How Long Can I keep My X99 Going For?

[SpencerUk]

So I've got that itch to upgrade again. Given RyZen 1700 is now out and getting really favourable reviews and I'm hampered by my RAM amount (by slots) in my current X99 build I'm wondering if its worth upgrading my case and board (currently an air 240 with X99E-ITX/ac) to either a bigger case and ATX X99 board or ride my current rig for a couple more years and then move to the AM4 platform.

Don't really want to invest £200 plus a socket that might not have the years for me to ride on.

Thoughts?

 

[AlienALX]

It's fine as it is tbh.

 

[SpencerUk]

It's fine as it is tbh.

I've got that itch.

I use lots of ZBrush and Premier Pro work so I could always use more Ram

Should I just get better ram (16GB 2666 at the moment), ie 32GB 3200 and leave the path open to upgrading?

 

[AngryGoldfish]

If you have the upgrade itch nothing we can say will change that. There are reasons to have an upgrade itch now that AMD are back and questioning the malevolent hand of Intel, but I'll still tell you really don't need to upgrade. Pick up new RAM and that will be fine. Now that we have 16GB dims I don't see any issue with keeping what you've got. The 5820K is an excellent CPU, one of the only good ones Intel has released in many years, and it should be fine for another few years.

Then again, if you have the money to upgrade to Ryzen then go nuts!

 

[BigDaddyKong]

32GB of ram for Ryzen I'd a sticky point right now. There few that I seen run it, are stuck at low speeds.

I think what you have will last a while. I would try putting the money in memory for what you have.

 

[AlienALX]

I've got that itch.

I use lots of ZBrush and Premier Pro work so I could always use more Ram

Should I just get better ram (16GB 2666 at the moment), ie 32GB 3200 and leave the path open to upgrading?

Yup the ram can always go with you. What CPU do you have now?

 

[Dawelio]

Yup the ram can always go with you. What CPU do you have now?

5820K, it's in his signature.

 

[AlienALX]

Ah OK I was on my phone earlier so a bit harder to see.

You shouldn't need to upgrade for ages yet. AMD have only just equalled your CPU tbh. What I mean is, if your 5820k can hit 4.2ghz in that board (usually around the norm) then you will be pushing Ryzen 5 numbers. So unless you are really needing extra cores I would not bother, especially now with everything being so up in the air. IE ram speeds, stability, bugs etc.

I am going to buy Ryzen at some point, I just have absolutely no idea which one etc yet. Simply because none of them work properly yet so I haven't even reached the stage of considering what I want and what my needs are. Probably none, but I always like having the cores on tap for whenever I need them.

I'll also wait for prices to drop, because they always do.

 

[Dicehunter]

Ah OK I was on my phone earlier so a bit harder to see.

You shouldn't need to upgrade for ages yet. AMD have only just equalled your CPU tbh. What I mean is, if your 5820k can hit 4.2ghz in that board (usually around the norm) then you will be pushing Ryzen 5 numbers. So unless you are really needing extra cores I would not bother, especially now with everything being so up in the air. IE ram speeds, stability, bugs etc.

I am going to buy Ryzen at some point, I just have absolutely no idea which one etc yet. Simply because none of them work properly yet so I haven't even reached the stage of considering what I want and what my needs are. Probably none, but I always like having the cores on tap for whenever I need them.

I'll also wait for prices to drop, because they always do.

For productivity Ryzen is great but for gaming the numbers are pretty equal across the board or slightly in Intels favor.

A 5820K should last at least a few more years before it starts to hold a modern GPU back.

 

[AlienALX]

For productivity Ryzen is great but for gaming the numbers are pretty equal across the board or slightly in Intels favor.

A 5820K should last at least a few more years before it starts to hold a modern GPU back.

For gaming the Ryzen 5 should be about equal with the 5820k. That's taking the Broadwell E IPC but maybe lower clocks. It will affect him more because his board can not push his 5820k to the sorts of clocks people expect on later 5820ks.

So he is stuck at 4.2ghz or there abouts meaning Ryzen 5 should be pretty much bang equal.

I benched my 5820k at numerous clocks (including 4.6ghz) and could not get close to Ryzen when threading. I mean it was like a total horror show for my CPU.

