Upgrade aging i7 990x??

[Outback Bronze]

I'd get a new CPU and chipset, if you want SATA 6Gbps and PCI-E 3.0 and all that, that seems very reasonable to me. Even if the machines at work are running fine without a hitch, once general warranty runs out we replace them with newer machines (3-5 years). In your position, I would definitely replace hardware if there are better features that will improve workflow considerably.
The chosen hardware is entirely up to you. Whatever features you really want are the ones you should go for.

Do I wait for the dust to settle on the x99 motherboards like Marsey99 said tho?

 

[RCoon]

That's the real question that should have been asked in the first place, without the extra commentary. I think I would wait out and see what comes out of DDR4. I tend to go by the phrase, "don't buy the first generation of a product." I think waiting to see how DDR4 pans out would be smart. It's not like your missing too much with the 990X, but if you were to upgrade Z97 and Devil Canyon is a pretty solid bet for gaming.

I use my tower for work as well, but I don't think I use it for work more than my own personal uses, so I don't tend to declare my office as a tax write off, although I could because it is a dedicated space for being an office. I could, but I don't think it quite qualifies, at least in my mind. I could be wrong though. My views tend to be rather liberal so I don't mind being more cautious when it comes to taxes.

Yeah the big thing here is DDR4. For all we know it could be completely worthless and a colossal waste of money.

Do I wait for the dust to settle on the x99 motherboards like Marsey99 said tho?

Hell yes, I was an early adopter of a lot of hardware a few years ago. Never again I say. Wait a month, wait for motherboards to explode, RAM prices to drop. Processors will never get cheaper though.

 

[Outback Bronze]

That's the real question that should have been asked in the first place, without the extra commentary. I think I would wait out and see what comes out of DDR4. I tend to go by the phrase, "don't buy the first generation of a product." I think waiting to see how DDR4 pans out would be smart. It's not like your missing too much with the 990X, but if you were to upgrade Z97 and Devil Canyon is a pretty solid bet for gaming.

I use my tower for work as well, but I don't think I use it for work more than my own personal uses, so I don't tend to declare my office as a tax write off, although I could because it is a dedicated space for being an office. I could, but I don't think it quite qualifies, at least in my mind. I could be wrong though. My views tend to be rather liberal so I don't mind being more cautious when it comes to taxes.

Yeah fair call mate. But am I not better off investing something into my business (as well as personal use) than give my hard earned money to the tax man? Maybe im just being selfish. You have to remember I cannot do this all the time. This is a once a 3 year claim.

I'm just wondering if x99 is the time to claim.

 

[Aquinus]

Yeah fair call mate. But am I not better off investing something into my business (as well as personal use) than give my hard earned money to the tax man? Maybe im just being selfish. You have to remember I cannot do this all the time. This is a once a 3 year claim.

I'm just wondering if x99 is the time to claim.

I'm not sure that it's giving money to the tax man if you can just write it off the next time you file taxes, even if that's in another 3 years. I'm not sure how it works over there though so it may be consider enough to make a difference. I may look at it differently since I don't pay any form of sales or consumer tax when I buy computer hardware with where I live in the world. There are other taxes, for example property taxes is the real big one where I live. If there is an opportunity and you want to take it then I guess I would say wait as long as you can before buying in. Whether you want a 6c or 8c chip is your business (and up to your business). The 8c won't do you any good for gaming but I also don't know what you're using the tower for with respect to your business.

All in all, if you need to spend it to get a tax write-off soon, then do it at late as possible without cutting it too close. At least that way maybe enough reviews will come out to give you a good idea what is good and what isn't. It isn't what I would do, I would wait longer in your position wrt to hardware, but it's your call. I think it's too early to say what is good and what isn't.

 

[Outback Bronze]

I'm not sure that it's giving money to the tax man if you can just write it off the next time you file taxes, even if that's in another 3 years. I'm not sure how it works over there though so it may be consider enough to make a difference. I may look at it differently since I don't pay any form of sales or consumer tax when I buy computer hardware with where I live in the world. There are other taxes, for example property taxes is the real big one where I live. If there is an opportunity and you want to take it then I guess I would say wait as long as you can before buying in. Whether you want a 6c or 8c chip is your business (and up to your business). The 8c won't do you any good for gaming but I also don't know what you're using the tower for with respect to your business.

