Wait for Kaby Lake?

Groog · 14 May 2016 at 11:32

So I've been out of the loop for a while. By the end of the year I'm looking to build a new high end gaming PC, as future proofed as I can make it.

I had figured I would build it around a Sky Lake CPU, but a little research tells me that Kaby Lake might be released in Q3.

Do you guys think it is worth waiting for it? Or would you suggest something else?

Orcvader · 14 May 2016 at 12:02

Zen's apparently due around then too, so I say it's worth waiting to see which CPU does better. Intel's CPU performance hasn't improved much recently due to a lack of competition.

Aretak · 14 May 2016 at 13:33

Considering your current CPU, which is still a very respectable performer, I'd say wait. If you were using a Core 2 Duo or something it might be worth upgrading now, but you could easily just drop a new GPU in there for a nice performance bump until Kaby Lake/Zen arrive.

Brazo · 14 May 2016 at 14:10

I don't think Skylake will become redundant anytime soon, but then neither will your i7 920. I would just go with whatever is cost effective at the time you build.

AiiR · 14 May 2016 at 15:31

Replace your i7 with a Xeon X5650.

Caracus2k · 14 May 2016 at 16:59

Groog said:
So I've been out of the loop for a while. By the end of the year I'm looking to build a new high end gaming PC, as future proofed as I can make it.

I had figured I would build it around a Sky Lake CPU, but a little research tells me that Kaby Lake might be released in Q3.

Do you guys think it is worth waiting for it? Or would you suggest something else?

Kabylake wont likely be much of an upgrade from skylake. It will be another 4c8t CPU with cannonkake being the next CPU lineup.

Cannonlake will be the first set of consumer cpu's with a 6+ core top end cpu.

You want 'future proofing' best to see if Zen is any good (caution AMD have of late promised much but rather undelivered) or buy a broadwell-e setup.

Alternatively as a cheap option buy a Xeon and drop that in your board

Dark Light · 14 May 2016 at 18:16

It's not that far off so I would wait to see how good it is, even if it's that same number of cores and frequency there will be improvements in the architecture with things like instructions per clock.

Caracus2k · 14 May 2016 at 18:29

Dark Light said:
It's not that far off so I would wait to see how good it is, even if it's that same number of cores and frequency there will be improvements in the architecture with things like instructions per clock.

Its a CPU on the same 14nm process with the same core design with a few tweaks. Some versions may come with the 'Iris Pro' L4 cache that will speed things along. But ipc and overclocking potential will be very similar to skylake.

AllBodies · 14 May 2016 at 18:40

Caracus2k said:
Its a CPU on the same 14nm process with the same core design with a few tweaks. Some versions may come with the 'Iris Pro' L4 cache that will speed things along. But ipc and overclocking potential will be very similar to skylake.

Judging by the 5775C, overclocking will be very hampered if it has Iris Pro and L4 cache.

McGraw · 15 May 2016 at 01:18

Kaby lake Edram might be useful?

CPU increases are slowing to a crawl but I'd forget about quad core and save for Broadwell-E. That will last forever at this rate...six cores plus HT

I'm quite happy with my CPU for now

DarrenM343 · 15 May 2016 at 07:18

If you don't need the onboard graphics I'd be temped to go with the e-range which is what I'm going to do. I did plan originally to upgrade to Haswell-E but I had no need for it at the time so held off and kept the 3770K which still performs well today

Groog · 15 May 2016 at 13:20

Thanks for the responses!

I'm planning on getting together a 4K gaming rig. Likely a GTX1080 or 2 (I won't have patience for the inevitable 1080Ti). It felt to me like the i7 920 might be getting a bit long in the tooth for just now. However, you guys seem to think there is some life in it?

I presume 4K gaming is all GPU based, will an 8 year old CPU be the bottleneck I think it will be, or will it cope?

And to summarise:
Broadwell-E is coming v soon and is likely the last X99 but should last a long time due to the number of cores?
Sky Lake is Z170 with Kaby Lake succeeding it, likely a small upgrade (how many cores?)
Cannon Lake will be a different architecture (i.e. needing a different mobo chipset?).

