Is a Haswell a suitable substitute for Skylake?

[Arachnotronic]

As you all know, Intel seems to be unable to make anywhere close to enough 6600K/6700K chips to satisfy demand, at least in the US.

A question I have for those of you looking to upgrade is this: are price-reduced Haswell processors acceptable alternatives, or are you going to wait for Skylake to become more available?

I've included a poll but definitely feel free to provide expanded thoughts in the thread.

 

[Ken g6]

I think it will depend on how widespread [thread=2457314]Skylake BCLK overclocking[/thread] becomes. If it comes to all chips and all boards, Haswell is about done.

 

[Sweepr]

Thinking about long term upgrades if you're buying a brand new system you'd be better with a LGA1151 MB that allows BCLK overclocking + DDR4 and Skylake. Unless you already own a dual-core Haswell, then a discounted Devil's Canyon chip is a better deal IMHO.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Decent substitute I would say, considering you can build an HW box for literally half the price if you know what you are doing with used parts.

 

[bystander36]

Thinking about long term upgrades if you're buying a brand new system you'd be better with a LGA1151 MB that allows BCLK overclocking + DDR4 and Skylake. Unless you already own a dual-core Haswell, then a discounted Devil's Canyon chip is a better deal IMHO.

Looking at your signature, I'd say you can ignore the upgrade path, as by the time you upgrade, everything will be obsolete. The DDR4 might not, but then again, by the time you upgrade, you'd be buying a lot more RAM anyway.

Unless you upgrade your CPU every couple years as an Intel owner, your upgrade path is usually a full new system.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I voted "It depends." With the situation as it stands now, Haswell is absolutely a great substitute particularly with the 4790K and 5820K being much cheaper than the 6700Ks. I'm thinking (maybe naively) that we'll see the situation stabilize a bit after the holidays and may see the 6700K drop in price. If that's the case and the 6700K drops down to the $350 range, I think it is a better choice in many cases.

 

[CHADBOGA]

The 4790K is a perfectly suitable substitute, mainly because of the DDR3 vs DDR4 issues.

 

[Sweepr]

Looking at your signature, I'd say you can ignore the upgrade path, as by the time you upgrade, everything will be obsolete. The DDR4 might not, but then again, by the time you upgrade, you'd be buying a lot more RAM anyway.

Unless you upgrade your CPU every couple years as an Intel owner, your upgrade path is usually a full new system.

Oh that was my 2006 system. Too lazy to update but I'm running Haswell-E now.

I usually take advantage of any upgrade path, but if you don't care about this then might as well go the Haswell route if it's significantly cheaper than a Skylake combo.

 

[bystander36]

Oh that was my 2006 system. Too lazy to update but I'm running Haswell-E now.

I usually take advantage of any upgrade path, but if you don't care about this then might as well go the Haswell route if it's significantly cheaper than a Skylake combo.

It depends on the person. I personally go pretty high end, and stick with it for a while. By the time I upgrade, my old system is completely replaced anyway. CPU's don't increase in performance fast enough to upgrade every couple years in my opinion.

 

[cbn]

As you all know, Intel seems to be unable to make anywhere close to enough 6600K/6700K chips to satisfy demand, at least in the US.

A question I have for those of you looking to upgrade is this: are price-reduced Haswell processors acceptable alternatives, or are you going to wait for Skylake to become more available?

I've included a poll but definitely feel free to provide expanded thoughts in the thread.

1.) How about some fast (4+ Ghz) 4C/8T Haswell or Broadwell processors for the HEDT platform?

Starting with an 8C hopefully Intel (at this point) is able to find enough Haswell-E dies with four cores capable of making that cut for 130W to 140W TDP. If necessary they can also reduce PCIe lanes from 40 to 28 and change the quad channel memory controller to dual channel one.

(With PCIe lanes and/or memory channels disabled, hitting 4+ Ghz at 140W TDP shouldn't be a problem)

2.) (Optional) Maybe even make a cost reduced chipset (based on the current X99) to go along with that? This compatible with all current HEDT processors.

