5960x Overkill for gaming?

[nuttysandwich]

I'm thinking for future reference also.

[shypin]

yes

 

most games dont utilize the extra cores but instead benefit from higher clock

 

every dollar you spend on the GPU will increase your game performance but the same cant be said to CPU

[007agentHP]

even in the future, ill be surprised if a 5820k doesn't hold up well.

[wangyuji431]

NOTHING IS OVERKILL

[79wjd]

Assuming you can even achieve the same clock speeds, a 5960x is just as good as a 4790k (and 4690k in most) in gaming.

 

By the time eight cores are actually useful in gaming, it will be outdated anyway (plus going with a 4690k/4790k now and just upgrading at that later point would likely be cheaper anyway).

[FuzzyYellow]

yup. may as well get a 4790k because the performance difference is none, or better on the 4790k side.

[manikyath]

for only gaming, yes.

 

if you're as bad of a multitasker as me, or are a livestreamer / youtuber, its worth it.

[Guest Michelle68]

If you're going to be doing additional processes while you game then the chip 'might' be of benefit. If you're streaming, video capturing, playing music, and such then the chip starts to show you value. For just pure gaming, then no, the chip is overkill and doesn't offer any value add. And even looking to the future, it'll be some time before games really being to fully utilize multiple cores offered on this particular chip. So with that said, you'd be better off spending less now and waiting until the price of the chip falls. 

[spartaman64]

4790k is better at gaming than it at stock clocks

[beach_boy98]

Yeah unless you are playing city skyline. Reference:

[SeanAngelo]

I'm thinking for future reference also.

way overkill

 

just get a 4790k or a 4690k

[Misanthrope]

I'll preface this by saying that you should take my and all comments here with a grain of salt: despite other claims, nobody is actually able to see the future.

 

That being said, the 5960x could be one of the only chips out right now I'd call "future proof" even if just a little bit. However it might be a while before it gives you a discrete yet tiny advantage: DX12 games won't be out until late this years and the devs just flatout havent had enough time to really optimize a truly multithreaded game.

More over, if you could do it, you still shouldn't do it too much since most of your gaming sales go to people that still run 2 and 4 cores at most, less than 50% of all steam users have a 4 core, almost none a 6 core:

 

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

 

So you can't just say "let's release a game half the people can't even run and only less than 5% can truly max out and experience as we intend with truly multi threaded performance"

[Dzzope]

I'm thinking for future reference also.

Don't... go for an i5 for now.. you could buy a 6 core chip and board (when they become the mainstream i5 / i7) for less than the difference in price alone and clock for clock it'll be better.

 

Save it for a future upgrade instead.. will server you better. (unless you need lots more PCI-E lanes for some reason)

[Gung Pow Chicken]

yes lol, my 4770k is still overkill

[colinreay]

It sounds like Skylake should be a good combination of price-performance, I think the gaming results were similar or better than the 5820k. Since we are right at the end of the Haswell life cycle, better just to wait and re-evaluate once the market has been saturated with new 100 series mobos and the 6000 series i7's.

[79wjd]

Would an 5820k Overclocked be better than a 4790k?

Assuming you can get the same clock speed out of a 5820k it would be more or less the same in most games. 

[NumLock21]

Only some can afford a 5960x, but not many can.

Is a Bugatti Veyron overkill to drive everyday to the corner deli?

[nuttysandwich]

I have a 2600k currently, how long do you think before i need an upgrade?

[FuzzyYellow]

Would an 5820k Overclocked be better than a 4790k?

yes. the only reason a haswell-E cpu is slower than a reagular haswell is just because of clock speed.

[i_build_nanosuits]

I'm thinking for future reference also.

stupidly overkill yes...all you need it the 4790K which comes at 4.0ghz out of the box with a boost to 4.4ghz.

[typographie]

I'm thinking for future reference also.

 

Fair point, but if you think too far into the future, you may be looking at a CPU upgrade by that point anyway. Multi-threading to that extent in games will probably happen eventually, but I wouldn't bet money that we'll see it while Haswell is still a relevant platform. Someone who bought a Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition for "future gaming" fell behind $200 i5's rather quickly.

 

Right now, higher-clocked Haswell CPUs can frequently beat the 5960X in games.

[SteveGrabowski0]

I'm thinking for future reference also.

 

I'd rather just buy a $500 CPU now and then another $500 CPU in 2-3 years than a $1000 one now.

[79wjd]

I have a 2600k currently, how long do you think before i need an upgrade?

It depends what GPU/s you plan on using and what games you're playing, but more than likely a few years at least. 

[nuttysandwich]

It depends what GPU/s you plan on using and what games you're playing, but more than likely a few years at least. 

I currently have a evga gtx 770 sc ACX 2gb

[i_build_nanosuits]

I currently have a evga gtx 770 sc ACX 2gb

are you serious? you have a 180$ gpu and youre willing to throw 1000$ at a gaming cpu?

 

you have a nice i7-2600k get yoursel a nice AIO, overclock the crap out of it and order yourself a nice 980ti instead!

what you need for your system to game better is a powerful gpu...not cpu.