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i5 6600K, i7 6700K CPUs & Z170 Mobos out next week; Upgrade or wait to see AMD's Zen?

japtor

Member
I'm deciding between that and skylake for my upgrade of my old Q6700 that is finally giving up the ghost. My worry is that x99 will be outdated and skylake-E would come out with the x1xx platform. I'd prefer something that stuck around at least 2 Gens.
Not sure how much the E series will get but EP/EX (Xeon E5/E7) will be getting a fancy new PCH, and the CPU itself is purportedly getting some nice improvements (ilke AVX-512 finally). Course that's set for like early 2017, but there's also rumors about skipping Broadwell-EP and pushing up Skylake...but even if true that'd still be about year off from now.
Pretty much. Intel isn't threatened so they are pushing more powerful chips into the higher margin server space rather then using them to compete with AMD
Well that, and most of the money is in the server space and mobile computing now.
- USB 3.1a is most likely going to catch on over the next 3-4 years (about how long I keep a platform) and no one has a good full implementation yet, so that will probably come by way of add in PCIe cards that need a lot of lanes (if you need multiple ports)
Assuming you mean 10Gbps USB* (cause "A" just refers to the current form factor) there's uh, ASMedia's and Intel's Alpine Ridge (TB3/USB3.1). It'll be interesting to see how much penetration Intel gets beyond Macs, supposedly they're making some progress.

*Which is "USB 3.1 gen 2" according to the USB IF, while 3.0 can now also be called "USB 3.1 gen 1". Yay for branding confusion! Luckily that naming scheme doesn't seem to have much traction, but there's not much actually out yet. "Superspeed 10Gbps" (or just 10Gbps) is clear at least so hopefully manufacturers use that to stand out.
 

Fractal

Banned
ithasbegun.gif

dontbellievehislies.jpg

Let's all wait for real reviews before we grab our torches and pitchforks guys
Yeah... as far as I know, WCCFtech is far from a reputable tech site, seems like they're stirring some controversy to grab a few early clicks. Let's wait for something a bit more credible.
 

Tovarisc

Member
MSI Z170A GAMING M7 (Intel LGA-1151) review by TechPowerUp; http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/Z170A_GAMING_M7/

cpuz_oc.jpg


Edit: Embargo ends 5th 5AM PDT / 2PM CEST
 

Tovarisc

Member
At 1.44v though. Yikes. At what point is this a suicide overclock?

No one said that was safe and/or stable OC ;) Still quite impressive that i7 6700K can reach 5GHz on air cooling and be stable-ish. It was reached by using preset thingy on mobo, read article.

I expect proper CPU benches and OC tests to be released in few hours when embargo ends.

Finger on i5 6600K order trigger
 

knitoe

Member
No one said that was safe and/or stable OC ;) Still quite impressive that i7 6700K can reach 5GHz on air cooling and be stable-ish. It was reached by using preset thingy on mobo, read article.

I expect proper CPU benches and OC tests to be released in few hours when embargo ends.

Finger on i5 6600K order trigger

install_b.jpg

Looks like, they are using a AIO water cooler.
 

Tovarisc

Member
install_b.jpg

Looks like, they are using a AIO water cooler.

Well that is me not paying enough attention :D Now even more interested to see CPU benches and how high it goes on air. That particular MSI mobo comes with build in switch for different OC levels and highest is for 5GHz, I want to know if air can handle it.
 
Well that is me not paying enough attention :D Now even more interested to see CPU benches and how high it goes on air. That particular MSI mobo comes with build in switch for different OC levels and highest is for 5GHz, I want to know if air can handle it.

AIO isn't much better than Noctua D15 or Phanteks.

Stil 5Ghz at 1.44 is better than typical Haswell samples
 
I am upgrading my i7 930 to a hex core xeon this week. I have got a x5650 and a x5670 and will see which one I can get running best. It will cost £50-70 minus whatever I can sell the 930 for. I think a xeon should see me fine for the foreseeable future. The major limiting factor for gaming will remain the graphics card. Things like USB 3.1 are a total non-essential for me.
 

SleazyC

Member
Looks like most review sites are having no problem OC'ing to around 4.7GHz. Pushing past 4.8GHz seems to require a voltage spike that is somewhat scary to think about.

