Who's buying Skylake-X? (You may now change your vote)

[Edrick]

Ordered a 7820K and Asus TUF Mk.1. Never owned a TUF board before with the built in fan, so hopefully that isn't a reliability concern. Even a mild OC at 4.5-4.6 Ghz on all cores will be absolutely fantastic for my usage. I waited past Ryzen for this and I'm glad I did. Cost was not an issue as I keep my PC's 5-6 years, and I don't mind if it runs a little warm or uses a lot of power as long as it isn't damaging anything.

I ended up ordering the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 3 MB instead of the Asus Tuf Mk1. Same feature more or less (don't need dual NIC), no vertical m.2 and no silly fan and less $.

 

[ManyThreads]

I ended up ordering the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 3 MB instead of the Asus Tuf Mk1. Same feature more or less (don't need dual NIC), no vertical m.2 and no silly fan and less $.

Only $30 cheaper for me here in Canada for the Gaming 3 ($419 vs $459), so I'll probably stick with the TUF just because Asus has been good to me (no issues over 10+ years using their products) and they are usually on the ball with BIOS updates. I don't need dual LAN either but the TUF 1 has a better VRM than the TUF 2, more SATA ports (which I use) and more USB options (which I use), and 5 years warranty is nice (Gigabyte is 3 years AFAIK). I was going to buy Ryzen before, and I was thoroughly impressed by ASUS's engaging of the public and relentless work on giving people updated BIOS's for memory support on the go-to Asus CH6 for AMD. Of course, it should have been done from the start but AMD didn't give them any time. I've heard Gigabyte's support isn't as good but truthfully I haven't dealt with them personally.

I have never had a M2 drive before - so it will stick off vertically, as in perpendicular to the board and easy to snap off? Am I understanding that correctly? If so I can see how that is less than ideal if that is the only way to configure it. I will only be using one M2 SSD if that matters.

I thought it would install like this like on previous TUF boards, unless I am missing something:

 

[Edrick]

I have never had a M2 drive before - so it will stick off vertically, as in perpendicular to the board and easy to snap off? Am I understanding that correctly? If so I can see how that is less than ideal if that is the only way to configure it. I will only be using one M2 SSD if that matters.

I thought it would install like this like on previous TUF boards, unless I am missing something:

Yes, if you are only using a single m.2 drive, then it would go there as in the picture and you need not to worry about the vertical mount. I happen to run 2 m.2 drives, so for me it did matter. I have nothing against ASUS, but I have been happy with Gigabyte for many years now so no need to change for me. But I was very tempted with the TUF mk1 board.

 

[Insomniator]

The only situation I notice my 2500k struggling is while playing a twitch stream on my second stream while playing sc2/overwatch/hots.

I was planning on upgrading to skylake-x, but I dunno, I probably won't even if it were a home run. A Ryzen system is like $300 less. Not upgrading at all would cost 0 dollars.

I want to upgrade, I just have no reason to unless some crazy deal comes along (that microcenter $100 off 1700x/mobo combo was pretty damn close). I just know that after spending ~600-900 dollars on a new CPU, Mobo, Ram etc I'm going to not notice any difference with anything and be like hmmmmmmmmm.

 

[ManyThreads]

Yes, if you are only using a single m.2 drive, then it would go there as in the picture and you need not to worry about the vertical mount. I happen to run 2 m.2 drives, so for me it did matter. I have nothing against ASUS, but I have been happy with Gigabyte for many years now so no need to change for me. But I was very tempted with the TUF mk1 board.

Phew! That vertical configuration does look pretty crappy, just asking to be snapped off. I'm just going with one 960 PRO 512GB, then the rest is SATA (1X Samsung 850 PRo SSD + 4 HDDs).

I'm guessing I'd be happy with the Gigabyte as well, aside from some light overclocking I don't even use a lot of the features all of these boards have these days! I see some bundle processor and mobo deals available but only on the super expensive boards.

 

[TheF34RChannel]

Regardless of platform I go for Asus boards, if only for their fantastic BIOS, updates, BIOS features etc. And looks too.

 

[formulav8]

I go for Asus boards, if only for their fantastic BIOS, updates, BIOS features etc.

And the worst support I've ever dealt with. They appear to be a work from home type support system.

 

[TheF34RChannel]

And the worst support I've ever dealt with. They appear to be a work from home type support system.

I heard equal stories. Just lucky not to have had dealings with them. Only EVGA offers excellent support but make the worst boards.

 

[Ajay]

And the worst support I've ever dealt with. They appear to be a work from home type support system.

Seriously? I hate those. I was on one support call and started hearing kids crying in the background. It became so distracting I had to hang up and call again (to get someone else).

 

[VirtualLarry]

Seriously? I hate those. I was on one support call and started hearing kids crying in the background. It became so distracting I had to hang up and call again (to get someone else).

How does one get one of those jobs? I would LOVE to do "work from home" tech-support.

Edit: I think I have an aptitude in that area, but I would have to spend some time familiarizing myself with a companies' product line, top-to-bottom.

 

[Ajay]

How does one get one of those jobs? I would LOVE to do "work from home" tech-support.

