Advice Kinda needed. Upgrade from Rampage IV Formula to Black Edition or to Max VII

[izzyreb02]

Hey All ROG Peoples All alike.

I know I may of posted something kinda similar like this kinda question a long while back, cause I remember saying if It was worthy to go from 3960X to 4930K or such.

But of course I want a board that is design properly and focus on the CPU that it works either best on. Since Black Edition is kinda more focus on Ivy Bridge-E CPU's than Sandy's. So I thought I just be safe just to Notch and get one, if all of you suggested that I should move to Rampage IV Black Edition and sell my 3960X for $500 or such (either way I have to sell the 3960X though) & just get 4930k (I know what you guys are thinking, moving to a X to a K.


(But I don't want the cores to be wasted, when I aren't taking full advantage of them)


To be honest, I didn't do a good deal of research of what I be using my computer for. Since I thought back in the day, that more cores is better and more performance for things like gaming in particular.


Man I feel so silly for making a awkward move from X58 to X79 without thinking which will benefit me.

[For what I do mainly is: Gaming, chatting to friends, browsing the web & abit of editing and filming of videos from my gaming that I either do with my friends.]


I'm fully aware of upcoming broadwell and the upcoming X99 chipsets as such. But I know either way I go, I should be ok or just fine for gaming though.

So I came in awkward position from Maximus VII Formula and Rampage IV Black.

Either way I will have to sell my 3960X though, since I'm not taking full advantage of the extra cores when its being used just on Gaming and other task that I just mentioned. Even if I stick with the Black Edition, I may as well get a Ivy Bridge CPU that the Black Edition is fully focused on mainly.

I don't know what you guys think, since I already got myself in a x79 board and I don't know if its a good or bad thing going from X79 down to Z97 (when it may look like a downgrade).

Or I should just move to Black Edition even though I won't be taking full advantage of the cores really. *shrugs*


[~Sorry for the sentence though~ ]

I thought I give my thoughts out to you Rampage Users (even for those that have Black Edition), that can give me a wise or good decision that I should lean and go towards, since its hard for me to decide what's best for me.

But of course I've been checking on Z97 boards making sure that I aint sacrificing PCi Express lanes, since later I be getting another 780.

Since I use ROG RAIDR and ROG Phoebus, but if either one of their onboard sound card (SupremeFX 2014) seems to outcast the Phoebus, then I may as well use that then. (Just a thought).

But I will await and see what you guys think. 🙂

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Hey there izzyreb02...

Choices choices...and sometimes as enthusiasts we don't strictly go with the pragmatic or even sensible choice but go with the heart and get the top of the line with all the bells and whistles and often the bells are not often rung and the whistles hardly ever blown.

Really, for your normal computing as you describe it, a Z97 system will be no downgrade. 4 cores with a 4970K for example will give you plenty of OCabality and play games fantastically well and will run SLI x8x8 at Gen 3.0 no problem and should run your sound-card too just have to set things up in the right slots...

X79 and the upcoming X99 sure have more PCIe lanes for triple and quad SLI etc and more cores and memory channels but these are advantages for very specific workloads or for the very specific world of benchmarks and have next to no advantage for gaming and general computing...

Your current rig is still great and the only reason to upgrade is the enthusiast within you...no real reason 😉

Certainly the upgrade to RIVBE and 4930K makes little sense with the release of X99 and Haswell-E slated for the 29th of August!
If you want the high end wait for that.

Upgrade for the enthusiast who simply wants to have it...X99 Haswell-E

Z97, for your normal computing needs, no downgrade no upgrade in real terms...just a change...though might bring more SATA3 etc. than you have now so that could be considered upgrade..

Moving from X to K is just a question of cache....nothing else....the silicon lottery could mean a K clocks higher than an X or vice versa. Only in Haswell E will this make a concrete difference...5960X is 8 core and 5930K is six core....

[izzyreb02]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Hey there izzyreb02...

Choices choices...and sometimes as enthusiasts we don't strictly go with the pragmatic or even sensible choice but go with the heart and get the top of the line with all the bells and whistles and often the bells are not often rung and the whistles hardly ever blown.

Really, for your normal computing as you describe it, a Z97 system will be no downgrade. 4 cores with a 4970K for example will give you plenty of OCabality and play games fantastically well and will run SLI x8x8 at Gen 3.0 no problem and should run your sound-card too just have to set things up in the right slots...

X79 and the upcoming X99 sure have more PCIe lanes for triple and quad SLI etc and more cores and memory channels but these are advantages for very specific workloads or for the very specific world of benchmarks and have next to no advantage for gaming and general computing...