That said you are right, theoretically and logically he shouldn't have to upgrade his CPU for years. CPUs just don't make the same sort of progress GPUs do, and Haswell is still very much a good gaming platform

If he is threading though? he will see far more throughput from a Ryzen 7. As I said, completely untouchable even with a 5820k at the very limits.

I'm still not sure I want to commit tbh. I find myself using my computers less and less, and with summer looming and two amazing bikes to ride (and RC cars to run) I can just think of way better things to spend my money on. And my Xeon will only get better with time and support, so I'm kinda wondering if I am going to bother at all.

TBH it won't happen all the time the sun is shining. Maybe when winter closes in and I get really bored? yeah maybe then

 

[Dawelio]

I'm still not sure I want to commit tbh. I find myself using my computers less and less, and with summer looming and two amazing bikes to ride (and RC cars to run) I can just think of way better things to spend my money on. And my Xeon will only get better with time and support, so I'm kinda wondering if I am going to bother at all.

TBH it won't happen all the time the sun is shining. Maybe when winter closes in and I get really bored? yeah maybe then

This was some nice reading Alien, I really enjoy reading most of your long and indepth posts. They are really interesting to read

With that said, when I read the above, I felt like it was myself I was reading about. Guessing I'm not the only one that feels less and less tempted to be and use their PCs these days. With other things in life taking more and more time, than our PCs.

Although, in my case it's a bit different from yours... As I always impulse pull the trigger on components, when I don't really have the money nor really and actually need it. Just because it's more shiny than what I have etc and cause I think it will perform slightly better.

So in all, very good read and gave me a thought of thinking on my own, mostly bad, buy choices. Thanks for this .

 

[SpencerUk]

This was some nice reading Alien, I really enjoy reading most of your long and indepth posts. They are really interesting to read

With that said, when I read the above, I felt like it was myself I was reading about. Guessing I'm not the only one that feels less and less tempted to be and use their PCs these days. With other things in life taking more and more time, than our PCs.

Although, in my case it's a bit different from yours... As I always impulse pull the trigger on components, when I don't really have the money nor really and actually need it. Just because it's more shiny than what I have etc and cause I think it will perform slightly better.

So in all, very good read and gave me a thought of thinking on my own, mostly bad, buy choices. Thanks for this .

I took a step back from computers. When I built my X99 system, I designed it to last longer than my old setup of 2500K and the between gap of my Macbook.

Does faster ram make much of a difference on X99? ie 32GB (2X 16GB 3200)?

ZBrush appears to be quite ram and CPU intensive these days and I won't even consider Maya as the learning curve looks a little too steep.

EDIT: I do like the look of the NZXT Elite S340...More room to work in my case maybe..Custom loop?

 

[Excalabur50]

TBH just go with 32G of 3000mhz ram as the IMC's aren't that strong on some of the x99 platforms and you MAY? struggle to get 3200 running I have a 5930K and it was playing silly buggers to get 3000 running smooth now I know about silicone lottery and all that and as usual looks like i hit the bottom of the barrel but just be careful
And you have years of life left in that CPU yet

 

[AngryGoldfish]

I think that's one of the reasons why I'm likely to buy Ryzen. If I pick up a C6H motherboard it should last me at the very least three years, likely more. If I ever wanted to pop in a better CPU I can. But if I bought a Z270 and a 7700K now, I'd be paying more for the kind of performance I don't really need at 1440p and I'd have to upgrade my motherboard if I wanted the guaranteed more powerful 6-core i7 next year. I don't want to do that. And Vega 10 should last me two years easily. I might try and wing it for longer. Edit: Sorry, this was a bit off-topic.

 

[AlienALX]

I took a step back from computers. When I built my X99 system, I designed it to last longer than my old setup of 2500K and the between gap of my Macbook.

Does faster ram make much of a difference on X99? ie 32GB (2X 16GB 3200)?

ZBrush appears to be quite ram and CPU intensive these days and I won't even consider Maya as the learning curve looks a little too steep.

EDIT: I do like the look of the NZXT Elite S340...More room to work in my case maybe..Custom loop?

The faster ram thing affects all computers fella. Eurogamer did an article on the 2500k forever ago where they showed the difference between 1600mhz and 2133 ram (the max Sandy can do IIRC?). Back then the upgrade was cheap AF as well, about £50 or something silly like that for 16gb DDR3 2133. Sadly it's rocketed since then

But yeah, on CERTAIN games (note the emphasis) ram speed makes an enormous difference. Up to around 30% in some cases !

