Haswell-e upgrade worth it?

ZippingPear · Aug 18, 2014

After over 5 years of using my i7 950 (OC'd to 4.0GHz) I am still not sure whether this is time to upgrade my CPU. I mean CPU used to be the thing that I upgraded every 2 years. But let's be honest each new generation of CPU amounts to only 5-10% improvement nowadays (at least since sandybridge). Currently, the main thing I do on my desktop is gaming and I have gtx 780ti, 256GB of SSD and 18GB (3x2gb + 3x4gb) of RAM. I'm now really sure, but it kinda seems like my CPU is being left behind and maybe it's finally time to upgrade it? (even though most games still seem to be bottlenecked by my gpu or so does my benchmarking tools tell).

Now I know haswell-e is going to be released in about 2 weeks time. I thought maybe 5820k could serve me well for another 5 years and is more future proof than 4790k because of the 2 extra cores and ddr-4 support. And is any CPU upgrade going to translate into any significant improvement in game performance considering my 8-months old 780ti is still the bottleneck in most games!!!

Usman Sajid · Aug 18, 2014

GTX 780 ti will gain allot performance from Haswell-E and DDR4 ram .
Yes it will be a future proof upgrade

i7Baby · Aug 18, 2014

I'd wait till they are released, there's reviews and benchmarks and the pricing has settled down.

Similar with the mobos and ddr4 ram that'll go with them.

If they are 50% faster than your 950 but the mobo, ram and cpu cost you $1000 I know I'd start losing interest for sure.

MeteorsRaining · Aug 18, 2014

The CPU part has been explained by i7. But for which Godly game has 780 Ti become a bottleneck? Or do you mean your CPU is a bottleneck for that GPU (again weird).

i7Baby · Aug 18, 2014

The i7 950's aren't real strong - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html. But they shouldn't bottleneck a 780Ti.

Most i5's can run a 780Ti for sure.

What cpu % usage are you getting from task manager while the 780Ti is stressed?

gabbriel · Aug 18, 2014

Well all depends what you really want from you pc to do. If it is gaming that you are looking for and you have the money, i would go with an 4690k or a 4790k tbh. Yes the new ram will be faster, but will it be used on 100% of it's abilities? As i calculate the price 5820k will be 400$ a good motherboard since you pay premium will be 200-300$ and 8gigs or DDR4 will cost around 100-120$ for the entry speed of 2166. The z97 motherboards have nice features and it will cost you a lot less, plus they can handle 780ti just fine giving the gpu the opportunity to show it's full pottentials!

i7Baby · Aug 18, 2014

My guess is that the 5820k - hex core - will cost $500+ - the same as the 4930k. Plus mobo $250 plus ram $100 = $850 at least.

MeteorsRaining · Aug 18, 2014

Not worth buying if you're a gamer. The i5 or i7 4th gen K versions are good enough for Ultra gaming for 2-4 years atleast. I'd rather get an i7, 16GB RAM and extreme MoBo (like Maximus Hero/ Formula) in that price, and still have some bucks to spare. This'd really 'future proof' (I don't really like this term) from any game CPU wise for 5 years atleast. Add your GTX 780 Ti and I'm set for 4 years of Ultra gaming on FHD.

You should however wait for the Broadwell to come out.

gabbriel · Aug 18, 2014

Even 3570k and 3770k are nice and running everything withought problem.

ZippingPear · Aug 18, 2014

i7Baby :

CPU usage typically doesn't get above 70% to 80% while GPU is fully stressed. There are exceptions of course. In Crysis 3, CPU is 100% stressed while GPU gets to around 80% max. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I think in skyrim CPU was bottleneck also. Also the stock clock is 3.07 GHz and I have it OC'd to 4.0 GHz So I am already getting 30% extra performance out of this.

