Haswell-E vs Haswell (5820k vs 4790k) in Ultra High Rez Gaming

gnomishperson

Reputable
Nov 19, 2014
2
0
4,510
Looking to do an upgrade, the machine will primarily be used for gaming, anything else is negligible in performance needs...

Been doing a lot of research lately, and the general consensus is 4790k because the cost of going to X99 and DDR4 etc is so much more and the lower clock speeds on the Haswell-E processors and that for "gaming" the 4970k is more than enough. However I'm not your typical gamer, so the reason I ask this is, I'm an eyefinity ultra resolution gamer. My goal is to continue running at 5760x1080/1200 or switch to 2K and run 7680x1440/1600 (was also debating tri-4K as ASUS has some decent TN panel monitors priced well). Currently I power this with a single 290x and medium to high settings in games, but I've been having problems with my hardware so it's time to upgrade.

Now the few reviews and spec discussions I've seen out there regarding ultra resolutions typically talk about the more pixels you push, the more video memory you need, this much I'm aware of, which is why I'm an AMD GPU man, their cards tend to perform much better at ultra resolutions than I've ever seen a nvidia card do, even with the new GTX 900 series, the older 290x closes the gap or exceeds that of a GTX 970/980 once 4K resolutions are tested.

So this brings me to why I lean towards the Haswell-E, which is primarily X99, with better PCI-E 3.0 support (as I intend to CFX maybe even Tri-fire 290X) and more memory channels. So I guess I ask this in regards to the X99 platform seems to leave more room for expansion down the road, where X97 seems to have reached it's peak.

If you believe I can still achieve relatively decent CFX or Tri-fire with a ASUS Z97-WS or ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA over the ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME using DDR3 over DDR4, and in the process save couple hundred dollars, let me know.

Also note I'm typically a diehard AMD fanboy, and that switching to Intel is creating a hole in my soul, and the only reason I'm switching is because I don't want this build to be a temporary build, I want it to be something I won't have to replace the core components of for some time, where things like new GPUs (maybe new CPUs) will be enough to satiate future gaming needs. That's not to say I won't need to replace other components either, but I've survived on the same AMD hardware for 3+ years now, unfortunately AMD's enthusiast line does not appear to have light at the end of the tunnel, and going to an FX-9000 on a stagnant chipset is not the upgrade I need.

TL;DR I run ultra high rez gaming and want a system that will last, is the 4790k still sufficent, or should I go Haswell-E 5820k?

forgive my over use of commas.
 
Solution
If you are moving to x99 because of pci lanes the 5820k has the same amount of lanes as a 4790k. To get the real advantage of pci lanes you need atleast a 5930k which has 40 lanes that means sli or xfire is 16x 16x. The main reason for the 5820k is for rendering or cpu intensive programs. If you live stream you could benefit from it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GgDZKGA89I&list=UUXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw Thats a great video on the topic.
Hey,
You would be completely WASTING your money going with Haswell-E for gaming. Your best CPU is the i7-4790K. Any suitable Z97 motherboard but I wouldn't waste money there if not needed. The Asus Z97-A is $140 and good quality.

The asus Hero VII has better sound and other features so for you it might be the best board.

I guess that's your only decision.

Since you already have a single R9-290X I assume you're adding a second one, however the GTX970 is the better card:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_970_STRIX_OC/25.html

The R9-290X shows as 3% faster however the GTX970 overclocks a lot higher, and additionally MLAA when released if working properly can increase frame rates. We'll have to wait for a future driver update.

You can put the cards as roughly equal ignoring MLAA but then the GTX970's run far quieter. They also support a few other new features including HDMI v2 which supports 4K at 60FPS.
 

qbngringo

Reputable
Sep 24, 2014
38
0
4,560
I have the 5820K overclocked to 4.4 ghz and it screams. However for your use and in games it is overkill because the extra cores will not be used. You are going to pay a premium for the chip and the ram over Z97, the only real advantage is if programmers start to write code for more than 2-4 cores. This is where you will pull away from the 4 core processors but that is speculation (and part of my justification for going x99). If you want to future proof your hardware and do not mind spending an extra $150 (or more) on the added cost of the extra cores and DDR4 then go for it just don't expect any performance difference from Z97 yet. You will be better off focusing on more going crossfire which is much more affordable with the AMD price differences. PCI lanes seems not to be that big of a deal in performance so I would not focus on that as long as you buy a good motherboard that can use 8x speeds on all your cards.

Basically only go X99 if you want to help future proof your system and do not mind paying a significant premium up front. For best performance now go Z97 and more video cards.

My set up is below just so you get an idea of how I tried to build a budget Haswell-E

5820K
AsRock X99 Killer
Crucial 2133 DDR4- 24 GB
M.2 SSD (plugged directly into the motherboard)
H100i cooler
GTX 970

CPU is overclocked to 4.4ghz and Ram to 2666 all through the AsRock bios auto overclock features.
 
GAMING and future for 6-core:

If you look at the AVERAGE CPU usage then it's unlikely more than an i7-4790K will be needed for a long time. Here's some points on that:

1) Better thread usage can make better use of the same CPU

2) DX12 (or Mantle) coding is more efficient so can do the same thing with LESS CPU processing

3) the new consoles will have a heavy influence on how much processing power PC games use since most will be cross-platform. Sure a game can use SIX of the AMD cores but they are 1.8GHz at most and the i7-4790K is typically 4.4GHz and also 50% better roughly per core at the same frequency.

Thus, the i7-4790K should have over 3X the processing power of the PS4 or XBONE.

4) Most current games don't use much more than 50% of an i5-4690K.

5) Some code will migrate from CPU over to the GPU.
 

gnomishperson

Reputable
Nov 19, 2014
2
0
4,510


My concern is less about the difference in CPU and more about the motherboard/chipset for future proofing. Because I already have the 290X and I intend to get another 290X, regardless of GTX 970s similar performance as I don't want to replace my video card(s) entirely. I'm just afraid that going 4790k on LGA-1150 isn't the jump going to LGA-2011v3 would be, and how much longer LGA-2011v3 will potentially last. Price is a concern, but I'm willing to go that little extra if it means I don't feel I need to upgrade again in less than a year or two when LGA-2011v3 becomes the new standard, and then I feel the need to upgrade that much sooner. What happens in a few years when my resolution bump increases again? Is there confidence that whatever cards exist will be able to support that resolution at just one or two cards on just dual channel desktop memory and an i7 4790k?

I understand as of right this minute it seems ludicrous to buy Haswell-E because 4790k is more than enough at a fairly lower price point. My fear, is the 4790k and LGA-1150 still new enough in it's life cycle and that which potential game development will demand of hardware? I haven't started following Intel very closely until now, so I guess that's what my question boils down to.
 

dominirican3351

Reputable
May 10, 2014
808
0
5,360
If you are moving to x99 because of pci lanes the 5820k has the same amount of lanes as a 4790k. To get the real advantage of pci lanes you need atleast a 5930k which has 40 lanes that means sli or xfire is 16x 16x. The main reason for the 5820k is for rendering or cpu intensive programs. If you live stream you could benefit from it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GgDZKGA89I&list=UUXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw Thats a great video on the topic.
 
Solution