I'm excited to see more about the effects of memory bandwidth on gaming performance as well as seeing how well some more exotic water-cooling systems handle increased temperatures and if it allows to OC to higher levels.

Overall seems like a solid upgrade but not going to be pushing many people using Haswell or Broadwell to step up to it.
 

GeoNeo

I disagree.
tiny improvement over the 4790k...

Shouldn't have held off on upgrading for so long D:

Oh well! Looks like I'll be a proud owner of a new i7-6700k soon. What's the best AIO water cooler out there?

You're in Australia right Zap? You should just hop on the x99 train. You can get a 6 core 5820K for $524 (staticice) compared to 6700K which on staticice is going for $538.

6700K prices in Australia are a fucking joke lol.
 

Shiina

Member
I actually had a similar thought. My i5-2500k still performs well but I'm afraid it'll shit the bed sooner or later as I've had it for over 4 years. Maybe trying to sell it while it's still operational would be the smarter choice.
 

Evo X

Member
Reading the reviews, most are saying that it is a worthy upgrade from Sandy Bridge, but anyone with a later CPU can hold on for now.

Think I'm gonna give my 2500k system to my Dad and build a Skylake for myself. Or maybe look into going the Haswell-E 6 core route.
 

Uhh ...

Anandtech said:
There’s no easy way to write this.

Discrete graphics card performance decreases on Skylake over Haswell.

This doesn’t particularly make much sense at first glance. Here we have a processor with a higher IPC than Haswell but it performs worse in both DDR3 and DDR4 modes. The amount by which it performs worse is actually relatively minor, usually -3% with the odd benchmark (GRID on R7 240) going as low as -5%.
 
Ay this is hilarius

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/10

Conclusions on Gaming

There’s no easy way to write this.

Discrete graphics card performance decreases on Skylake over Haswell.

This doesn’t particularly make much sense at first glance. Here we have a processor with a higher IPC than Haswell but it performs worse in both DDR3 and DDR4 modes. The amount by which it performs worse is actually relatively minor, usually -3% with the odd benchmark (GRID on R7 240) going as low as -5%. Why does this happen at all?

So we passed our results on to Intel, as well as a few respected colleagues in the industry, all of whom were quite surprised. During a benchmark, the CPU performs tasks and directs memory transfers through the PCIe bus and vice versa. Technically, the CPU tasks should complete quicker due to the IPC and the improved threading topology, so that only leaves the PCIe to DRAM via CPU transfers.

Our best guess, until we get to IDF to analyze what has been changed or a direct explanation from Intel, is that part of the FIFO buffer arrangement between the CPU and PCIe might have changed with a hint of additional latency. That being said, a minor increase in PCIe overhead (or a decrease in latency/bandwidth) should be masked by the workload, so there might be something more fundamental at play, such as bus requests being accidentally duplicated or resent due to signal breakdown. There might also be a tertiary answer of an internal bus not running at full speed. To be sure, we rested some benchmarks on a different i7-6700K and a different motherboard, but saw the same effect. We’ll see how this plays out on the full-speed tests.

A regression in performance over a 2 year old proc lmao
 


I'm still probably going to get one of these, even with this. I basically want a new start of a system and will sell off my old stuff to my brother. Considering I've been using the same cooler for god knows how long and is dusty as fuck, time for a change.
 

Zaptruder

Banned
You're in Australia right Zap? You should just hop on the x99 train. You can get a 6 core 5820K for $524 (staticice) compared to 6700K which on staticice is going for $538.

6700K prices in Australia are a fucking joke lol.

Yeah, you're right. And after seeing that bit about the discrete GPU regression... might as well move now rather than wait a week...

Or I might even just go with the 4790k. Damn. Feeling bitter now. D:
 

tokkun

Member
I still see no reason to upgrade my 2600k that is running comfortably at 4500mhz.

Kind of disappointing actually. Was looking forward to doing an upgrade.
 

impact

Banned
I still see no reason to upgrade my 2600k that is running comfortably at 4500mhz.

Kind of disappointing actually. Was looking forward to doing an upgrade.

Most people with K processors don't really have a reason to upgrade

It's so damn weird how most console games are CPU bottlenecked and most PC games (except garbage like Source engine) the CPU is hardly ever stressed above 50-60%. These i5/i7s are just straight beast.

edit: I do need to upgrade my damn CPU fan though. Still running stock for some reason.
 
