Talk me into X79

[Arachnotronic]

Just picked up a 2nd 680 and a big ol' 2560x1440 display and...well, this 2600K seems a little wimpy.

I'm thinking it's time to go X79 with a nice 3930K, but I worry that in 6 months' time, my chip will be obsolete.

Can someone help talk me into it? Thanks

 

[lehtv]

The extra threads won't help you in gaming, most games will only use four cores or less. You need better performance per core - your 2600K is only 4.4GHz, upgrade your cooling to something like Noctua D14 and OC to 4.8-5.0GHz. That'll remove some of the bottleneck.

but I worry that in 6 months' time, my chip will be obsolete.

In 6 months time there will be Intel Haswell to upgrade to.

That case is pretty basic for such a high end build. I'd love to see how that 1200W PSU looks inside it. If you have money to spare, maybe get a bigger case with better cooling, more space for a big cooler and better cable management?

 

[Gillbot]

In 6 months time, no matter what you buy it will basically be obsolete.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I am getting a new case

 

[Gillbot]

I use cardboard boxes, they are cheaper and more versatile:

 

[bunnyfubbles]

it'll be a major investment for a minor improvement in performance, although games that can utilize the extra threads will be tangibly faster

to put some things in perspective, I wasn't particularly happy with the overclock I had with my H100 cooler and decided to go all out with custom water. After spending just short of $300 on a custom water setup, I ultimately can't overclock much further than what I could do on the H100 because my PWMs will overheat when I try to go higher, so I'm looking at spending another ~$100+ on parts.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I would rather talk you out of X79. X79 aint gonna give you anything.

Get Haswell in March if you must upgrade.

 

[Torn Mind]

3930K is a Sandy Bridge-E CPU. So, what you're getting is getting two more cores than your 2600K while everything else is nearly exactly the same.

Ha, people are going to talk you out of going X79. They would rather talk you into getting a 3770K or wait for Haswell.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Is there no benefit to SNB-E for multi-GPU setups?

 

[ShintaiDK]

Is there no benefit to SNB-E for multi-GPU setups?

You would need 3 cards or more then. Plus the LGA2011 is around 1½ year behind the LGA11xx platform in terms of technology.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

You would need 3 cards or more then. Plus the LGA2011 is around 1½ year behind the LGA11xx platform in terms of technology.

What he said.

X79 is nothing more than a glorified P67/Z77 for the vast majority of users. Tri/Quad SLI/CrossFire is a compatibility/driver nightmare as well.

I'd recommend you keep what you have now, sell it when Haswell comes out, and then upgrade to that.

 

[Puppies04]

What he said.

X79 is nothing more than a glorified P67/Z77 for the vast majority of users. Tri/Quad SLI/CrossFire is a compatibility/driver nightmare as well.

I'd recommend you keep what you have now, sell it when Haswell comes out, and then upgrade to that.

I agree with this completely, unless Haswell is a complete flop or games manufacturers start spending more time optimizing for 5+cores 9+ threads (unlikely as the target market is so small) then waiting until next year is the smart move.

 

[cbn]

Just picked up a 2nd 680 and a big ol' 2560x1440 display and...well, this 2600K seems a little wimpy.

I'm thinking it's time to go X79 with a nice 3930K, but I worry that in 6 months' time, my chip will be obsolete.

Can someone help talk me into it? Thanks

Well, with gaming you won't need anything past quad core.....so the extra die size of the hexcore E-series may be a step backwards compared to the cheaper chips.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/11/14/intel_core_i73960x_sandy_bridge_e_processor_review/3

What we see here is not really surprising. We see our 3960X trailing both the 2600K and the 2500K in terms of IPC. Adding the two cores to the 3960X surely introduces some latency even given the huge 15MB of shared cache

 

[Ferzerp]

That's a waste of money unless you *know* your use case needs it. 4(+4) is plenty of cores, and you're never going to be memory bandwidth starved anyway.

If we need to "talk [you] in to it", it is a waste of money for you.

edit: not telling you what to buy, but it will not be a any faster in 99% of what you do.

 

[cbn]

Looking at these results, it seems even the smaller (dedicated quad core die) i7-3820 suffers in gaming IPC (even with the greater 10MB cache).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5276/intel-core-i7-3820-review-285-quadcore-sandy-bridge-e/3

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Don't buy an X79 board & CPU. I say overclock that chip and wait till Broadwell. From what I've been hearing it seems Haswell will mostly be focusing on improving the onboard GPU. Just chill out and overclock that 2600K if you already haven't.

 

[Torn Mind]

Don't buy an X79 board & CPU. I say overclock that chip and wait till Broadwell. From what I've been hearing it seems Haswell will mostly be focusing on improving the onboard GPU. Just chill out and overclock that 2600K if you already haven't.

Uh, it is already overclocked, as seen in his sig.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I still don't think he should make a lateral move to X79

 

[Torn Mind]

I still don't think he should make a lateral move to X79

I agree.

 

[lehtv]

Uh, it is already overclocked, as seen in his sig.

It is not overclocked as much as it could be.

 

[AdamK47]

I say go for it.

 

[BD231]

There aren't currently any cpu's fast enough not to bottleneck 2 gpu's like those, let alone 3 or 4. Surprising Intel doesn't care but with the way GPU's double in speed so quickly Intel will forever remain behind in that regard with their paltry (if only in comparison) 5 to 10% generational gains.

 

[Ferzerp]

There aren't currently any cpu's fast enough not to bottleneck 2 gpu's like those, let alone 3 or 4. Surprising Intel doesn't care but with the way GPU's double in speed so quickly Intel will forever remain behind in that regard with their paltry (if only in comparison) 5 to 10% generational gains.

This is all sorts of incorrect.

 

[BD231]

This is all sorts of incorrect.

Not at all.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Op,if you want X79 i would just buy it.

I recall so many people telling me back in 2007 that the Q6600 was a waste for gaming when i bought it,that the e6750 i had prior was best,especially for ocing and i found a game at the time worthy going quad for,UT3.

Today if your one of the folks who picked the e8400 as that was a typical fan favoirte over the q6600,your already looking for a Q6600 to prolong the life of your platform and if you picked the Q6600,it ended being the best choice in the long run despite what others at the time disputed.

I know my experience with my Q6600 has intrigued me building a X79/3930k rig myself,should have it up and running in about a week.

2 weeks from now,the age of the modern quad core will have been here for 6 years,mind as well be a century in computer tech time.:awe: