x97, x99 and z170 question

Daytrader

Daytrader

Daytrader

Soldato
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Hi, was going to build a pc around the x97 mb with a i7 4790k, but will new cpu's be made for this mb now, or will all future cpu's be for the x99 mb, and is the z170 just a stop gap mb, or will new cpu's be made for that also, what i am trying to ask, what mb to go for to last at least 5 years for gaming, cheers
 
Lately most intel chipsets have had two CPU generations each

Z77/Z68 got Sandybridge+Ivybridge

X79 got SB-E and IB-E

Z87/97 got Haswell+Devils canyon


So it would stand to reason that both X99 and Z170 get two gens each?
 
Thankyou, so just for gaming, and someone building from scratch, my old pc is over 5years old could be more, that will be kept with just my old games on really, xp pro still ;), what would you go for that is = to or better than a x97 i7 4790k setup, was going for the asus hero vii mb as well, but i see for same price they do there new hero z170 mb, for gaming will the best chips be on the z170 mb, or the x99 mb, cheers
 
There are bundles,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI - Intel Core i5 6600K Bundle **£20 Saving** £303.97
Total : £303.97 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).




If you go for an i7 skylake+board,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail £329.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £113.99
Total : £443.98 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).



then you may as well go X99+i7,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte X99-SLI - Intel Core i7 5820K Six Core CPU & Motherboard Bundle ***£50 Saving*** £441.98
Total : £441.98 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).



So you get more cores and a board with loads of slots etc, overclock it and the speed per core difference is nothing.

Remember all these need coolers adding to them as retail Haswell-E or Skylake are just the cpu in a box.
 
Thx for thouse links, so for anyone really building a new system from scratch, there dont seem to be much point going with a x97 based system at this time, as i dont think intel will be making anymore chips for the x97 boards, am i correct ?
 
I dont think you will see anything else for Z97 now, the only reason to get Z97+i7 is because it is much cheaper than Z170+i7

That RAM is very basic, I personally would get something 2666Mhz or better and that has a heatspreader on them to make them look nice.
 
Z97 is effectively dead. It's now last gen so any time you're building a rig from scratch you should go for the newest version.

The only time an X99 is the better gaming choice is if you want multiple cards. There is a lane limit on the non extreme platforms. This may change with dx12 because of the additional cores though.
 
Simon Belmont said:
Every socket is effectively a dead socket at some point. z97 is still very active.
Click to expand...

This.....

If you buy an upper tier intel processor from the '1st batch' to come with any motherboard there have been few occasions when buying from the 'refresh' has netted anything but very marginal gains.

This is particularly true of Intel's mainstream consumer line-up of the last few years.
The only time I have thought it worth keeping a motherboard whilst changing a CPU in the last ten years was going from a quad core 920 to a hex core 980 on the enthusiast 'X58' platform. Intels consumer line-up has been stuck on quad cores for the past seven years or so at the top and looks to remain with the same core/thread count for at least the next few revisions. Clock speed increases have largely stalled if not regressed on occasions and the marginal IPC improvements between subsequent generations make upgrading a top tier CPU to the next iteration an expensive and almost totally pointless exercise.

Skylake is just too expensive with little in the way of extra performance to show for it. It gets its **** handed to it in heavily threaded stuff by cheaper X99 5820k's and has to compete with 4790K's that can retail for around £80-£90 less with little lost in the way of performance. I would not hold out much hope that the mini 'tick' - Kabylake refresh will bring much else to the party for Z170 for people looking to upgrade on the same platform and Cannonlake is now pushed back to the end of 2017 on the Intel roadmap without any more delays factored in and I'm sure Intel will want a new chipset by then to support upcoming motherboard featured like PCI-E 4

Basically don't obsess too much about the future upgradability of a mother board. But if it bothers you that much spend the few extra £££'s on an intel enthusiast line CPU and motherboard. History shows that this has been a wise move in the past - plenty of people still rocking great X58 setups not so many keeping up so well on mainstream parallel socket 1156 CPU's of yesteryear
 
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stulid said:
I dont think you will see anything else for Z97 now, the only reason to get Z97+i7 is because it is much cheaper than Z170+i7
Click to expand...

You should add much cheaper with little (if anything noticeable) lost in the way of performance. Intel have really outdone themselves with Skylake imo pointlessly more expensive than the Haswell/Devils Canyon chips its supposed to replace.

£330!! for yet another 4c/8t CPU with the same waste of space (for almost anyone buying it) integrated graphics, the same small improvements in IPC and power consumption and yet more dodgy TIM between the spreader and the top of the CPU proper. One can only hope that AMD do somehow manager to pull a blinder out of the bag in the next few years to give intel a kick up the posterior. Its no wonder the marketing department decided to jazz up the packaging for the Skylake CPU's because there's **** all to get excited about in performance improvements of the platform (again)

Still I guess Intel have to recoup some of the money they have poured into the 14nm/Broadwell pit with very little in the way of anything to show for it so far
 
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