Who's buying Skylake-X? (You may now change your vote)

[beginner99]

Let me help you...

I doubt anything Coffee Lake has to offer will be able to do this...

So? I don't run cinebench all day in fact I browse and play games mostly. So a 6-core Coffeelake will beat this 7820k at gaming (because Sky lake-x sucks at gaming) and it will do so using half the power while using my old tower cooler and costing half the price.

Yes I understand it's cool and if someone can actually show me that overclocking the uncore makes the 7820k match a 7700k I might reconsider. But I doubt i will see such a bench.

 

[vissarix]

True, but I think Coffee Lake will have better gaming performance, will clock higher, will run cooler, and will likely have the lower platform cost. My heart wants the 8+ core monster but my head thinks Coffee Lake is where I'll land.

Coffeelake will clock higher but not by much really...If you have the money i would go with a Skylake X, 8 cores running at 4.8 to 4.9 ghz is just amazing especially if you delid and have a decent cooler...

6core coffeelake might do 5ghz easier but is just an 6 core in the end...it cant do miracles...

 

[beginner99]

.If you have the money i would go with a Skylake X, 8 cores running at 4.8 to 4.9 ghz is just amazing especially if you delid and have a decent cooler...

if...4.8 Ghz requires a good AIO if not really water cooling and yet you will be slower in games than a 4.8.ghz 7700k. Skylake-X is clearly server uArch and for AVX-512 bit and with the new cache structure it simply sucks for gaming. 6c cfl will give better gaming results at lower price and less hassle. With the new cache structure you are almost forced to go quad channel on skylake-x. alone that will make such a build a lot more expensive. HEDT wan't optimal for gaming before but now with new cache uArch negatively affecting gaming and getting a 6c mainstream part, SLI and CF support getting worse by the day, HEDT is essential dead for gaming.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Coffeelake will clock higher but not by much really...If you have the money i would go with a Skylake X, 8 cores running at 4.8 to 4.9 ghz is just amazing especially if you delid and have a decent cooler...

6core coffeelake might do 5ghz easier but is just an 6 core in the end...it cant do miracles...

I hear you and I'd love to go HEDT, but let's be honest - by the time 8+ cores REALLY matter for everyday tasks and gaming, we will likely have Ice Lake or Tiger Lake and 8 core will be mainstream.

I vowed to build a monster rig but HEDT has always been a platform of compromises and despite earlier claims, SKL-X is no different. Sure, it is probably "good enough" for games and may not lag too far behind Coffee Lake, but at an extreme cost (and I'm not referring only to money here - I'm talking about heat and power). No way am I going to build a custom loop to keep a 7900 cool when overclocked to 4.7 Ghz, and I think portraying a 7820x running at 4.8+ Ghz as something of a norm is a bit optimistic.

My theory is that Intel intended to move ALL K models to the HEDT platform and maybe that is still their plan, but Ryzen has probably delayed or killed that idea and IMO, that's a good thing.

 

[JoeRambo]

My theory is that Intel intended to move ALL K models to the HEDT platform and maybe that is still their plan, but Ryzen has probably delayed or killed that idea and IMO, that's a good thing.

I have reasoned about that since Kabylake-X announcement, in the light of all segmentation going it makes perfect sense. The only other reason could have been Skylake-X having horrible clocks and/or performance.

 

[Nebor]

Why the hell would you buy a 7900x for this especially since a 7700k or 7740x would actually offer much better performance for 1/3 of the price?

I bent some pins on my x99 ftw k board and needed a new board. Figured I might as well get the best. Did very little research. Everything seemed to point towards the 7820X being the best gaming processor, but it was out of stock everywhere so I just bought the newegg bundle of 7900x, asus x299 deluxe and 16gb of gskill ram. Price wasn't an issue, but my computer being broken was.

 

[ManyThreads]

I picked this up last night, should have it tonight or tomorrow! Pretty pumped.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/t2CVzM

 

[dullard]

I bent some pins on my x99 ftw k board and needed a new board. Figured I might as well get the best. Did very little research. Everything seemed to point towards the 7820X being the best gaming processor, but it was out of stock everywhere so I just bought the newegg bundle of 7900x, asus x299 deluxe and 16gb of gskill ram. Price wasn't an issue, but my computer being broken was.