Your current rig is still great and the only reason to upgrade is the enthusiast within you...no real reason 😉

Certainly the upgrade to RIVBE and 4930K makes little sense with the release of X99 and Haswell-E slated for the 29th of August!
If you want the high end wait for that.

Upgrade for the enthusiast who simply wants to have it...X99 Haswell-E

Z97, for your normal computing needs, no downgrade no upgrade in real terms...just a change...though might bring more SATA3 etc. than you have now so that could be considered upgrade..

Moving from X to K is just a question of cache....nothing else....the silicon lottery could mean a K clocks higher than an X or vice versa. Only in Haswell E will this make a concrete difference...5960X is 8 core and 5930K is six core....

Ah Thank you Arne 😄 , Its soo good to see you around still 🙂

Yeah, apparently when I made the choice of a x79 at the time, I think it was when Z87 was just bout to release. But I thought it was only just for basic office use or something. But during months of new things coming for it, I see benchmarks that its also good for gaming and I'm like Did I just make the wrong choice of a system to go for.

I don't know If you remember how I had problems with my Rampage IV extreme How I had one problem after another and how I got my refund back on the other Rampage IV extreme, while the other I got was from Gamedudes, in which I know they wouldn't give me a refund back when the issue of the boot problem was still there.

So internally I lost $540 on the motherboard, plus service 😞

If I did a good margin at the start or relise which was going to benefit for me, I would of saved money and I wouldn't of had a cold boot up problem like I did on the Rampage IV Extreme that I had before I went to the Rampage IV Formula.

But yeah, maybe in future if games did take advantage of more than 4 cores, then It wouldn't be a big deal on which either path you would go. As long it works good for the type of workload you need and that is going to benefit for you in the long run on the cores that can be used for the type of games or tasks that uses them more. (Plus of course finding a board that has PCi Express slots for you that you think, that you'll end up needing + Sata Ports etc)

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Yes, I'm about still...good to see you are too!

Yes! I remember your troubles...you certainly took some knocks on your way to getting your system up and running...I can see why you are weighing up your options.

Honestly for 99% of whatever you need to do with a system the more mainstream platforms are more than capable and Z97 with a 4970K is going to be great if you want a change...though in my opinion is not going to give you more than you have at the moment. I have an X79 IB-E system and have to resort to the crazy world of benchmarking to really see it perform any better than my old X58 system that I gave to my parents...

If you have the patience wait for a while...until the Maximus VII Extreme is launched for Broadwell or check out X99 and the Haswell E chips if you fancy DDR4.

I myself am an enthusiast and "need" to have X99 and DDR4 and Haswell E but I will certainly not be buying anything until it has been out for a white and truly tested and shown to be worth the upgrade...otherwise I might be looking at mainstream too...plenty of OC fun and gaming to be had and at a much fairer price....

[izzyreb02]

Well apparently my budget as it is now, I cant do anything until November or End of October. So I guess that could give some time to see what is best to go with, but of course I don't wanna waste my flow of money on something in which I aint taking a full advantage over on.

I know I may not see a % margin of a increase between the 2 of the boards if I eye to eye on both of them. Its just when I think bout how I spent my budget it makes me feel like I did a overkill thing and spent a grand on the CPU back in the day in which I could of got something that will work for me in a good price range, including the motherboard as such.

Oh well I learned my lesion there >w<

But wait, Isnt DDR4 going to be bit expensive though. I don't know if I would benefit much on DDR4 on gaming that much just like how some games don't take full advantage of the memory overclocking.

If I did made the choice next year and see if the margin does make a difference between DDR3 and DDR4 then it may change my mind twinkle abit to see that its worth going for than DDR3.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

I'm sure DDR4 will be of little advantage gaming...it's principle advantage is lower voltage for a bit more speed...but price factored in it certainly won't be "worth it" for a good while after its introduction...

[Myk_SilentShado]

Heya mate it's been a while!! hope you're keeping well 🙂

Honestly, most users won't even need DDR4 right now, best usage scenarios are workstation builds and the enthusiast nutcases 😛 there are most definitely going to be some benefits to utilizing DDR4 and that's the memory throughput, but, until the software(non-workstation i'm meaning) and games catch up few people are really going to benefit from it.

DDR4 on the Mainstream boards I don't think will be around until Skylake(pretty sure Broadwell is EOL for DDR3), so that could still be a couple years away...by then, software and games will have started to get in on the action.