All in all, if you need to spend it to get a tax write-off soon, then do it at late as possible without cutting it too close. At least that way maybe enough reviews will come out to give you a good idea what is good and what isn't. It isn't what I would do, I would wait longer in your position wrt to hardware, but it's your call. I think it's too early to say what is good and what isn't.

Yeah sweet advice mate. I just wish we had of started off on the right foot. Im sorry if I have upset you in any way but really all I was after was advice on my current CPU over the new X99 one. Maybe I should have been a little more discreet but unfortunately for me I have a big mouth.

 

[RCoon]

Yeah fair call mate. But am I not better off investing something into my business (as well as personal use) than give my hard earned money to the tax man? Maybe im just being selfish. You have to remember I cannot do this all the time. This is a once a 3 year claim.

I'm just wondering if x99 is the time to claim.

Out of curiosity what does your business do anyway?

Yeah sweet advice mate. I just wish we had of started off on the right foot. Im sorry if I have upset you in any way but really all I was after was advice on my current CPU over the new X99 one. Maybe I should have been a little more discreet but unfortunately for me I have a big mouth.

Sometimes things get a little chesty around here. Luckily it happened to the few that are pretty reasonable guys. It could have gone in a far different direction

 

[Aquinus]

Yeah sweet advice mate. I just wish we had of started off on the right foot. Im sorry if I have upset you in any way but really all I was after was advice on my current CPU over the new X99 one. Maybe I should have been a little more discreet but unfortunately for me I have a big mouth.

No problem. Words are clumsy at describing what you really want.

Out of curiosity what does your business do anyway?



Sometimes things get a little chesty around here. Luckily it happened to the few that are pretty reasonable guys. It could have gone in a far different direction

This too. What you use the tower for mostly should drive the decision. I could get more cores myself, but as developer, I'm not writing any software (at the moment) that really needs more than 8 threads. So I would let what you do for work drive the CPU/Motherboard/Memory options. I also don't game often much anymore which is why I still have 6870s. My machine reflects what I do with it.

I upgraded because I needed more memory and more I/O. Gaming was an after thought. So I would think about what you really need more of, because you're not lacking in the GPU or CPU department.

In fact I was considering side-grading to a single GPU option that would be at least as power but consumed less power while freeing up some PCI-E slots, but as I said, to each their own. Just don't feel like you need to go overboard because it's tax season.

Edit: I apologize for a million edits.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Out of curiosity what does your business do anyway?



Sometimes things get a little chesty aro

Out of curiosity what does your business do anyway?



Sometimes things get a little chesty around here. Luckily it happened to the few that are pretty reasonable guys. It could have gone in a far different direction

Id really like to tell you what my business does mate but im not sure now is the right time or place. I'm very sorry.

Anyway guys thanks for all your help. It seems ill have to wait a bit before x99 starts to shine. Although im very tempted to buy one soon damn it.

Cheers.

 

[RCoon]

He's a pimp. I called it first.

 

[Outback Bronze]

He's a pimp. I called it first.

I'm the Pimp.

Your the Daddy.

 

[Frick]

Calling a mod to put quotation marks around "business".

 

[GhostRyder]

Heres my advice, unless you want to run a 3+ GPU setup and you want to still stick with SKT 2011v3, then grab the 5820K. The only problem with that CPU I have seen is that their binning process is not very strong in that people achieve 4.7ghz on them and then nothing above 4.4ghz for others (But I guess any cpu can be like that, just something I have noticed on a few forums). The 5930K is great for having the best of it for gaming, multimedia, price, and overclocking while the 5960X is more for the people needing the extra cores for power in multimedia tasks.

I would say the 5820K is the best option if you want to not spend to much because you get the 6 cores, decent overclocking, and enough PCIE's for up to a 3 way setup. However if you want to go big the 5930K will be a bit more consistent and have the extra PCIE lanes for up to 4 cards.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Heres my advice, unless you want to run a 3+ GPU setup and you want to still stick with SKT 2011v3, then grab the 5820K. The only problem with that CPU I have seen is that their binning process from what I have seen is not very strong in that I have seen people achieve 4.7ghz on them and then nothing above 4.4ghz (But I guess any cpu can be like that, just something I have noticed on a few forums). The 5930K is great for having the best of it for gaming, multimedia, price, and overclocking while the 5960X is more for the people needing the extra cores for power in multimedia tasks.