I've never really considered an AMD CPU, should I?

crinkleshoes · 15 May 2016 at 13:24

You would get more future-proofing from Broadwell-E... get a 6, 8 or 10 core CPU as multi-threading for more than 4 cores is just starting to come into its own in gaming and that will only increase / improve.

The CPU you have at the minute will affect both your minimum and max frame rates at 4k but it will have the biggest impact on your minimum frame rates which is where you will notice it the most.

Skylake makes a good improvement over Broadwell for minimums... let alone older CPUs.

I noticed the performance improvement going from 5820k -> 6700k

lettuce · 15 May 2016 at 14:18

So these E-range CPUs, will they run slightly cooler as they dont had the the onboard GPU??

crinkleshoes · 15 May 2016 at 15:13

Not really, the cores generally run a bit hotter than the iGPU... so they tend to run a bit warmer.

The 6700k is rated at 95W TDP (max heat disspiation)
The 5820k is rated at 140W TDP

It depends what you're doing with them, but the 6/8 core CPUs tend to run a bit warmer than the 4 core CPUs.

There's not a huge amount in it though really as the E-series CPUs are larger, so they are able to dissipate that heat over a larger area and have that larger area in contact with the CPU cooler... so they might put out more heat, but at the same time they are easier to cool.

Why is it a concern? A normal cooler works fine on both really.

With a Noctua D15 - I have my 5820k running cool and quiet at 4.5GHz.

BluesFanUK · 15 May 2016 at 18:46

Groog said:
So I've been out of the loop for a while. By the end of the year I'm looking to build a new high end gaming PC, as future proofed as I can make it.

I had figured I would build it around a Sky Lake CPU, but a little research tells me that Kaby Lake might be released in Q3.

Do you guys think it is worth waiting for it? Or would you suggest something else?

No such thing as future proof mate as far as gaming is concerned, however at the rate Intel are going any modern CPU will last you a decade minimum. Kabylake will likely bring native USB 3.1 to the motherboards, that's about it. Won't be any different to Skylake.

Dark Light · 15 May 2016 at 19:22

I would wait for Skylake-E, it won't be that far off considering the amount of time between Broadwell and Skylake.

Caracus2k · 15 May 2016 at 21:15

Dark Light said:
I would wait for Skylake-E, it won't be that far off considering the amount of time between Broadwell and Skylake.

Skylake-E isn't going to show (if at all) any time soon, Q2 2017 at the absolute earliest.

Groog said:
Sky Lake is Z170 with Kaby Lake succeeding it, likely a small upgrade (how many cores?)
Cannon Lake will be a different architecture (i.e. needing a different mobo chipset?).

Kabylake will be backwards compatible with the Z170 (and other '100' series chipsets) but it will also release with the new '200' series chipset (Union Point) which you will want to buy to get the most from Kaby Lake

Groog · 15 May 2016 at 21:43

Caracus2k said:
Kabylake will be backwards compatible with the Z170 (and other '100' series chipsets) but it will also release with the new '200' series chipset (Union Point) which you will want to buy to get the most from Kaby Lake

That's new to me. Interesting.

I'm in no rush to get the new rig together, I'm sure I can wait until at least Computex and see if Intel releases any more information then.

Until then I think I'm more tempted by Broadwell-E than Sky Lake right now.

Caracus2k · 15 May 2016 at 22:39

Started a new thread... but as predicted Kabylake looks to be a very minor upgrade from Skylake... main benefits will be seen from going from the Z170 chipset to a '200' series chipset (Z270?). But these benefits will be in IO not performance for the most - more PCI-E lanes, Optane, native USB 3.1 etc

Caracus2k said:
As predicted not looking like the 7700K is going to offer much over the 6700K....

4c8t
Not looking like stock clocks going to much faster (may even be slower!)
Not looking like it will have the 'Iris Pro' eDram L4 memory
Minor improvements to the same design as Skylake on the same 14nm process
Improved iGPU!
Similar/ possible the same TDP
Likely similar (or worse?) overclocking

The only tangible benefits from the next Consumer lineup refresh will likely come from the new '200' series chipset (Union Point) with more PCI-E lanes, OP\optane support etc...

Otherwise likely nothing to see here for exisiting Z170 owners running 6700K's.....