Looking for a CPU recommendation

[kt401]

First off, my current setup is OLD. I'm still using Yorkfield (Q9450) on an X38 board with 4GB of memory. It's high time for an upgrade.

I use my home computer for gaming, surfing and running VMs. I will have at least two VMs running at all times - a small website (Linux-based, runlevel 3) and the other might be a media center (also Linux-based, likely with a GUI). I may have a few more VMs online for testing and/or monitoring purposes.

Here's what I have planned so far:
CPU: Core i7-5820k (six-core)
MB: eVGA X99
RAM: 16GB of DDR4-2400
GPU: eVGA GeForce GTX 970
HDs: 2x Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (RAID-0)

My goal is to be able to have everything running, then starting up a game without a hitch when the mood strikes. I know it sounds a bit far-fetched but it'd be nice to not have to shut everything down, or experience slowdowns in the midst of it all. Does this sound feasible? Is this setup just powerful enough, over-powered or under-powered?

 

[Arachnotronic]

Looks great.

 

[GOLI@TH]

First off, my current setup is OLD. I'm still using Yorkfield (Q9450) on an X38 board with 4GB of memory. It's high time for an upgrade.

I use my home computer for gaming, surfing and running VMs. I will have at least two VMs running at all times - a small website (Linux-based, runlevel 3) and the other might be a media center (also Linux-based, likely with a GUI). I may have a few more VMs online for testing and/or monitoring purposes.

Here's what I have planned so far:
CPU: Core i7-5820k (six-core)
MB: eVGA X99
RAM: 16GB of DDR4-2400
GPU: eVGA GeForce GTX 970
HDs: 2x Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (RAID-0)

My goal is to be able to have everything running, then starting up a game without a hitch when the mood strikes. I know it sounds a bit far-fetched but it'd be nice to not have to shut everything down, or experience slowdowns in the midst of it all. Does this sound feasible? Is this setup just powerful enough, over-powered or under-powered?

I'm not too familiar with VM.
But, as far as i know running VM whilst gaming is an intense multitasking. More cores would be better.

I think 5820k would be good enough to serve your computation needs.
Also there is another alternative, 2nd hand x79 system with 8C/16T xeon.

 

[kt401]

I should probably add that I do plan on water-cooling and overclocking the CPU, perhaps to 4.0+ GHz

 

[Stuka87]

What games will you be playing? More demanding games may take a hit because of the VMs. The more cores you can afford the better.

But looking at the system you use now, the performance jump should be huge, so probably wont be an issue.

Also, that is a 140W CPU, so get a good cooler, even if you are leaving it at stock speeds.

 

[kt401]

What games will you be playing? More demanding games may take a hit because of the VMs. The more cores you can afford the better.

But looking at the system you use now, the performance jump should be huge, so probably wont be an issue.

Also, that is a 140W CPU, so get a good cooler, even if you are leaving it at stock speeds.

There are a few games I play on a regular basis but I play lots of new ones as they are released. Consider it hardcore, bleeding edge gaming.

Yes, I will use liquid cooling. Most likely a Corsair H60/H75 or similar.

 

[Stuka87]

For a 140W chip, you will want a 240mm cooler if you are going to overclock at all.

For games that can use six cores, your VMs will suffer during those times. But if they are very low load, maybe that wont matter.

 

[kt401]

I haven't heard of any games that use all available cores. The most intensive one I know of is Battlefield 4 which I think uses only three. I'm sure in the future more intensive ones will come out.

Aiming for the Micro ATX form factor here. 240mm cooler is a tough cookie to crack in one of those cases. Hmm...

 

[Stuka87]

I haven't heard of any games that use all available cores. The most intensive one I know of is Battlefield 4 which I think uses only three. I'm sure in the future more intensive ones will come out.

Aiming for the Micro ATX form factor here. 240mm cooler is a tough cookie to crack in one of those cases. Hmm...

BF4 will use up to 8 cores. My 4690K at 4.5GHz runs at around 80-85% utilization when playing 64 man games on all four cores.

 

[toyota]

I haven't heard of any games that use all available cores. The most intensive one I know of is Battlefield 4 which I think uses only three. I'm sure in the future more intensive ones will come out.

Aiming for the Micro ATX form factor here. 240mm cooler is a tough cookie to crack in one of those cases. Hmm...

Crysis 3 will eat 4 cores for lunch in many spots. at times I see over 80-85% usage on an EIGHT thread 4770k...