Upgrade from Clarksfield

[VorpalBunny]

Yes, I've been out of the game for some time. The little laptop that won't die is slowly becoming obsolete as a gaming platform, and the last time I made a desktop build was 2002. Over the next month, I hope to get smart again (with your help).

The reason for this post to help clarify which micro-architecture to choose for gaming and Photoshop (but mostly gaming). I want to make this build sooner (< 1 month) rather than later because I've been waiting for so long now. Naturally, I don't have any reusable parts. I'm planning to spend a fair bit of cash on this endeavor including a 4k curved monitor and a VR headset (when it comes out), but knowing that some big improvements to components like video cards are just around the corner, I want to be smart about where I put my money.

I see lots of articles online that both promote and discredit Skylake (LGA 1151, Z170). Evidence appears to show SLI GPU configurations under-perform on Skylake (presumably because of the number of PCIe lanes). Is this accurate? I'm not really looking at overclocking my system at the start so I would rather not determine performance based on how much juice I can pump through the hardware. I would feel comfortable knowing that it's possible to edge out a few extra frames/cycles to extend the life of that hardware.

Anyways, I'd like to go new, but I'm just not convinced that's the best option given the performance of Haswell-E (LGA 2011, X99). What reason is there to buy into Skylake?

Even AnandTech's review (focusing on GPU performance) shows no real winner here. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

 

[Yuriman]

The more limited number of PCIe lanes on 1151 isn't terribly significant for 2 card configurations, but if you're looking to have 3 or 4 you'll definitely want to go LGA 2011.

Skylake offers better per-core performance, in the range of 5-10%, and will probably overclock a little better, in the range of 5%. Performance per watt is improved in Skylake, so you'll more easily be able to build a quiet, lower power machine using 1151. If you're interested in the ITX form factor, 2011 isn't really an option. On the other hand, you can buy 50-100% more cores on 2011.

I expect a Skylake i7 to last a good long time, and will definitely provide a very solid experience in games for a long time. LGA 2011 offers more raw power though, without a doubt.

Given that I favor small footprint, low power, quiet and efficient machines, even with an unlimited budget I would probably opt for Skylake, but Haswell-E is definitely the way to go if these aren't major considerations.

 

[VorpalBunny]

Thank you for the reply. You've given me some things to investigate. I'll see what I can find out with regards to performance between 2 video cards in SLI versus 3 and 4.

Maybe I'm not giving Skylake enough credit. Another good point I read recently was in regards to Intel releases. They typically release a baseline (right word?) and then they release the enthusiast version. Maybe that's what attracted me to Haswell-E and why I thought Skylake (at this time) feels like a side step.

Lower power requirements is important in my mind because that also means less heat and as you pointed out less noise. Price is also important. Using the part picker I can estimate the major differences between the two systems just by picking out cpu, motherboard, and ram.