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[6233638]

So it's officially out now, and reviews are up.
Any thoughts on the new HEDT (high-end desktop) platform from Intel?
 
The higher-end models seem to be expensive, but I noticed that the base 6-core i7 is only a small step up in price from a 4790K here.
Yes, the number of PCIe lanes are "crippled" compared to the higher-end parts, but it's still almost double what the 1150 platform offers (28 vs 16) and at most I'm only ever going to have two GPUs in there.
 
Of course that means paying more for an X99 board than Z97, and buying DDR4 memory rather than re-purposing the DDR3 from my current system, but I'm wondering if now is the time to finally upgrade my 2500K.
That X99-E WS board from ASUS is pretty tempting - especially with 12 SATA ports and an M.2 SSD connector.
Other than the Thunderbolt header, which I am unlikely to use anyway, it seems like a really nice board layout.
 
My only real concern is that while these are Haswell chips, they don't seem to be clocked nearly as high as the 1150 Haswell CPUs, which is likely to impact single-threaded and gaming performance.
While it's not something I have used in the past, I wonder if per-core turbo would let you equal the 4790K when using 1-4 cores, and only drop to lower clockspeeds when all 6-8 are in use.
Perhaps these CPUs may even be capable of handling multichannel DST compressed audio playback in MC20.

[Hendrik]

The CPUs perform as expected, no big surprises there.

The lower base clocks are because of the extra cores, to keep a certain thermal level. They over clock quite well to at the very least the level of the consumer series, and even higher, given appropriate cooling of course.

Not sure about which main board to get. The X99-E WS is probably going to be quite expensive and has too many features for me really. I might get the Asus X99-A once its details are confirmed, but it looks like its going to get a 32Gb/s M.2 slot as well, and 8 DDR4 slots, I don't really need an excessive amount of SATA slots in this system. Also don't need all the PCIe slots of the WS, like you it'll never run more then two GPUs.

[6233638]

The lower base clocks are because of the extra cores, to keep a certain thermal level. They over clock quite well to at the very least the level of the consumer series, and even higher, given appropriate cooling of course.

I haven't actually seen tests comparing Haswell-E to Haswell at equal clocks yet.
I'd love to see whether you get the same performance with a Haswell-E chip limited to 4 cores and running at the same clockspeed as a Haswell chip.

Not sure about which main board to get. The X99-E WS is probably going to be quite expensive and has too many features for me really. I might get the Asus X99-A once its details are confirmed, but it looks like its going to get a 32Gb/s M.2 slot as well, and 8 DDR4 slots, I don't really need an excessive amount of SATA slots in this system. Also don't need all the PCIe slots of the WS, like you it'll never run more then two GPUs.

You're right, I certainly don't need all those PCIe slots, and probably don't need eight RAM slots either.
 
I definitely don't need a million USB3 ports. If the tower was in the same room as my other hardware and they had multiple controllers it might be useful, but everything is just run through a pair of hubs. Most of the time, with that many USB ports it's basically just a hub integrated on the motherboard anyway.

I've only ever used two sticks of RAM in any system that I've built, but have really been feeling the limitations of 8GB RAM recently and would have added another couple of sticks by now if I hadn't known about DDR4 coming soon.
Eight slots should make it a lot cheaper to get to 32/64GB than four.

If I had bought a SAS card, I wouldn't care about the fact that that board has 12 SATA ports plus two eSATA and an M.2 slot, but that just makes things a lot easier. I use all eight on my current board and one of the eSATA ports, so the extra four ports will be appreciated. I have enough spare drives here (older 1.5/2TB disks) that I will be able to make use of them right away.
 
There are a number of features about the workstation board which ASUS claim should make it more reliable, and you get priority support if there are any problems (new board shipped within 24h of requesting an RMA) which appeals to me. Downtime due to a bad motherboard is not fun. I had four replacements for my P67 board, each taking at least a week or two.

[Hendrik]

I've only ever used two sticks of RAM in any system that I've built, but have really been feeling the limitations of 8GB RAM recently and would have added another couple of sticks by now if I hadn't known about DDR4 coming soon.
Eight slots should make it a lot cheaper to get to 32/64GB than four.

Well, considering its a quad-channel setup, just getting two this time would not be ideal.

I'll probably go for 32GB in 4 modules (ie. 4x8), leave some room for another 32GB later, if i ever feel like it. This system should last me quite a while.

Regarding the motherboard, I'm waiting about a month or so anyway at least, so hopefully the specs of the other boards and some more tests appear in the meantime.
There is also a X99-Pro from ASUS announced to arrive near end of september, that might be a good sweet spot in the middle, but we'll see.

[6233638]

Yes, that would probably be my plan as well.
Considering the rate at which Intel CPUs have been advancing at, I wonder if it might actually be worthwhile buying one of the higher-up processor models rather than the base 6-core.
 
Rather than the CPU being something which I would upgrade annually or biennially, things seem to be getting further and further apart due to the focus on mobile and efficiency, rather than pushing the limits of performance.
If I wait a few months - and I do intend on waiting for the new Nvidia GPUs to launch - it will have been four years since my last full PC build.