Comparing the performance at stock clocks, I guess 4790K is about 50% better than i7 950? And if I just get another 2 extra cores with 5820K and ddr-4 support I think I will be set for a long time

gabbriel · Aug 18, 2014

Keep in mind that 5820k will be running on 3.3Ghz and it will have a 140watt usage. Rumours says that it will overclock very well, but i have no idea about the single core performance.Yeah 6 cores are very sexy but might not be so game oriented as 1150 and z87-z97 cpus are. Intel is releasing them in 11 days and most likely we will have the benchmarks in about 15-20 days, we are all curious about X99 cpu's

ZippingPear · Aug 18, 2014

MeteorsRaining :

I thought I could wait for broadwell which comes in early 2015 for a cheaper upgrade, but apparently broadwell doesn't support ddr-4. Unless I want to wait for broadwell-e which probably comes in 2016, still costs as much as haswell-e and may offer only 5% improvement over haswell-e.

MeteorsRaining · Aug 18, 2014

Tbh, I'd not expect ANY performance increase (or say minimal) by DDR4 over DDR3 in terms of gaming. Gaming is all about CPU and GPU mainly. You can pair 4790k and GTX 780 Ti with 1600/9 DDR3 and still feel little to no difference in gaming compared to same setup with 2400/10 DDR3. DDR4 will mainly enhance the developer's PC, not gamer's.

I don't see a reason in not waiting for Broadwell and then getting the highest i7 from 5th gen. DDR3 will probably last 4-5 more years in gaming IMO.

ZippingPear · Aug 18, 2014

So, I guess I should just wait for benchmarks then. If it easily overclocks to over 4.2 GHz on air (with Noctua nh-d14), and DDR4 doesn't cost more than $15/GB, then I will go for it. I guess the 2 extra cores on 5820K will eventually matter in the long run as games start to become heavily multi-threaded.

ZippingPear · Aug 18, 2014

MeteorsRaining :

So you think I will be fine with DDR3 for gaming for the next 4-5 years? Because I don't want to be forced to upgrade CPU and motherboard again in 2-3 years down the line just for DDR4.

Usman Sajid · Aug 18, 2014

Just get the card , and if u cant get 1080/60fps then upgrade to a better cpu.

MeteorsRaining · Aug 18, 2014

Tbh, I purchased my now-old PC in 2007, when DDR3 was just out (but not popular I guess) and didn't feel the absolute need to upgrade until 2014 (I had 4GB). I upgraded to my current rig just a couple of weeks ago (I know I'm late on it, but needed some time to arrange $3k), and my needs are much more than gaming. I needed a pro VFX workstation PC, but got the best 2400/10 RAM DDR3. I know I won't benefit on an extremely large basis just by getting DDR4 (I'm a university stud, not a pro btw) and so I think it should be good for 5 more years.

I hope you understand my point, it takes 1-2 years for DDRx RAM from its launch to be cheaply available, 1 more year for it to become mainstream or preferred choice for PC builders and a couple more years for it to become a neccessity for upgrading.

lp231 · Aug 18, 2014

Newegg has Crucial Ballistix Sport listed at 4GB DDR4 for around $60 so 16GB (4x4GB) is $240. But they have them kits for $230.

michaelmk86 · Aug 19, 2014

I am in the same boat as you and I also thinking to upgrade to the new 5820k. for the last 5-6 years I have a i7 920 OC to 4.1GHz with CF HD7950(OC 1100MHz) and I can say that my ancient CPU is not bottlenecking my GPU's (at 1440p), except of some rare exceptions like sc2 etc.

So i will probably just wait another year or maybe 2 before I finally upgrade my CPU to something that is significantly faster. If you think about it the the 4th gen i7 or i5 are ONLY around 26% faster clock per clock than the first gen i7 or i5.

ctguy1955 · Aug 19, 2014

The new 880 GPU's will be coming out in March of 2015. I would wait for one of them rather then a 700 series now.

My two old 680 4 gigs are still doing great !!!

I just broke 5.0 today and was at 4.7 when I did the benchmark tests.

Haswell-e upgrade worth it?

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