I would say the 5820K is the best option if you want to not spend to much because you get the 6 cores, decent overclocking, and enough PCIE's for up to a 3 way setup. However if you want to go big the 5930K will be a bit more consistent and have the extra PCIE lanes for up to 4 cards.

So how are you finding your system mate? Any problems?

Ive been told to wait for the dust to settle on x99 or do you find this a non issue?

Cheers.

 

[GhostRyder]

So how are you finding your system mate? Any problems?

Ive been told to wait for the dust to settle on x99 or do you find this a non issue?

Cheers.

DDR4 is the only reason to wait because of its prices and high CL. Personally as far as the 5930K goes its been great and a fun overclocker and performed great in games & Adobe.

I would say your chip is just fine still for games, so you might wanna just wait a bit and see what comes if your not eager to jump the gun. It really just comes down to your needs now and if you really want to go ahead and upgrade or wait because waiting does normally result in better components and better prices after launch. I was anxious and had been waiting for the platform for months hence why I went ahead and jumped ship.

I do not regret my purchase, I am very happy with my system (Though I wish I had gotten Gskill memory for the price but it was sold out everywhere when I bought).

 

[Outback Bronze]

DDR4 is the only reason to wait because of its prices and high CL. Personally as far as the 5930K goes its been great and a fun overclocker and performed great in games.

I would say your chip is just fine still for games, so you might wanna just wait a bit and see what comes if your not eager to jump the gun. It really just comes down to your needs now and if you really want to go ahead and upgrade or wait because waiting does normally result in better components and better prices after launch. I was anxious and had been waiting for the platform for months hence why I went ahead and jumped ship.

I do not regret my purchase, I am very happy with my system (Though I wish I had gotten Gskill memory for the price but it was sold out everywhere when I bought).

Thanks mate you've been really helpful. It looks like ill have to wait a little while, but id love to jump on board the 5930k like you did very soon!

 

[RealNeil]

I like the sound of two R9-290s, but would get them with really good (high air flow) cooling on them.

Also, spend the money to get a case with high air flow too.

X99 is still pretty new, but I'm seeing some good numbers with those systems in reviews. Go for a quality ASUS, ASRock, or Gigabyte motherboard and get one of the higher priced boards. (as it will have better power handling properties included)

You speak of longevity, so I imagine that you don't OC your gear all that much. That's no problem if you buy at least a six core CPU or better. (eight would probably be best considering that we don't know what demands future games may place on our systems) Any "Extreme" rated Intel CPUs will provide the awesome performance you seem to want but they're pricey too.

You're willing to spend to get very good equipment, so don't scrimp on the PSU that you get. This is the basis for a stable running system and is probably going to be the most important part of your new PC. I personally like SeaSonic Branded PSUs the best. Get something that is more than the actual power output that you need, so it can operate below it's 100% capacity. (improving its efficiency)

I assume that you'll be using SSDs for booting the system. Two SSDs in RAID can make a huge difference in performance as a boot drive. It's worth it to do. Without an SSD in your system you don't even have a performance PC. Two in RAID make it a lot better.

Good luck with your build, it's gonna be a wild PC.

 

[THE_EGG]

Tbh I would have though that the 990X would still be a more than capable chip. But the smell of new hardware in the morning is pretty deliciously tempting.

As far as a deduction goes seeing as you are using it for both gaming and work, you could claim it at like 50% or something. I do that for items I buy that I use for work and personal use (e.g. my laptop (the taichi one) I use for work and personal use/study).

I'd say if money is no object then a 5960x without a doubt. But if you are into heavy OCing and programs that are unlikely to use the extra 2 cores or 4 threads than the 5930k would be better I think. From what I've seen at least, the 5930k seems to OC to a higher level than the 5960X which I guess makes sense because of having fewer cores to look after.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Tbh I would have though that the 990X would still be a more than capable chip. But the smell of new hardware in the morning is pretty deliciously tempting.

As far as a deduction goes seeing as you are using it for both gaming and work, you could claim it at like 50% or something. I do that for items I buy that I use for work and personal use (e.g. my laptop (the taichi one) I use for work and personal use/study).