However, that's not on all games. It seems that some of the newer ones must be coded to actually do a lot more with the ram than older games (larger textures maybe? maybe the physical ram is caching?) and they zip along with better ram.

I'm still running bog standard DDR4. Of course, as soon as I decided to buy my DDR4 rig it shot up in value and hasn't come down since. So I really can't be bothered adding faster ram.

It's the same with Ryzen too. AMD hobbled their chips on release and that's why there seem to be so many "unsure" people kicking around. Which was kinda stupid IMO. They should have delayed release and sorted the issues first.

I know from my own testing that gaming performance gets to a certain point in GHZ and then it starts to slope off. So even if Ryzen can only do 4ghz with the correct ram they should still be formidable gaming CPUs.

 

[SpencerUk]

TBH just go with 32G of 3000mhz ram as the IMC's aren't that strong on some of the x99 platforms and you MAY? struggle to get 3200 running I have a 5930K and it was playing silly buggers to get 3000 running smooth now I know about silicone lottery and all that and as usual looks like i hit the bottom of the barrel but just be careful
And you have years of life left in that CPU yet

Duly noted with the Ram. Thanks

I think that's one of the reasons why I'm likely to buy Ryzen. If I pick up a C6H motherboard it should last me at the very least three years, likely more. If I ever wanted to pop in a better CPU I can. But if I bought a Z270 and a 7700K now, I'd be paying more for the kind of performance I don't really need at 1440p and I'd have to upgrade my motherboard if I wanted the guaranteed more powerful 6-core i7 next year. I don't want to do that. And Vega 10 should last me two years easily. I might try and wing it for longer. Edit: Sorry, this was a bit off-topic.

I prefer AMD or Intel, always have since my Opteron S939 back in the day. Only went for the 5820K because of an Aria deal a couple of years ago...Would love replace the R9 Fury for Vega when it rolls but there's no immediate rush. As long as I can get 1440P 60FPS I'm happy.

The faster ram thing affects all computers fella. Eurogamer did an article on the 2500k forever ago where they showed the difference between 1600mhz and 2133 ram (the max Sandy can do IIRC?). Back then the upgrade was cheap AF as well, about £50 or something silly like that for 16gb DDR3 2133. Sadly it's rocketed since then

But yeah, on CERTAIN games (note the emphasis) ram speed makes an enormous difference. Up to around 30% in some cases !

However, that's not on all games. It seems that some of the newer ones must be coded to actually do a lot more with the ram than older games (larger textures maybe? maybe the physical ram is caching?) and they zip along with better ram.

I'm still running bog standard DDR4. Of course, as soon as I decided to buy my DDR4 rig it shot up in value and hasn't come down since. So I really can't be bothered adding faster ram.

It's the same with Ryzen too. AMD hobbled their chips on release and that's why there seem to be so many "unsure" people kicking around. Which was kinda stupid IMO. They should have delayed release and sorted the issues first.

I know from my own testing that gaming performance gets to a certain point in GHZ and then it starts to slope off. So even if Ryzen can only do 4ghz with the correct ram they should still be formidable gaming CPUs.

I remember the Digital Foundry article re the 2500K and faster ram hence why I asked the speeds on the X99 platform and if it should matter as there's more memory bandwidth on X99 (well from what I understand anyway)

Whilst I do play the odd game (Hitman is really good, sleeper hit IMO), ZBrush is my main thing

To add the legs to my machine do you think I should change out the board to either a Micro or ATX (new case at that point) which would allow better cooling and also more Ram in the future?

 

[AlienALX]

Whatever you decide on just know it really needs to be water cooled in some type or fashion.

I would wait for more reviews of the MATX boards before making the jump too.

 

[SpencerUk]

Whatever you decide on just know it really needs to be water cooled in some type or fashion.

I would wait for more reviews of the MATX boards before making the jump too.

The only MATX Board I'd consider is the EVGA Micro2 as it has USB C but I'd be more tempted to get the NZXT Elite S340 and get the Fatal1ty X99 Professional Gaming i7 and do a custom loop..Currently cooling with the Kraken X41 which is good but at silent the pump makes an awful sound.