While the 7900x is probably not the right chip for you, your logic is just fine. Too many times, people look at item X costs more than item Y, and can't fathom how could you possibly buy item X. But if you earn a salary like a typical educated Anandtech reader, you can pay for the 7900x in a couple days of work. $1000 is honestly nothing in the grand scheme of things (terrible pun). We focus too much on price on this forum whereas a couple hundred here or there really does not matter to most of the readers of this forum. Enjoy your new computer!

 

[Phynaz]

it simply sucks for gaming

Hyperbole much?

 

[Edrick]

We focus too much on price on this forum whereas a couple hundred here or there really does not matter to most of the readers of this forum.

Exactly! Price/Performance < Overall Performance in many people's minds.

 

[crashtech]

There'd be far less to discuss if we couldn't differentiate between products using price/perf, especially in the midrange.

 

[LTC8K6]

if...4.8 Ghz requires a good AIO if not really water cooling and yet you will be slower in games than a 4.8.ghz 7700k. Skylake-X is clearly server uArch and for AVX-512 bit and with the new cache structure it simply sucks for gaming. 6c cfl will give better gaming results at lower price and less hassle. With the new cache structure you are almost forced to go quad channel on skylake-x. alone that will make such a build a lot more expensive. HEDT wan't optimal for gaming before but now with new cache uArch negatively affecting gaming and getting a 6c mainstream part, SLI and CF support getting worse by the day, HEDT is essential dead for gaming.

You don't think updates will improve SL-X at all?

 

[Topweasel]

You don't think updates will improve SL-X at all?

The question would be what you you expect to be update? Some of the "problems" people have with SL-X are inherent with the design and implementation and not something a microcode or bios update will fix.

 

[LTC8K6]

The question would be what you you expect to be update? Some of the "problems" people have with SL-X are inherent with the design and implementation and not something a microcode or bios update will fix.

We've already seen improvements with BIOS updates, though. You could also have software patches or optimizations couldn't you?

 

[Topweasel]

We've already seen improvements with BIOS updates, though. You could also have software patches or optimizations couldn't you?

True. Or one could hope I am not sure how much work would be put into it though. SL-X and future server dies are going to now have a completely different cache design and core configurations going forward. With CL coming out to increase core count and give developers more resources. I wonder how much resources will go to developing specifically for the the HEDT CPU versions.

On the flip side there is a lot software similarities with cache structure and inter die cross communication with Ryzen. So it may be a two birds with one stone thing. Neither being a large part of the market but general optimizations for either can help both.

 

[repoman0]

While the 7900x is probably not the right chip for you, your logic is just fine. Too many times, people look at item X costs more than item Y, and can't fathom how could you possibly buy item X. But if you earn a salary like a typical educated Anandtech reader, you can pay for the 7900x in a couple days of work. $1000 is honestly nothing in the grand scheme of things (terrible pun). We focus too much on price on this forum whereas a couple hundred here or there really does not matter to most of the readers of this forum. Enjoy your new computer!

I remember 10 short years ago working at a grocery store for an entire summer to save up and buy a computer with a fancy $600 7800GTX, dual core Athlon64, etc. Now that I could pay for it in a couple days, I refuse to buy a $600 GPU ... guess I turned into a cheap bastard 😛

 

[IEC]

A couple hundred here and there means more Ryzen crunching systems for me. Ask me how I know...

Exactly! Price/Performance < Overall Performance in many people's minds.

When your output scales linearly or nearly so with more cores/more systems, price/performance is still a valid metric because my 3x R7 1700 systems at stock will significantly outproduce a i9-7900X at comparable total cost and (for my tasks) better efficiency.

I understand for your use cases the 7820X or 7900X makes more sense, but judging by the poll results, the vast majority of participants prefer price/perf.

 

[fleshconsumed]

I remember 10 short years ago working at a grocery store for an entire summer to save up and buy a computer with a fancy $600 7800GTX, dual core Athlon64, etc. Now that I could pay for it in a couple days, I refuse to buy a $600 GPU ... guess I turned into a cheap bastard 😛

Yeah, but back then you probably also didn't have to pay for your own room and board, and food just magically appeared on the dinner table... 😛

 

[Edrick]

When your output scales linearly or nearly so with more cores/more systems, price/performance is still a valid metric because my 3x R7 1700 systems at stock will significantly outproduce a i9-7900X at comparable total cost and (for my tasks) better efficiency.

