Broadwell-E Owners Thread

[Brent]

The Gigabyte GA-X99P-SLI doesn't look too bad, but be careful with the BIOS if you go for any of the BDW-E CPUs: you aren't guaranteed compatibility out of the box for the new CPUs with an "older" motherboard like that one or the GA-X99-UD3P.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

First: Thank you for your lengthy and well-thought-out response to my questions. There is no "one configuration works for everyone" here - that's the beauty of being a hardware enthusiast.. even if you're more of an armchair enthusiast like myself.

Second, to answer your question, there are X99-based motherboards with Alpine Ridge the Gigabyte X99P-SLI is supposed to have it. I also see the ASUS' "refresh" motherboards are supporting an Alpine Ridge-based add-on card per http://www.fudzilla.com/news/40663-asus-announces-new-rog-strix-x99-gaming-motherboard

For myself: I'm leaning more towards the 6800 on the X99 platform. All of these motherboard chipsets are "doomed" to eventually fade into obsolescence over the years. We just have to buy and hope that our choices will last long enough to reduce the TCO for us while providing maximum bang-for-the-buck at the time we buy.

The 6700K vs 6800K question is almost a joke since the differences aren't too extreme. Socket 1151 has at least 1 more processor upgrade for it but do we want to buy today based on what might come later (and is already known to have a new motherboard chipset - the Z270, if I am not mistaken).. or do we go with the established-and-venerable Socket 2011-v3 and either the Haswell-E or Broadwell-E CPUs, knowing that BDW-E is the last CPU for the socket?

It's not an easy question but I am finding myself leaning more-and-more towards the 6800K just to have the extra cores..even if I never need them.

If I had to buy today, I'd probably go with the 6800k or, if on sale, the 5820k or 5930k. I think the discussion here today has convinced me that X99 is probably the way to go.

 

[mnewsham]

The Gigabyte GA-X99P-SLI doesn't look too bad, but be careful with the BIOS if you go for any of the BDW-E CPUs: you aren't guaranteed compatibility out of the box for the new CPUs with an "older" motherboard like that one or the GA-X99-UD3P.

Yeah, i'm not sure if MSI was particularly good about it, but i've had a BIOS available since early/mid april that added support for Broadwell-E and EP. Even supports the new 22 core 44 thread bastard in the form of the E5-2699 v4. Not that I will ever have a reason to need 22 cores and 44 threads.

 

[palladium]

Probably 6800k. 6900k if i have more spare cash. My nehalem has served me well but I can feel its time is up. All i'm waiting is for GP100. Or maybe I should go 6700k/gtx 1080 now..

 

[rchunter]

I'd like a 6800k. I already have a evga 980ti so that's fine for now. We will see... Maybe in the next few months I can finally upgrade from x58 chipset.

 

[AdamK47]

6950X @ 4GHz vs. 5960X @ 4GHz

 

[Brent]

Not that I will ever have a reason to need 22 cores and 44 threads.

Why does this remind me of the old "640K ought to be enough for anybody." quote (that may or may not be legitimately tied to Bill Gates)? Hah!

 

[biostud]

Are there X99 ATX mobos with four evenly-spaced PCI-E x16 slots? (Even if they are electrically x8?)

I own what I consider to be a magnificent (Edit: AMD 6-core, Thuban) workstation board of the time, an MSI 790X-something, that has four evenly-spaced PCI-E x16 slots, that can run in x16/x16 or x8/x8/x8/x8. I have used it for distributed-computing, with three or four video cards (single-slot, in my case), power-supply permitting.

I would like to do something like that again, build a nice "crunch rig", maybe with 4x Polaris 10 / RX 480 cards, if they are really $200. (Like the list price of my single-slot HD4850 cards before them.)

Would such a mobo, if it exists, work in x8/x8/x8/x8 mode, with a 6800K CPU? Or would you need a 6850K or whatever the one with more PCI-E lanes? I'm pretty budget-conscious, so if this isn't going to work with the cheaper chips, I probably won't do it.

