Is the 2600K the most future proof CPU ever?

[StinkyPinky]

Still on an OC'd i7 920 X58 @ 3.6GHZ.

It's only been recently that the computer has been feeling a bit slow. So I'll upgrade this Christmas.

The thing I miss was it was easy to pick out an i7 920 X58 combo as the best bang for long term buck.

Now the decision sucks.
Kabylake, SkylakeX, Coffelake, Ryzen, Threadripper. What the hell do I buy?

The X58 machine had 4C8T, triple channel RAM, and 40 PCIe 2.0 lanes. I'd hate to go back to a 4C8T, dual channel, 16PCIe machine. That kind of throws mainstream kabylake out and possibly Ryzen, (although I'd at least get 8C16T)

Skylake X is so damn expensive to get above 28PCIe lanes, (thanks Intel).

Right now it looks like maybe Threadripper. X399 looks like the best platform. I'm just concerned about the single threaded performance.

Well, what do you actually do on your PC? Do you need all those PCIe lanes?

 

[Abwx]

The oldest and most future proof CPU ever is actually AMD A10-5800K Trinity. Intel Core i7-2600K is nearly-close, but its GPU is getting slow and uncompetitive today (unless you put in your graphic card).

CPU wise the FX8350 is more future proofed, certainly as much if not more than the 2600K, the average below use up to date softwares ISA wise, but not all legs are streched for the FX (at least two softs use less than 8C, RAM speed is 1600MHz, only compression is tested in the archivers...).

http://www.hardware.fr/articles/965-2/performances-applicatives.html

 

[SPBHM]

CPU wise the FX8350 is more future proofed, certainly as much if not more than the 2600K, the average below use up to date softwares ISA wise, but not all legs are streched for the FX (at least two softs use less than 8C, RAM speed is 1600MHz, only compression is tested in the archivers...).

http://www.hardware.fr/articles/965-2/performances-applicatives.html

the 2600K is 1 year and 10 months older than the 8350 and OCs more, so keep that in mind;
more representative would be 8150 vs 2500K, since the 8150 is only 10 months newer than the 2500K and the cost was around the same.

all the applications used there seem to be MT heavy, while current and future desktop usage also have cases that are still more ST limited, OK, MT gets more important and ST less but you still have tasks that hit that bottleneck like if you look at games on the same test the 8350 is only 86% of a stock 2500k, and the 8150 79%, even for more professional applications you often find cases that are still heavy and ST limited.

and their gaming test suite also seems to be up to date.
the test is very interesting, main thing missing really is OC I think.

 

[Paratus]

Well, what do you actually do on your PC? Do you need all those PCIe lanes?

Gaming, office work, some video stuff, and my wife does some photo editing.

I'm currently using the PCIe slots for a GPU, capture card, and a USB3.0/SATA 6.0 card. I could probably get by with 16 if I had to.

However if I have to split lanes on a new mainstream board then I've got the same bandwidth I have now. Seems kind of a waste to basically run at 16X PCIe 2.0 speeds for more than a decade.

You can always go the cheap route for now. Xeon 56xx 6 core/12 thread Westmere's are $20 or so. And easy to hit 4.2 Ghz on. Often higher depending on the luck of the draw.

I've considered that but if I'm going to take the time to change out a CPU I really would like to upgrade the whole PC at this point. I've been using the same case since my P4 Prescott circa 04 and it's limited thermally and size wise, (4x80mm case fans, max CPU cooler 92mm fan, no room for AIO water cooler). Not to mention the power button is on it's last legs and my fans are starting to fail.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Now the decision sucks.
Kabylake, SkylakeX, Coffelake, Ryzen, Threadripper. What the hell do I buy?

The X58 machine had 4C8T, triple channel RAM, and 40 PCIe 2.0 lanes. I'd hate to go back to a 4C8T, dual channel, 16PCIe machine. That kind of throws mainstream kabylake out and possibly Ryzen, (although I'd at least get 8C16T)

Gaming, office work, some video stuff, and my wife does some photo editing.

I'm currently using the PCIe slots for a GPU, capture card, and a USB3.0/SATA 6.0 card. I could probably get by with 16 if I had to.

Lets see. With "mainstream" Ryzen you'd get 16+4 PCIe 3.0 lanes. The "+4" are usually used for the M.2 slot. Another 4 PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU is used for the chipset*, which in turn provides a 10Gbit USB3.1 controller, 8 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 8 SATA ports. In addition the CPU provides a single USB3 controller*(2).

So using a fully equipped ATX board, you could get by with AM4 Ryzen. I'm amazed just how much performance I'm getting out of my 1700, and it sips power too. But I'll admit TR looks awfully tempting if you're talking video editing.

*X370/Crosshair VI used as example.
*2 Ryzen is a full-on SoC, so it actually doesn't "need" the chipset to function. Its just there to add I/O capabilities.