The leap to X99. Worth it?

[Pkekyo]

Right

I bought an Asus Rampage IV Black Edition and i7 4930K CPU for my Cross Desk build, but had to RMA them both.
Last night, I was notified that I'm getting a refund of roughly $1320 USD.

So now I'm facing a dilemma. Should I track down another R4BE (retailer has stopped stocking it), and buy a second 4930K - or should I jump the X99 bandwagon to make my build even more future-proof?

I've got half an eye at the Asus X99-Deluxe motherboard, but on account of the theme of my build, I would have to paint all the white bits and pieces black. Are there any X99-motherboards similar to it that are black (with IO cover and all)?
I have heard mixed opinions about the X99-Deluxe though, so I'd love to hear from anyone with first-hand experience.

The CPU I would be getting in combination with the X99-Deluxe would be the i7 5930K. Any pitfalls about this one I should know about?

Also: Are DDR4 RAM-slots backwards compatible? 'cause I have 64GB worth of high-end DDR3 RAM here that would essentially be paperweights if not, so that's a major factor to consider.

[MrKickkiller]

DDR3 and DDR4 are not compatible

[virtualTune]

DO IT! The more people do it, the cheaper it's gonna get for the rest

 

Seriously though, why do you have 64GB of ram ???

[Pkekyo]

Because my motherboard had eight slots for RAM?  :rolleyes:

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Also: Are DDR4 RAM-slots backwards compatible? 'cause I have 64GB worth of high-end DDR3 RAM here that would essentially be paperweights if not, so that's a major factor to consider.

 

X99 needs DDR4. So get another 4930K, unless you can sell the DDR3 for a good price.

[Pkekyo]

That's a fair point.
I suppose I should be able to recoup a bit of cash, considering the retail price of this RAM is roughly $1120 USD.
If I can live with not having 64GB immediately, and buy more later once the price goes down, I could (probably) save quite a bit of money if I go for some 2666MHz Dominators or so. I assume performance would be fine, so the only sacrifice I would have to make compared to the DDR3 would be aesthetics.

Are there other pros/cons of moving to X99 that I should be aware of?

[Norman_the_Owl]

That's a fair point.

I suppose I should be able to recoup a bit of cash, considering the retail price of this RAM is roughly $1120 USD.

If I can live with not having 64GB immediately, and buy more later once the price goes down, I could (probably) save quite a bit of money if I go for some 2666MHz Dominators or so. I assume performance would be fine, so the only sacrifice I would have to make compared to the DDR3 would be aesthetics.

Are there other pros/cons of moving to X99 that I should be aware of?

The only real con that i can think of is you'll be paying through the teeth for DDR4

[Najuno]

X99 works fine for me so far, I had only superior experiences so far. I am using an Asus X99 Deluxe. The white cover is pretty easy to remove and you could just paint it.

 

For me it was a good upgrade because I´ll be running shortly a 3way SLI and I want to make sure that I have a CPU that has enough native PCIe 3.0 lanes to support x16 x16 x8. But I came from the mainstream side.

 

But unless you are looking for one of the new X99 features, then X79 with a i7 4930K is totally fine. If you have these expensive RAM already you could just stay on X79 and get another CPU (supposing yours was bad).

 

Performance wise there isn´t much difference.

[Pkekyo]

Well, that settles it then. I'm flogging the RAM and buying all new shiny X-99 stuff and painting it black!

Thanks, gents!