Most people with K processors don't really have a reason to upgrade

It's so damn weird how most console games are CPU bottlenecked and most PC games (except garbage like Source engine) the CPU is hardly ever stressed above 50-60%. These i5/i7s are just straight beast.

edit: I do need to upgrade my damn CPU fan though. Still running stock for some reason.

Do you think I should stick with my 3570K and then just upgrade my CPU cooler and OC the crap out of it?
 
I still see no reason to upgrade my 2600k that is running comfortably at 4500mhz.

Kind of disappointing actually. Was looking forward to doing an upgrade.

From Anandtech's review:

Sandy Bridge, Your Time Is Up.

A large number of users invested into Intel based platforms during the Core 2 Quad, Nehalem and Sandy Bridge releases. Sandy Bridge was notable because it inferred a large performance gain at stock speeds, and with a good processor anyone could reach 4.7 GHz and even higher using a good high end cooler. With that, Intel has had a problem enticing these users to upgrade because their performance has been constantly matched by Ivy Bridge, Haswell and Broadwell – for every 5% IPC increase from the CPU, an average 200 MHz was lost on the good overclock and they would have to find a good overclocking CPU again. There was no great reason, apart from chipset functionality to upgrade.

That changes with Skylake.

From a clock-to-clock performance perspective, Skylake gives an average ~25% better performance in CPU based benchmarks, and when running both generations of processors at their stock speeds that increase jumps up to 37%. In specific tests, it is even higher. When you scale up to a 4.5 GHz Skylake against a 4.7 GHz Sandy Bridge, the 4% frequency difference is only a tiny portion of that. There are other added benefits, such as the move to a DDR4 memory topology that has denser memory modules, as well as PCIe storage and even PCIe 3.0 graphics connectivity.

You're looking at a 25%+ increase going from Sandy Bridge to Skylake it seems. Still, it doesn't seem like there's much here for people who are on Ivy Bridge or newer. I'm really disappointed, I thought there would have been a bigger leap.
 

GeoNeo

I disagree.
Yeah, you're right. And after seeing that bit about the discrete GPU regression... might as well move now rather than wait a week...

Or I might even just go with the 4790k. Damn. Feeling bitter now. D:

$524 5820K @ Budget PC Vic (or $559 at pccasegear)

+

$399 MSI X99A SLI Krait Edition (comes with USB 3.1)

or if you don't care about USB 3.1 you can get a cheaper MB from PCCaseGear. :)
 

Shiina

Member
From Anandtech's review:



You're looking at a 25%+ increase going from Sandy Bridge to Skylake it seems. Still, it doesn't seem like there's much here for people who are on Ivy Bridge or newer. I'm really disappointed, I thought there would have been a bigger leap.

Do those 25% actually translate to in-game performance though or is that just benchmark wank?
 
From Anandtech's review:



You're looking at a 25%+ increase going from Sandy Bridge to Skylake it seems. Still, it doesn't seem like there's much here for people who are on Ivy Bridge or newer. I'm really disappointed, I thought there would have been a bigger leap.

I was looking at the gaming benchmarks from the same article, and there really isn't that huge of a difference at 1080p,

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/16
 

daveo42

Banned
From Anandtech's review:

You're looking at a 25%+ increase going from Sandy Bridge to Skylake it seems. Still, it doesn't seem like there's much here for people who are on Ivy Bridge or newer. I'm really disappointed, I thought there would have been a bigger leap.

I suppose that's more good news for me coming from a 930, though it's kind of crazy to see only minor gains from Intel with their new processor line. Intel needs some serious competition to get them back in gear and AMD's offerings as of late have not really kept up. Zen might be different, but it's still too soon to tell.
 
From Anandtech's review:



You're looking at a 25%+ increase going from Sandy Bridge to Skylake it seems. Still, it doesn't seem like there's much here for people who are on Ivy Bridge or newer. I'm really disappointed, I thought there would have been a bigger leap.

Okay so as a 2500k owner, it's probably time? I'm OC to 4.6 I think but upgrading sounds like it's worth it, finally

Got a 980ti so I'm set on video card at least but gotta upgrade everything else :/
 
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