Edit: I think I have an aptitude in that area, but I would have to spend some time familiarizing myself with a companies' product line, top-to-bottom.

Don't know, I was the one in need of tech support.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Don't know, I was the one in need of tech support.

Don't call Intel tech support about Skylake-X.
They'll follow the script and ask "Did you try turning your finances on and off?"

P/S : In case this is a touchy subject, the above was meant in good humor.

 

[Edrick]

Just arrived. No MB yet. Have to wait until Tuesday for that

 

[nwr]

Sorry if this is too OT, but am I the only one who is a little bit baffled by the box "art" of SKL-X? The text orientation, colors, the placement of the elements... to me it looks slightly amateurish to be honest. I remember Intel boxes usually having quite a high stand in regards to their look.
Of course the box design has nothing to with the chip itself and I expect 99.99% of buyers (me including) to not care what the box looks like. I would even appreciate manufacturers not throw away money for meaningless crap like box design. And yet in this case I am bewildered, because it is not like what I expected.

 

[Ajay]

Just arrived. No MB yet. Have to wait until Tuesday for that

Nice! I'm surprised, I thought you were going with an i9 originally?

 

[scannall]

Voted no before, not changing. It's a good product, and a very bad (and hot) value.

 

[Edrick]

Nice! I'm surprised, I thought you were going with an i9 originally?

Meh, this seems to be the sweet spot at $600. Hard to justify $400 for 2 more cores and 16 more pcie lanes. Only use 1 GPU so doesn't matter much. Although the AVX-512 issue almost had me fork over the extra cash.

 

[Timmah!]

Sorry if this is too OT, but am I the only one who is a little bit baffled by the box "art" of SKL-X? The text orientation, colors, the placement of the elements... to me it looks slightly amateurish to be honest. I remember Intel boxes usually having quite a high stand in regards to their look.
Of course the box design has nothing to with the chip itself and I expect 99.99% of buyers (me including) to not care what the box looks like. I would even appreciate manufacturers not throw away money for meaningless crap like box design. And yet in this case I am bewildered, because it is not like what I expected.

Isnt the box art the same as last year, except the background being all black with the X-symbol instead of colorful abstract theme?
I think, aesthetically, it is jusf fine.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Meh, this seems to be the sweet spot at $600. Hard to justify $400 for 2 more cores and 16 more pcie lanes. Only use 1 GPU so doesn't matter much. Although the AVX-512 issue almost had me fork over the extra cash.

The way I see it, and the way that it has been hyped, is that if you are a potential Skylake-X customer, then you either: 1) Care about AVX512, in which case, you should buy the i9 variants exclusively, or 2) You don't care about AVX512, in which case, you should invest in Ryzen or ThreadRipper, and save some cash.

I find it hard to see a middle ground, unless you just prefer to buy Intel for emotional reasons.

 

[Ajay]

I find it hard to see a middle ground, unless you just prefer to buy Intel for emotional reasons.

Or for higher clocks. Honestly, I was getting close to pulling the trigger on a Ryzen system, but just couldn't handle the fact, that at best, I would only match the clocks my current CPU, which came out in 2010. I know Ryzen has much higher IPC and 2 more cores. Maybe Pinnacle Ridge will change my mind (now that there are solid Bioses and fast RAM works with Ryzen).

 

[ub4ty]

- CPU draws too much power
- CPU runs too hot
- For 2 more cores, you get 50% more more power draw over ryzen
- No TIM and no explanation as to why there is no TIM
- Motherboards cost too much money
- CPU is overpriced

Never have done an AMD build in my life but I'm going either Ryzen or Thread-ripper.
I Like their pricing. I like the microarchitecture. I like their roadmap. I like the power draw/thermals. I like that they have TIM.I like that their mobos aren't priced insanely nor are their CPUs. I like that AMD's product line is simplified and easy to analyze. I like that I don't feel cheated.
I also like that I feel like I'm taking part in a larger vision.

Intel's been milking customers all of these years and at a moment when serious competition rears its head they decide to milk some more?

Dropping them w/o hesitation. The only question is if I go Ryzen or Threadripper.
Currently sitting on a beefy quad-core intel build.

 

[Edrick]

The way I see it, and the way that it has been hyped, is that if you are a potential Skylake-X customer, then you either: 1) Care about AVX512, in which case, you should buy the i9 variants exclusively, or 2) You don't care about AVX512, in which case, you should invest in Ryzen or ThreadRipper, and save some cash.

I find it hard to see a middle ground, unless you just prefer to buy Intel for emotional reasons.

I can still develop in AVX-512 with the 7820X. Sure the i9 will be faster, but I'm not going to be sitting here crunching AVX-512 data 24/7 on my desktop. That's what my servers are for .

 

[ZGR]

I hope some of you brave SKY-X souls start a delid overclocking results thread!

 

[Edrick]

I hope some of you brave SKY-X souls start a delid overclocking results thread!

I am not brave enough to delid

 

[ozzy702]

So... if threadripper looks decent I may be building my first AMD rig in a decade. Sorry Intel but I'm just not feeling it. Yeah, I'll take a hit on the IPC and clockspeed coming from a 7700k, but moar cores that run cool sure is appealing, especially if AMD is able to eek out a bit more out of the process by then.