Z170 vs X99, which to buy?

[Doopy_Doopy]

Hi Guys, I've been planning a new build for a while, then heard Skylake was just over the horizon so I decided to hold off.

Now that it is here I'm just plain confussed. Skylake prices here in Australia are kinda crazy, reaching LGA2011-3 prices.

 

I felt like Skylake was a big jump forward in the chipset department with the move to DMI3.0 as well as PCI-E RAID.

But I was disappointed with most Z170 motherboards rear I/O, many manufacturers have chosen to include as little as 3 USB3.0/3.1 on the rear[i'm looking at you ASUS ROG].

 

The builds are identical apart from CPU, Motherboard & RAM, and I already own a mouse.

 

 

1. Skylake Consumer vs Haswell Enthusiast

 

Skylake

PCPartPicker part list: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/2NrJdC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/2NrJdC/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($525.00 @ IJK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($157.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M7 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($389.00 @ CPL Online)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($219.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($200.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($128.00 @ Centre Com)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card  ($1079.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($159.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($305.00 @ CPL Online)
Monitor: Dell U3415W 60Hz 34.0" Monitor  ($1299.00 @ CPL Online)
Keyboard: SteelSeries Apex M800 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($249.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $4709.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-29 11:08 AEST+1000

 

 

Haswell-E

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/hYtPqs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/hYtPqs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($559.00 @ Centre Com)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($157.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: MSI X99A GAMING 7 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($415.00 @ Centre Com)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($227.00 @ IJK)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($200.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($128.00 @ Centre Com)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card  ($1079.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($159.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($305.00 @ CPL Online)
Monitor: Dell U3415W 60Hz 34.0" Monitor  ($1299.00 @ CPL Online)
Keyboard: SteelSeries Apex M800 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($249.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $4777.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-29 11:13 AEST+1000

 

 

 

Help me make a descion here follks, more cores and direct CPU PCI-E, or newer architecture and chipset?

I should add that any future upgrades will be PCI-E SSD or GPU. No SLI

 

 

Also does anyone think I'm mad spending $1200AUD+ on a monitor? I have been looking forward to the Acer Preditor X34 G-Sync, likely to be $1800AUD...

[Oshino Shinobu]

Depends what you're using it for. The 6700K really isn't good value. I'd either go for the 4790K and Z97 (DDR3) or the 5820K, depending on what you're doing. If you're gaming mainly, then 4790K, if you're doing a lot of editing, rendering, modelling and those sorts of work loads, then 5820K. 

[MegaDave91]

X99

[Guest]

X99.

 

Hands down.

 

Z170 is still the consumer series, even if it is slightly faster in the most obscure benchmarks.

[zzenigmaxzz]

damn im glad i dont live in australia... shits mad expensive

[Overkilled]

I think he made it pretty clear he doesn't want z97 and who would blame him it's like buying a brand new galaxy s5 after the s6 has already came out.

[Doopy_Doopy]

I think he made it pretty clear he doesn't want z97 and who would blame him it's like buying a brand new galaxy s5 after the s6 has already came out.

I did forget to mention that. Not really interested in Z97 as I feel it has too many I/O limitations, 16xPCI-E3.0, few options for pci-e ssd's in the future

[Doopy_Doopy]

Depends what you're using it for. The 6700K really isn't good value. I'd either go for the 4790K and Z97 (DDR3) or the 5820K, depending on what you're doing. If you're gaming mainly, then 4790K, if you're doing a lot of editing, rendering, modelling and those sorts of work loads, then 5820K. 

I'm a casual gammer with the want for max detail settings. Bit of a hardware nut, previous build was an X58 system, served me well till I moved out and went to a laptop for Uni.

 

Thanks for all your help guys.

Any word on the monitor choice?