Edit: This one looks pretty nice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128885

Asrock X99 professional or Asrock X99 OC formula. I think Asrock was the first company with a BW-E ready bios.

 

[Aristotelian]

Decided. I'm getting the 6950X. I voted now but will be ordering it when the Asus Rampage V Edition 10 is out. Good news is that the price has already dropped a bit in the EU from EUR 1799 to around 1710, so...(lol).

 

[Drazick]

I want 6 / 8 Cores + Iris Pro 580 + 128MB eDRAM + 140W TDP.

Where can I get one or vote for one ?

 

[Arachnotronic]

Decided. I'm getting the 6950X. I voted now but will be ordering it when the Asus Rampage V Edition 10 is out. Good news is that the price has already dropped a bit in the EU from EUR 1799 to around 1710, so...(lol).

Congrats! Let us know how it overclocks.

 

[Arachnotronic]

6950X @ 4GHz vs. 5960X @ 4GHz

Nice. Is 4GHz as high as it goes? What Vcore did you need in order to hit that frequency? What temps are you seeing at load?

 

[LTC8K6]

Turn off 2 cores on the 6950 and see how they compare?

 

[crashtech]

6950X @ 4GHz vs. 5960X @ 4GHz

<snip>

Do you plan to run Cinebench 11.5, if only to add your result to the thread?

 

[AdamK47]

Nice. Is 4GHz as high as it goes? What Vcore did you need in order to hit that frequency? What temps are you seeing at load?

4GHz is all I tried so far. It's the same speed I ran my 5960X at. I'd be happy at 4GHz for 24/7 use.

 

[AdamK47]

Do you plan to run Cinebench 11.5, if only to add your result to the thread?

I'll try to run it later.

 

[Rvenger]

My 6800k will be here Friday or Monday.

 

[crashtech]

The Gigabyte GA-X99P-SLI doesn't look too bad, but be careful with the BIOS if you go for any of the BDW-E CPUs: you aren't guaranteed compatibility out of the box for the new CPUs with an "older" motherboard like that one or the GA-X99-UD3P.

That's probably true, and if anyone has a problem mating an older X99 board with a Broadwell-E chip, they might send it to someone like me with a Haswell-E that would flash it for them.

 

[Arachnotronic]

My 6800k will be here Friday or Monday.

Congrats man!

 

[2blzd]

I don't know if I can't until mid July like I was planning for this...

Been working in Lightroom all week and my 4 core lynnfield is not cutting it. UGH

I need that 6800k NOW!

 

[Arachnotronic]

I don't know if I can't until mid July like I was planning for this...

Been working in Lightroom all week and my 4 core lynnfield is not cutting it. UGH

I need that 6800k NOW!

6800K is an awesome chip, hope you can get it ASAP.

 

[sauria]

Asrock X99 professional or Asrock X99 OC formula. I think Asrock was the first company with a BW-E ready bios.

Have you tried the 3.1 BIOS?

 

[sauria]

Nice. Is 4GHz as high as it goes? What Vcore did you need in order to hit that frequency? What temps are you seeing at load?

Thanks, my 5960X does 4.5 GHz pretty easily. Can the Broadwell-E do this?

 

[2blzd]

I'm ready to buy this but for some reason I can't...

That skylake-x announcement...I need a new CPU now so its moot, but still...I'd rather invest into a platform with 3 generations of CPUs...Where as broadwell-e is the last gen of x99


On another note, I was planning on getting a Noctua NH-D15 for it...is that good enough? what cooler are you all running?

 

[RaistlinZ]

Got my 6800K last week. I was able to get it for $399.99 with a gift card, which I think is a good price.

I can only overclock to 4.3GHz so far at 1.325v. At 4.4GHz the system would immediately lock up. 4.3GHZ seems about normal for the 6800K so I guess it'll have to do.