I understand for your use cases the 7820X or 7900X makes more sense, but judging by the poll results, the vast majority of participants prefer price/perf.

I am not saying that price/performance is not a valid metric, it clearly is. In fact, when I realized I could buy a 7800X instead of a Xeon Silver 4110 and spend half the money and get the same, if not better performance, I quickly changed my decision. However, that does not make a 7800X a better CPU overall, just simply better for my needs in this case.

But when people talk about best performance (money not an issue) the conversation changes.

 

[Nebor]

While the 7900x is probably not the right chip for you, your logic is just fine. Too many times, people look at item X costs more than item Y, and can't fathom how could you possibly buy item X. But if you earn a salary like a typical educated Anandtech reader, you can pay for the 7900x in a couple days of work. $1000 is honestly nothing in the grand scheme of things (terrible pun). We focus too much on price on this forum whereas a couple hundred here or there really does not matter to most of the readers of this forum. Enjoy your new computer!

Exactly. I make more than that in a day. But I work 60 hours a week, I'm getting another masters degree, and I travel a lot for work. So when my PC breaks on a legit 4-day weekend when I have free time, money is no object in getting it replaced ASAP. There was a sad moment where I turned on my Xbox One, which only has tetris and fibbage installed on it, and scrolled through the games store before realizing, "this whole thing is crap."

 

[Lodix]

Exactly. I make more than that in a day. But I work 60 hours a week, I'm getting another masters degree, and I travel a lot for work. So when my PC breaks on a legit 4-day weekend when I have free time, money is no object in getting it replaced ASAP. There was a sad moment where I turned on my Xbox One, which only has tetris and fibbage installed on it, and scrolled through the games store before realizing, "this whole thing is crap."

Are you single? 😉

I mean it is important to discuss performance/price even if you have all the money in the world so there are improvements in that regard and they dont get "lazy" in terms of innovation/products like happened with intel this years and they started to skyrocket prices. Voting with the wallet matters.

 

[jmelgaard]

Are you single? 😉

I mean it is important to discuss performance/price even if you have all the money in the world so there are improvements in that regard and they dont get "lazy" in terms of innovation/products like happened with intel this years and they started to skyrocket prices. Voting with the wallet matters.

The common price/performance metric we often see discussed is a little pointless from a larger perspective though, instead the performance/watt is much more interesting... That would have to be full system usage though and not just the CPU isolated... (Skylake-X is not a shining example in that department either as far as I can tell though)...

The overall problem is that a true price/performance evaluation becomes very abstract very quickly if you have to consider all factors and I don't see anyone in the HEDT space really bothering with that, so then we are back at a rather meaningless comparison only based on the CPU cost it self.

Personally, given the total price of the pieces I bought, the CPU cost only amounted to about 28%, so saving on the CPU wouldn't really be that visible on the total...

In hindsight Threadripper might perhaps show to have been a better compromise given the reasons I had to go X299 (still somewhat speculations)... The biggest thing is the 180w TDP, the 140 on the i9 was already a really hard pill to swallow, but rated TDP doesn't necessarily map to actual results, so we still have to see... The 1TB of DRAM though, OMG... >.<...

 

[Nebor]

Are you single? 😉

I mean it is important to discuss performance/price even if you have all the money in the world so there are improvements in that regard and they dont get "lazy" in terms of innovation/products like happened with intel this years and they started to skyrocket prices. Voting with the wallet matters.

Hah, yes I'm single. I don't really see it as my duty to keep in Intel or Nvidia in check. Though I will say that Nvidia will never sell me SLI again.

 

[Arachnotronic]

PCs are relatively cheap compared to other hobbies, and considering how much time I spend using them, it's $ well spent.

 

[GoNavy1776]

Just put up a 2558 in Cinebench with all cores at 4.8 @ 1.3v. A couple of cores cracked 90c, however

Additional tweaking of memory subsystem could produce better results. There may be more headroom for clock speed as well.

I wouldn't do.post pro on videos or heavy design rendering knowing that cores are over 90c. Cinebench is what 20 seconds of pain on a cpu. Not an hour of constant 100% cpu usage. Ypur gonna blow that chip or melt the plastic of the socket.