Trying to find the best cpu money can buy.

[snyderlj1992]

I've been looking at many CPU's for a long time and I am considering purchasing the Intel I7 5960x Extreme edition by Haswell, but I'm not sure if it is any good for gaming. Pease help.

[Sam Z Man]

Best for gaming would be a 6700K.

[The Official Czex]

It's not the best for gaming. A 6700K would be a better option (higher IPC and effective clock).

[z123killer]

Gaming is mostly dependent on your graphics cards. And some games require a quad core so any decent cpu with 4 cores and a good graphics card will be good for gaming.

[Enderman]

get a 6700k instead

[PlayStation 2]

If you're just gaming, 6700K > 5820K > 5960X.

If you're doing a lot of multithreaded shit, 5960X >>> 5820K >> 6700K.

[snyderlj1992]

I have two Zotac 980 TI amped extreme inside of my rig, but my CPU gave out for an unknown reason so I got a motherboard with an LGA 2011 V3 chipset. Just trying to get some insight on a new cpu.

[The Official Czex]

I have two Zotac 980 TI amped extreme inside of my rig, but my CPU gave out for an unknown reason so I got a motherboard with an LGA 2011 V3 chipset. Just trying to get some insight on a new cpu.

 

Get a 5820K.

[Curufinwe_wins]

Best for gaming would be a 6700K.

 

It's not the best for gaming. A 6700K would be a better option (higher IPC and effective clock).

 

 

Single GPU only (although it's actually likely that after overclocking the 5775C is actually the best gaming cpu.)

 

SLI/CF builds the increased overhead lets the 5820k (at -300/400 Mhz) tie up and hence the 5960x pull ahead.

 

Obviously if you don't overclock (which you should be ashamed of not overclocking on x99) then the 6700k easily wins.

 

Here is an example of recording what I am talking about...

 

 

Note that it is 4790k and 5820k at same clocks not 6700k which at most will preform 5% better, still not enough to pull in front.

 

 

EDIT: Furthermore, while it is true the older game you are playing the more the 6700k will pull away, the converse is also likely to be true. Games are already scaling more and more with 6+ threads on dx11, and one of the most important aspects of DX12 and Vulkan is increasing multi-threading scaling.

 

Though, it should be noted that both will be good enough obviously. It's just that esp in the US, x99 is basically cheaper than z170 at the same feature set which is basically a no-brainer choice.

[snyderlj1992]

I'll look up the CPU listed. Thank you everyone for your support

[Curufinwe_wins]

I'll look up the CPU listed. Thank you everyone for your support

Please don't buy the 6700k if you are running sli...

 

It isn't better. At all.

[Sam Z Man]

I have two Zotac 980 TI amped extreme inside of my rig, but my CPU gave out for an unknown reason so I got a motherboard with an LGA 2011 V3 chipset. Just trying to get some insight on a new cpu.

How did you manage to kill a CPU, that's pretty damn hard.

[alanz25]

I've been looking at many CPU's for a long time and I am considering purchasing the Intel I7 5960x Extreme edition by Haswell, but I'm not sure if it is any good for gaming. Pease help.

some guy in the forum (who must be blessed and watched over by gaben) or something got his 5960x to 4.8 ghz with 1.36 vcore....  silicon lottery

[Dash Lambda]

The 5960X is one of those chips where it isn't initially the best for gaming, but it can be the best for gaming.

As for everything else, the only CPUs that could really beat it are certain Xeons. Xeons, however, tend to have very conservative clocks and low power cores.

[Curufinwe_wins]

some guy in the forum (who must be blessed and watched over by gaben) or something got his 5960x to 4.8 ghz with 1.36 vcore....  silicon lottery

That isn't actually that insane with watercooling (better stability at low temps) and sufficiently high vccin.

 

If I crank my vccin and some other special tuning, I can hit 4.7 at 1.38 and the 5960x should be better overclockers than the 5820k in general (due to binning).

[alanz25]

That isn't actually that insane with watercooling (better stability at low temps) and sufficiently high vccin.