I'd say if money is no object then a 5960x without a doubt. But if you are into heavy OCing and programs that are unlikely to use the extra 2 cores or 4 threads than the 5930k would be better I think. From what I've seen at least, the 5930k seems to OC to a higher level than the 5960X which I guess makes sense because of having fewer cores to look after.

Yeah I suppose when it comes to it, I can claim at least 50% of it.

I'm getting itchy trigger fingers this morning mate and I want to go out and get this x99 system but I have been told to hold off.

Its just that this month I know ill be giving the tax man a decent amount of GST and I can reduce that by claiming a new PC for myself.

You think the 5960x would be the way to go? When looking at overclocking results the difference would only be a 2-300mhz between 5960x and 5930k no?

 

[ExtremeGamer]

The way I understand all this is that you have the tax man on one hand & the desire to build a fine computer on the other hand. If you didn't care at all about the tax guy go build the best rig based on the suggestions in this thread & that includes waiting a little longer. BUT if you are a business man & concerned about the tax aspect do this: Buy the best components you want & go ahead & build your computer before your tax due date this month. You may be able to upgrade some stuff later. So it boils down to this: Do I want to save some tax money & build a rig NOW or do I really want to take a little more time to think about it & maybe have a better computer a little later. Tax man or computer? If I was a business man & I loved computers I'd wait for a while & totally concentrate on the computer & forget taxes. The Tax man will still come out ahead anyway. They always do.

 

[THE_EGG]

Yeah I suppose when it comes to it, I can claim at least 50% of it.

I'm getting itchy trigger fingers this morning mate and I want to go out and get this x99 system but I have been told to hold off.

Its just that this month I know ill be giving the tax man a decent amount of GST and I can reduce that by claiming a new PC for myself.

You think the 5960x would be the way to go? When looking at overclocking results the difference would only be a 2-300mhz between 5960x and 5930k no?

Yeh that's right from what I've seen at least. But it is a silicon lottery after all. It might be that a really good 5960x could clock at the same level as an average or poor 5930k. So based on this, if I were you I'd go for the 5960X. I'm thinking it will have a long life too like your 990X (or 980X).

Just an fyi, I'd expect some bios bugs if you do go and get X99 right now. I've had a few bugs with this motherboard (X99-Gaming 5). My itchy upgrade fingers are very satisfied with X99 paired with some basic ram and a 5930k, a big difference in many programs for me compared to my 'old' 4770.

 

[eidairaman1]

Just go for the best you can get. Go nuts

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Its just that this month I know ill be giving the tax man a decent amount of GST and I can reduce that by claiming a new PC for myself.

You didn't mention that before. With that in mind, go ahead, spend the money, get the best set-up you can (take @cadaveca advice on what board to get, l did in getting my R4BE) and get your tax write off.

 

[Aquinus]

I don't think any recommendation we can give will be truly a good one because the OP can't tell us what business he is into so it's not like we can make a well informed decision on what would be optimal for his business, just for gaming. Consider if you all were in a similar position. Would you want to just spend as much as you could, which would work and be costly, or possibly have a machine cost half as much but does just as well for what you need it to do. I personally think that the amount saved would vastly outweigh the tax benefits. X99 is not a cheap platform much like X79 was and I think we all need to remember that.

With that said, I think I've done all I can. This is a "buy what you want" thread since there is really no way to determine what would be ideal because for gaming alone, X99 is a bad idea IMHO and without more knowledge about what the tower will be used for business-wise, I can't recommend skt2011-3 even though everyone here seems to have a hard-on for it.

I guess a question that could be posed without knowing what you do for your business is, what does your current rig do now that isn't good enough to warrant an upgrade? Tax season alone isn't a reason to upgrade imho.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Tax season alone isn't a reason to upgrade imho.

I disagree. I know personally, if I was about to have to pay say $5000 in taxes, but could take the money and buy a new extreme high-end computer with it, and still be credited with my taxes being paid, I'd do it in a heart beat. And if money was an issue, I'd go and sell the computer two weeks later and get something more appropriate for my uses.

 

[Naito]

Tax helps the government provide public services and infrastructure.... and line union pockets...