 

[WildW]

I've been considering doing an upgrade to 4790K rather than Skylake. . . if I don't have to change memory to DDR4 then it's like half the cost.

 

[MrTeal]

Depends on the budget and what you already have for parts. If you have a case/psu/storage/keyboard/etc from your last build along with a decent bit of DDR3, you could be looking at $400 to pick up a 4790k and Z97 motherboard. That would be a good bit faster than an 6600k/Z170/2x8GB combo, and it would be ~$100 cheaper. The lower price brackets are even more sensitive if you don't need to replace RAM.

 

[biostud]

Get haswell-E + X99 ftw.

 

[LTC8K6]

I think with faster DDR4, Skylake pulls ahead of Haswell enough to make a difference, plus the 1151 socket should be a little more future proof.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I tried both, Haswell and Skylake. Even got one next to the other here. And I would definitely pick Skylake any time without question, specially after playing Fallout 4. However if price is not equal, then there is that factor. I would also pick Skylake due to its platform as well. DMI 3.0, broad M.2 support etc.

 

[Madpacket]

It depends;

If buying new and you have a good budget to spend;

Skylake just isn't worth the cost (at the moment). I could have easily bought a new 6700K + DDR4 etc but ended up going with a Haswell Core i7-5830K / X99 combo as it cost around the same price and actually has more features (the new USB 3.1, M.2 support) as well as 8 slots for memory and 40 full fat PCIe lanes. I plan on keeping this as my main system for a while so it made sense to X99 instead of Skylake.

There's also enough games today that take advantage of more than 4 cores with hyperthreading and this isn't a trend that will go away so high end Skylake is just silly at the prices they're demanding compared to X99/Haswell.

For example, here are 20 games compared between a 4790K/5930K at the same 4.7Ghz clock speed. Add 2-10% (this is being generous) more performance for a Skylake setup and the X99 platform still comes out ahead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CppDFcn8ul8

If you can't afford the X99 setup the 4790K makes a lot more sense than the 6700K at today's prices.

A 4790K/Z97 combo with DDR3 2400 will be within spitting distance of a 6700K/Z10/3000Mhz DDR4 kit but will save you a ton of money better spent on a video card or larger SSD. The only real advantage Skylake holds is being able to accept higher density DIMMS so if you want to make a 32GB ITX gaming rig, you can do that with Skylake but not Haswell (well you can with X99/Haswell but that's with a one off motherboard).

 

[moonbogg]

If I was building a friend's system, I would have no issue using a 4790K. They are great chips. If the rig was for me, I would have no issue spending more for a 6700k. They are great chips. The real answer: I have no issue waiting for Skylake-E. They are great chips.

 

[Phynaz]

Discounted 4790K is what I would build with today.

 

[Arachnotronic]

If I was building a friend's system, I would have no issue using a 4790K. They are great chips. If the rig was for me, I would have no issue spending more for a 6700k. They are great chips. The real answer: I have no issue waiting for Skylake-E. They are great chips.

Skylake-E should be a hell of a chip

 

[guskline]

Skylake-E should be a hell of a chip

What chipset will it use?

 

[Arachnotronic]

What chipset will it use?

Kaby Lake PCH (i.e. 200-series).

 

[Magic Carpet]

Kaby Lake PCH (i.e. 200-series).

24 lanes, USB 3.1 native support?

 

[Face2Face]

I had the option to choose from A 6700K or A 5820K, and I chose the latter. I haven't put the system together yet, but I'm hoping I made the right choice.

 

[III-V]

I'm not really convinced that Skylake is much of an upgrade at all. If you don't need its new features, Haswell is absolutely a suitable substitute. I'd personally opt for Broadwell-C, though.

 

[Madpacket]

I had the option to choose from A 6700K and 5820K, and I chose the latter. I haven't put the system together yet, but I'm hoping I made the right choice.

You did. When new CPU's arrive in a few years 1151 owners will have to upgrade both CPU and motherboard if they want something faster. You'll be able to enjoy a stupid fast 6 core processor now and in a few years sell it off and upgrade to a 8-10 core broadwell if you want.