 

If I crank my vccin and some other special tuning, I can hit 4.7 at 1.38 and the 5960x should be better overclockers than the 5820k in general (due to binning).

a 1.8ghz oc on 1.36 v is pretty amazing i would say, your chip is pretty top too. most 5960xs don't make it past 4.5

[SteveGrabowski0]

If you have the money, a great cooler, and are going with a multi GPU setup, the i7-5960x is the best of the best. Virtually every game from 2014 or later can use eight cores and more and more of them are starting to become optimized for such a setup. Plus you can run two gpus at PCIE-3.0x16 and still have eight lanes for fast SSDs like the Samsung 950 Pro and the Intel 750. Then you have quad channel memory too. You pay an enormous premium for that cpu when much cheaper cpus like the 4790k, 5820k, 6700k are almost as good, but you always overpay like hell when you buy a halo product. If you're stupidly rich to the point you won't miss the $1000 then get the 5960x. Otherwise you'd probably be really happy with a 5820k for much less, it's a monster of a cpu.

[Coaxialgamer]

Best for gaming : 6700k

Best for gaming/streaming/rendering : 5960x.

Best rendering monster : 2699v3

Best value cpu : 5820k.

I would wait for broadwell e before buying anything.

[Coaxialgamer]

I have two Zotac 980 TI amped extreme inside of my rig, but my CPU gave out for an unknown reason so I got a motherboard with an LGA 2011 V3 chipset. Just trying to get some insight on a new cpu.

If you already have a motherboard, i would suggest a 5820k. But if your really want to go overkill, get the 5960x. Either way i would wait for broadwell e.

[Curufinwe_wins]

a 1.8ghz oc on 1.36 v is pretty amazing i would say, your chip is pretty top too. most 5960xs don't make it past 4.5

Once you start touching vccin they do. But most people don't know that vccin is important.

[runit3]

I've been looking at many CPU's for a long time and I am considering purchasing the Intel I7 5960x Extreme edition by Haswell, but I'm not sure if it is any good for gaming. Pease help.

If you only care about gaming a i7-6700 paired with a Z170 board that supports locked multiplier OCing will be the best price:performance you can get, unless you live near a Micro Center where you can pick up 5820k's for $300, then I would go that route.

 

Price difference between the two systems would come down to the board in that scenario, as the cheapest X99 board I would be willing to buy is ~$250, cheapest Z170 ~$150 (midrange boards in both cases).

 

If you're willing to wait it may be worth seeing how Broadwell-E shakes out (still on the X99 platform).

[Curufinwe_wins]

If you only care about gaming a i7-6700 paired with a Z170 board that supports locked multiplier OCing will be the best price:performance you can get, unless you live near a Micro Center where you can pick up 5820k's for $300, then I would go that route.

 

Price difference between the two systems would come down to the board in that scenario, as the cheapest X99 board I would be willing to buy is ~$250, cheapest Z170 ~$150 (midrange boards in both cases).

 

If you're willing to wait it may be worth seeing how Broadwell-E shakes out (still on the X99 platform).

Asus only on the mobo? hahaha, well whatever floats your boat. I still think comparing "mid-range" (in features and quality imho) on x99 and on z170 is a total crapshoot but LTT apparently disagrees.

[runit3]

Asus only on the mobo? hahaha, well whatever floats your boat. I still think comparing "mid-range" (in features and quality imho) on x99 and on z170 is a total crapshoot but LTT apparently disagrees.

I was actually thinking about the GA UD4 or ASRock Extreme 6. Can't think of $250 ASUS board

I wasn't comparing features, simply price range of the average board for both platforms (discerning total price difference).

[Curufinwe_wins]

I was actually thinking about the GA UD4 or ASRock Extreme 6. Can't think of $250 ASUS board

I wasn't comparing features, simply price range of the average board for both platforms (discerning total price difference).

X99-A is going for around that these days... But hmm... I guess the question is no SLI Plus for you?

 

Anyways I know you didn't explicitly mention it, but it brought back associations of a less than thrilling nature (hence the "I still think"). 

[runit3]

X99-A is going for around that these days... But hmm... I guess the question is no SLI Plus for you?

 

Anyways I know you didn't explicitly mention it, but it brought back associations of a less than thrilling nature (hence the "I still think"). 

Had multiple bad experiences with MSI, I swore them off years ago. Probably due for another go-round but I've never really liked their BIOS/BIOS features when it comes to OCing. ASRock is my next seldom used board company up to bat, whenever I get around to selling this damn 5820k build.