as the socket wont outlive the 6700k.

 

[KingDazza]

Interesting thread.

Personally I've the money to upgrade, but waiting for something that truly excites me enough. And to be frank I've yet to see that exciting next step. I'm wanting a platform which does an 8 core cpu but with a decent stock clock chip of say 4.0ghz. When that happens I'll upgrade from my ivy-bridge.

ETA please?

 

[bfar]

I'm wanting a platform which does an 8 core cpu but with a decent stock clock chip of say 4.0ghz. When that happens I'll upgrade from my ivy-bridge.

ETA please?

Zen

 

[nashathedog]

Skylake has its advantages in certain scenarios. It's cooler, draws less power, and comes with a better stock configuration for gaming. If you don't want to overclock (maybe you don't have time for it), or if your building a small form factor PC, I'd actually consider the 6700k over the 5820k.

Didn't I read that the 1151 platform is also capable of running much faster read/write speeds from ssd's than z97/x99 or older?

All skylake chips offer 16 lanes dedicated to PCI-e slots and another 4 lanes dedicated to DMI 3.0. That is how it is superior to z97.

DMI 3.0 on z170 is much more advanced as it can share bandwidth between those features I listed previously. Yes it shared bandwidth, but all are features are available at once unlike x99.

You would need a 40 lane CPU if you want all those features at full bandwidth. That is what I meant by 5820k gimping the platform

This is also part of what I read regarding how they improved the platform over my Z97.

^
Exactly my point.

Best to go x99 and have the option of bumping up to an octocore or wait for a new series of heavy hitters on the x99 than take a wait and see approach on the 1150/1151 socket as the socket wont outlive the 6700k.

It's got one more range to come just like X99 has.

 

[brit~XR]

The 5820k is £20 cheaper than the 6700k on OCUK, though remember that you need a more expensive motherboard, and more expensive RAM, since you need 4 DIMMS for X99 to utilize it's quad channel memory interface.

Also remember that the 5820k overclocked to 4.4Ghz+ is a monster in terms of heat output and power consumption. Not everyone wants that for their gaming rig, when it provides no current benefit over quad cores for games, unless you are running quad Crossfire/SLI.

You could run a x99 system like a skylake by using dual ram slots and turning off 2 cores which maybe give better overclock. Tho i personally wouldnt. Just saying in theory you could. But could you run a skylake like x99? Bet people on skylake would wish there bios had the option to turn on 2cores and 2 threads in a few years down the road if games started to use more then 4 cores and planned on keeping the system 3 or 4 years.

+ Plus the option for cpu upgrade paths. Going from 6 to 8 cores or Boardwell -E. while skylake cant go no higher then 6700k.
Also ddr4 quad kits as low as £80. When you consider dual kit ram is just quad channel cut in half. 8gb say £50 quad £100, or 16gb dual sticks £100, It doesnt seem expensive

Bet people wouldnt be using X58 platform now if was limited to quad cpu thanks to them nice cheap 6core cpus selling cheap

 

[dromi]

So the 5930k it's mainly favorable becasue of the amount of GPUs you can plug? over 3 is it?

Thanks!

 

[drex69]

I think its more favourable, because the 5930k supports up to 40 pcie lanes, so you can run SLI at the maximum of x16 per pcie slot.

Unlike a 5820k with 28 lanes supported, you would have to run 1 @ 16 and 1 & 8 or both @8.

But if like me, your only interested in running 1 GPU, then the 5820k is plenty enough.

 

[Nasher]

Since you can get x99 for around the same price, it has to be x99.

 

[Nasher]

Didn't I read that the 1151 platform is also capable of running much faster read/write speeds from ssd's than z97/x99 or older?
.

It just has more lanes available I think. It doesn't actually make them run any faster.

 

[Sixense]

I was thinking which way to go while Skylake was not out yet. Then it came out and we saw the prices and performance, took me whole 3 sec to decide for 5820k Aiming for a new pc around Black Friday ~ Xmas time, hopefully get some discounts on stuff that's in basket at the moment.

Too bad my missus won't let me upgrade cpu for a while (as in 5 years 'a while'), unless a cheap Broadwell-E shows up in 2nd hand market, most I'll be able to do will be a 2nd GPU when I need it (getting a 144Hz 1080p panel), possibly a full WC loop for when I decide to OC the 5820k. Will have a H110 GTX slapped on it to keep it as cool as possible meanwhile. Does that seem reasonable?

I think I might have hijacked the thread a bit, hope not. What do you say, will a 5820k hold up for 5+ years like x5650 is still kicking butt today? Paired with a 390 for 1080p gaming?

P.S.
I don't get why people say that OPs don't need an upgrade o.O If they post in here, they clearly feel they need it, I wonder how many 'you don't need to upgrade' / 'wait for next gen' I would get if not for my sig

 

[Nasher]

The difference in games is so marginal. Even a 2600k will be within a few % of the latest i7. Might as well go for x99 for the extra cores and higher spec. I think it will last another 5 years unless someone comes out with completely new technology (like graphene based chips).