Is X99 worth it for gaming?

[Zah]

usually a PLX chip that "schedules" how the lanes talk to the cpu.

 

So basically not as effective as actually having 24 effective lanes communicating with the CPU?

[slightlyjaded]

So basically not as effective as actually having 24 effective lanes communicating with the CPU?

Not really, but it only really runs into a bottleneck when it's completely saturated every actual lane. Let's be honest that doesn't happen often unless you're benchmarking. Even then 4 way sli isn't going to be maxing out every card's data transmission at exactly the same time.

[hitsu1]

Definitely not. If you also do video editing, CAD work, and/or are creating a machine just for artificial benchmarking then it might be worth it. In the first two cases, if you make enough from your productivity to justify the additional cost, then it makes sense. In the last case, you do not care about any practicable application and are doing it as a hobby. There are also people who do none of the above and just buy the most expensive parts they can. If they can afford it, then more power to them.

 

Even in the cases of attempting to "future proof" you are better off paying half for a more reasonable set up and using the second half of the money to upgrade two years down the line. If games start to require 6 or 8 core games, then normal consumer CPUs will start to have 6 or 8 cores at a more reasonable price in the future.

 

Do not get me wrong, the x99 platform is great. It just does not make a whole lot of sense just for gaming.