Which Intel Socket is currently the most future-proof?

[Shehriazad]

Hey guys, I'm finally going to get my first own Intel CPU (I recommended some Intel stuff to others in higher price segments, but never bothered for myself) but I'm not entirely sure which socket would be the most futureproof to get for me.

I was planning on ordering it next month, but if anything big is coming up I can wait until January. (I'm not bound to a budget for this build, but I guess I wouldn't want to exceed 1000€/$ for CPU+ board for this new build)
Currently I'm not sure whether to go with socket 2011-3 or 1151. 2011-3 gives me more threads, 1151 has the newest release.

But which one would be deemed more futureproof? Would love any input you guys can give me.


I'll also want to put it in an ITX format as it's gonna get paired with my R9 Nano that just arrived.

 

[master_shake_]

you might have some luck with both.

at least one more iteration for 2011-3 and 1151.

unless 1151 gets a lackluster upgrade like 1150 did with broadwell.

i wonder if intel will skip broadwell-e and just end the 2011-3 socket...

 

[biostud]

For ITX go 1151, there is only one 2011-3 ITX board. It comes down to your need for extra cores and heat. The 1151 are 2-4 cores while 2011-3 are 6-8 core cpu's that dissipates lots of heat.

 

[thesmokingman]

But which one would be deemed more futureproof? Would love any input you guys can give me.


I'll also want to put it in an ITX format as it's gonna get paired with my R9 Nano that just arrived.

It depends on what you consider futureproof? The IPC differences are small between both platforms. The difference really is in core count, ability to run quad gpu, and the huge price premium. As a gaming platform, one doesn't really need more cores. And regarding the premium, that could be saved and spent later to upgrade in a couple years to something newer down the line. And finally if you did go 2011, you'd not be using one of the main reasons to go 2011, which is for the large number pcie lanes that allows quad gpu.

 

[Kenmitch]

These days if you go out of the gate with the K i7's there really isn't much to look forward too.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

motherboards are usually cheaper than cpu's, and the new cpu's on the same socket not that much of an upgrade.

I wouldn't consider the futureproofness of a socket when upgrading.

 

[Shehriazad]

motherboards are usually cheaper than cpu's, and the new cpu's on the same socket not that much of an upgrade.

I wouldn't consider the futureproofness of a socket when upgrading.

I don't buy cheap motherboards, though. I generally won't even look at motherboards below $100 unless I'm forced to.

Plus I'd feel pretty bummed out if I spent $300-$600 on some Intel CPU just to learn that the socket was a 1 generation socket and thus essentially buy into something "dead".
Doesn't even matter to me if the CPU is still viable in 5 years or not...I'd hope that the socket gets at least a refresh so I have at least some possible upgrade paths available.


Either way...I guess right now I'm leaning more toward Skylake. (Mainly because the absolute lack of choices for 2011-3 ITX builds is sad, I can find exactly 1 board...which costs $300 but doesn't really even "feel" like a $300 board)

Thanks for the input y'all.

 

[you2]

I would go with 1150 unless you intend to have a lot of high speed storage (specifically pcie ssd).
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Other than pcie ssd the only real advantage I see with skylake is that the i7 runs a lot cooler than the haswell refresh i7. To be more specific I would let price be the determination (I mentioned this since haswell refresh i7 seems to have had a recent price increase - well +$20 at microcenter not sure about elsewhere). If you wait a bit (or maybe even during black-friday/cyber monday) skylake might be price pairty in wich case I would go with skylake. These comments presume that you are building a game system. If (fore example) you need 8 or 12 cores then perhaps 2011.
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As noted above you should assume the socket will change by the time you upgrade but that is not such a big deal - raw performance has only increase a little between sandbridge and skylake (there was a big improvement from dual-core to sandybridge).