Upgrade to X99 or not ?

Gripen90

Gripen90

Gripen90

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Hi guys.
I have been thinking of upgrading to a new X99 system for £560 consisting of:

Crucial DDR4 2133MHz 16GB (4x4GB) 16GB Kit (4GBx4) DDR4 2133 MT/s (PC4-17000) CL15 SR x8 Unbuffered DIMM 288pin

Intel Core i7-5820K, S-LGA2011-3, 6-Core,3.3GHz,15MB,140W,22nm,28 PCIe lanes,Haswell-E,Boxed,No fan incl.

MSI X99S SLI PLUS, Socket-2011-3 ATX, DDR4, 4xPCIe-x16, USB3.0, SLI/CFX, M.2

Currently I'm sitting with Asus P9X79 Pro, Core i7 4930K, 16GB G.Skill RipjawsZ 2133MHz CL9.
I am not sure it swapping 4930K for 5820K is an upgrade, sidegrade, downgrade ? I hear many different opinions about it.:confused:
The main reason for going to X99 is to get a 5930K down the line later this year, and also to get more SATA 3.0 port than I have now which is only 2 SATA 3.0 ports on my X79 chip (a limitation I've been told).

Also the 5820K is only 28 pci lanes vs 40 pci lanes on the 4930K - I don't know if that will be a disadvantage when I'm using 3x GTX 970.

Cheers :cool:
 
Firstly, you can get a bundle with your choice of CPU - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18663148

Secondly going from X79 (with a 6 core) to X99 (with a 6 core)is a bit sideways upgrade with a slight upwards curve (unless you get the big 5960X)

Thirdly for different lane CPUs the slots bandwidth gets divided up differently,

Slots

• 4 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, support up to 3-way mode
- 1-way mode: x16/ x0/ x0/ x0
- 2-way mode: x16/ x16/ x0/ x0*, 16/ x8/ x0/ x0**
- 3-way mode: x16/ x16/ x0/ x8*, x8/ x8/ x8/ x0**
* For the CPU that supports 40 PCIe lanes
** For the CPU that supports 28 PCIe lanes
Click to expand...
 
stulid said:
Firstly, you can get a bundle with your choice of CPU - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18663148

Secondly going from X79 (with a 6 core) to X99 (with a 6 core)is a bit sideways upgrade with a slight upwards curve (unless you get the big 5960X)

Thirdly for different lane CPUs the slots bandwidth gets divided up differently,
Click to expand...

Nice bundle indeed !

Yea I'm aware of the different lane layout if I put a 40 pci lane cpu in there which is also why I'm getting a new case with 9 pci brakets for future installation although getting a gfx to fit under those front connectors is gonna be a pain :/ and it does set me off a bit. And running 2 way SLI will also be with sandwiched cards.
I did look at Gigabyte x99ud4 but i has so many bad user reviews that i don't dare to try it.
 
To be fair the boards from Gigabyte are a lot better now with the newer BIOS updates, its a new'ish platform and many early issues and bugs have been ironed out.

The biggest bug which was an Windows8.1/XMP profile/Enter the BIOS with a boot failure issue has been wiped out.
 
Gripen90 said:
and also to get more SATA 3.0 port than I have now which is only 2 SATA 3.0 ports on my X79 chip (a limitation I've been told).
Click to expand...

The board has 4 ports, but two are via 3rd party chip so not as good as the native intel ports.
 
Shivy011 said:
Is this system purely for gaming?
Click to expand...

Gaming, multitasking, video rendering and a bit photo editing.:)

stulid said:
To be fair the boards from Gigabyte are a lot better now with the newer BIOS updates, its a new'ish platform and many early issues and bugs have been ironed out.

The biggest bug which was an Windows8.1/XMP profile/Enter the BIOS with a boot failure issue has been wiped out.
Click to expand...

Ok. Because I do like the 2 way SLi layout a lot more on the X99UD5 which gives spacing inbetween the cards where it's not like that on most of MSI's X99 board.
I read a lot of the feedback on newegg for the x99ud4 and most complaints were also about poor bios's and something as 6 bios updates on 1 month.
I do hope they sorted out the problems though because I am actually more interested in this board due to the pci lanes layout than the MSI X99S SLI Plus.
I would really like the Asus X99-S but it's out of my budget range - it has the best PCI lanes layout when switching between 5820k and 5930k.

stulid said:
The board has 4 ports, but two are via 3rd party chip so not as good as the native intel ports.
Click to expand...
Yea Marwell controller and it has SSD caching and I've been told not to use that with SSDs.
 
stulid said:
Just cant see it being an upgrade still.

Unless you sell your RAM/Board/CPU for a decent enough amount to be worthwhile.

Looking at your sig have you thought about getting a better SSD? the intel 330 series are dated and the Kingston v300 are not as good as they should have been do to using inferior NAND memory than the samples sent to reviewers.
Click to expand...

I can get around £420~429 for my current cpu, motherboard and ram. So in total I would spend around £150...

Hmm well could be I should save that cash and use it on GTX 980Ti when it comes around later in the summer.

My Kingston SSD Now V300 I use for games. Bought it 1½month ago. Just check the firmware and it's 505a so it should be good !?.
The Intel 330 works fine also, but I know faster options are available - might look into it :)
 
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stulid said:
Have you ever considered selling the three 970s for a single TitanX? at 1440P a single TitanX is going to destroy games and you never have to worry about SLI working/profiles.

That would then free up a slot/PCI-E lanes for one of these monsters - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-069-IN - but you need to check if your board supports this new NVME protocol.
Click to expand...

I did think out getting the Titan X but selling 3x 970 would only cover 55-60% of the costs of a new Titan X. Also the performance would be lower than my current config. Luckily since 2009 I have never had SLi issues :)
I would die for 2x Titan X but the costs is a killer !

I very rarely use much storage and my drives are only 15-20% used in space. But that pci based SSD does look great...but I would never get to use it's capacity.
 
Either keep what you have or do the X99 sidegrade whilst your current stuff still has good value in it.

P.S you will of course have to overclock the 5820K to match/beat your 4Ghz CPU.
 
Have you thought about moving the parts out to a case with more room inside and increased airflow?
 
stulid said:
Have you thought about moving the parts out to a case with more room inside and increased airflow?
Click to expand...

Yea I am waiting for a brand new Corsair Vengeance C70 Polar White case along with an EVGA Supernova G2 1300watt to arrive (bought the PSU 2nd hand a month old).

The transition into a new case with new PSU was actually what made me think if I just so jump on the X99 wagon :)

Well I am still undecided whether or not X99 is the way to go...I mean if Intel aldready comes with a new version next year it may be futile !?
 
There is Skylake and a new chipset, but I don't know if it will be 4core CPUs like current mainstream stuff or 6+core option (and they keep that for the next high end like they have always done).

There is a chance there will be new CPUs for X99 (X79 had Sandybridge-E and Ivybridge-E).
 
stulid said:
To be fair the boards from Gigabyte are a lot better now with the newer BIOS updates, its a new'ish platform and many early issues and bugs have been ironed out.

The biggest bug which was an Windows8.1/XMP profile/Enter the BIOS with a boot failure issue has been wiped out.
Click to expand...

My Gigabyte has been really good since the last update its a very stable system with no issues. It just 'works'.

My friend has a Asus Rampage V and that's given him loads more headaches still till this day.

He wishes he bought a Gigabyte now. :D

Loving my X99 platform, been a real nice upgrade over my X58 (which is still a good platform for the record).

Gaming is really smooth on the X99 as well, I play mainly BF4.
 
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