Return Of The Gork

Yup Redders,
Turned the front fan around as an intake.

Really interested in your take on Linus's opinion. I knew it was a hack'n'slash rush job, but I didn't realise it was to this extent.

Whats your take on where Intels X platform takes over from Ryzen?

I know the memory controller was gimped at launch for AMD Ryzen, but I could see that was just to get a stable platform out in the wild, and the updates have been steadily coming out. I just took it as I'd get decent price/performance at launch with at least a small and possibly larger bump later.

Hey Sexy> When I first learnt about x299 I never understood why they supporting like mainstream chips but on the x299 setup. With nerfed Pci lanes, nerfed memory channels.

The X series at least Intel wise for quite a few years now has always been aimed at the PC nerd who wanted the best performance even if they had to pay the extra premium. In most cases it represents poor value compared to their mainstream counterparts but always offered arguably features that made it a compelling buy over the mainstream equivalents.

If you look at the chips it going to support it looks like they are trying to cover everything to try and combat AMD Ryzen and it upcoming Threadripper.

Secondly Threadripper was never a consideration for me as to be totally honest I didn't even know about it. Ryzen got me excited but in a different way. Ultimately it did not make sense for me to switch as it is mostly a sidegrade move for me at least that how it seems to be. So I stopped following any more AMD related stuff.

However I would totally reconsider given 2 main criteria for me. That the cores are comparably overclockable. While any cpu is a silicone lottery if a majority are going to clock well then that is more important to me. It offers close to at least the same features as the x299. WHen I had a z170 setup last year I loved it for the features it brought to my setup. Just made things a little easier. X99 is long in the tooth now.

Would I make the switch if Threadripper fulfilled these criteria. I am on the fence about this as the last time I had an AMD based setup was in the days of the 4800x2 days. Which is what about 10+ years ago? Difficult to say for me as I have been so long with Intel now I know updates and support is fairly common. My biggest fear is jumping on the Threadripper bandwagon and then either a)finding support not as good as intel or b)this is more than likely out of the two there is support but doing a Ryzen type sceanario where they rush it out and then update later but I am not willing to wait or having the lack of patience.

One of my biggest gripes against AMD at least when I owned their graphics cards was their lack of updates compared to nvidias spam updates for the sake of updating so it seems like they are doing something but then actually breaks something. WHich is not a problem if you play a triple AAA title but if you played a game and there was an issue it could be months before being fixed.

I don't think they should be supporting their lesser chips as their own Kabylake setup does thtat well atm and atm I have yet to seen anything which beats in pure gaming sceanario so they are treading on their own platform let alone AMD's.

AMD CPU division is in the driving seat this time round I feel as everything is a knee jerk reaction. BUt time will tell if I stick if x299 and make the switch back to AMD cpu's. X299 is going to cost a lot for what I want to buy then factor in cooling for it. A new pc case.

Well, I have made my self an i7 7700k system too, will post the pic soon here. Though I haven't been near to OC. Will do it sometime.

Update.

Didn;t go X299 or threadripper in the end. Went the Z370 route instead. Bought the 8700k instead. And I am not sure why although I suspect it due to wanting something different I went with an ITX board and case for it. And don;t even ask me how I am going to run my 1080 ti in it although I might have to ghetto it until I sort somehting more permanent out.

And in a more bizarro twist even though I bought that setup I picked up a 5960x just in case.

I did at first. But for the price I got it for I am more than happy with it.

so is the hype about 8700k justfied? I would have to say so. So when I made the post I noticed you run the passmark benchamrk. I ahve never ever used it before I think. But I needed a baseline and I know you have nice setups with loads of ram and mutilcore cpu's. On the 5960 x it about 6100 and that with it clocked at 4.4ghz. If you can control the temps then you can clock it higher. I have had it as high as 4.7ghz but can;t control the temps. You are now entering the territory of custom watercooling loops with a t least 2x360mm radiators. Also the power draw if left to it own devices and overclocked it will eat psu's up. and with a 1080 ti overclocked add another 350w.

As for the 8700k which I have clocked at 5ghz it totally opposite. When pure clock speed over core count is it main trick then power draw and temps are more than reasonable. In heavy benching with 1080ti it total power draw is about 350-400w. In synthetic benchmark testing against the the 5960x it more than equal if not more so until I find a way to get the temps under control.

Mine has been delidded and liquid metal applied. It is this which allows it to hit how clock speeds due to larger temperature headroom. In passmark it has a score of 8400. But I am about to start overclocking the memory which is currently running at 3600mhz. I am hoping I can hit 4000mhz.

In my real world usage which let's be honest it just purely gaming they feel similar with the obvious fact that the z370 feels just a that bit snappier due to it being a newer platform than the aging x99 platform. With SLI/ Crossfire gaming support almost non existent than say like 2 years ago it makes the x99 a dead duck compared to the z370.

My biggest struggle is convince myself to invest in custom cooling for an aging platform with no long term future with sli/crossfire gaming at it lowest point.


BUt Now I am eyeing up an X299 with a delidded 7900x running at 5ghz and Asus R6E with phanteks elite case and hardline watercooling..