[Daydream]

it will have been four years since my last full PC build.

Same here (I got the same CPU as you). I just struggle to see the benefit of upgrading. Where would I see the benefits of a $400-600-1000 6 or 8-core CPU? It makes little to no difference in games, whereas the next series of GPUs will make all the difference. Maybe it'll speed up Lightroom? I feel there's some bad design choices at work there that even a powerhouse CPU will not help with. Encoding? Who does that anymore at the price of HDD space nowadays?

Then we'll need new memory. 32GB of DDR3 is about $325, 32GB of DDR4 is $450-500. And if I get a x99 board I'd probably look at 64GB since I have 32GB right now so, otherwise what would be the point.

So the MB. $500 a motherboard? What, it comes with a TV too? I get a knee jerk reaction like when somebody let themselves carried away slapping the prices on these things. I for one like the armada of USB 3.0 ports since I'm tired of daisy-chaining USB 3.0 hubs off the Sandy Bridge board (external HDDs, USB flash drives, card readers, they pile up). SATA ports - whatever. M.2 port of the 4x PCI-E 3.0 type absolutely required. Since this is not gonna be a setup for 6 months I want to be able to put the fastest SSD in it even if it doesn't happen right away. But then again $500 a board?

I'll look again at the whole thing around Christmas.

[Hendrik]

I work more on this machine than I game, and the upgrade for me is to get extra cores, as they are quite beneficial for me.

Regarding the motherboard cost, the X99-A I'm currently looking at is only around 220€, and I wouldn't pay twice for the WS, but maybe €100 more if I see any actual benefits there (which right now I'm not sure about).

I'm probably going to get a 5930K CPU, I don't want to be annoyed by the PCIe lanes later, considering that two GPUs and a PCIe SSD would already exceed its available lanes (plus I might want an additional low end GPU to run extra screens on the side, as two GPUs in SLI can only run 2 screens AFAIK)

[6233638]

Same here (I got the same CPU as you). I just struggle to see the benefit of upgrading. Where would I see the benefits of a $400-600-1000 6 or 8-core CPU? It makes little to no difference in games, whereas the next series of GPUs will make all the difference. Maybe it'll speed up Lightroom? I feel there's some bad design choices at work there that even a powerhouse CPU will not help with. Encoding? Who does that anymore at the price of HDD space nowadays?

Then we'll need new memory. 32GB of DDR3 is about $325, 32GB of DDR4 is $450-500. And if I get a x99 board I'd probably look at 64GB since I have 32GB right now so, otherwise what would be the point.

Honestly, it was the small difference in price between a 5820K and a 4790K that had me start considering the X99 platform more seriously. I've been wanting more cores for a long time now, since upgrading from single-core to dual-core, and dual to quad have been by far the most worthwhile changes rather than moving from one dual-to-dual or quad-to-quad, but it's always seemed out of reach until now.
 
Spending some more time looking over things and considering my options, I'm not sure that I will jump on-board with X99 yet.
While the CPU price difference is minimal, the total cost of the platform is a lot more expensive - especially now that Z97 has been out for a while.

As expected from previous transitions to a new generation of DDR, it looks like there are some issues with DDR4 latency - and I'm not sure whether that just means buying "cheap" DDR4 now and replacing it in a year, or whether it will require a new chipset to address the problem.
 
And thinking about it as a five-year purchase - since that's what it is likely to be unless Intel stops focusing on mobile - also has me considering the 8-core. But I think I'd rather wait for the second revision on all of this if I'm considering spending that sort of money.
 
 
As for CPU performance, I find that I am multitasking a lot more now, and have things like Media Center running audio analysis in the background while playing demanding tracks, and editing photos or video at the same time.
Even though I only have a GTX570 (which will be replaced soon) some of the games I play do appear to be CPU limited, as I can't hit 60fps even at lower settings and the GPU load is only about 70-80%.
 
My system completely chokes if I try to have Media Center do any encoding for DLNA devices, so I'm hoping that as a temporary solution a quicker CPU might help, and hopefully Media Center will gain support for QuickSync or NVENC, which neither my current CPU or GPU support.

Considering that there are Z97 boards available as low as €75 and I wouldn't have to buy a lot of expensive DDR4 RAM (though I would probably opt to add another 8GB DDR3 - also very affordable right now) I may just upgrade to an i7 Haswell instead.

That probably means buying a SAS card though, as I will need to add more drives shortly - it wasn't that long ago that I added another 4TB, and am already down to 5% free space on it.
Ripping Blu-rays, shooting RAW images, and now that I'm starting to shoot/edit video, disk space just seems to vanish.
 

So the MB. $500 a motherboard? What, it comes with a TV too? I get a knee jerk reaction like when somebody let themselves carried away slapping the prices on these things. I for one like the armada of USB 3.0 ports since I'm tired of daisy-chaining USB 3.0 hubs off the Sandy Bridge board (external HDDs, USB flash drives, card readers, they pile up). SATA ports - whatever. M.2 port of the 4x PCI-E 3.0 type absolutely required. Since this is not gonna be a setup for 6 months I want to be able to put the fastest SSD in it even if it doesn't happen right away. But then again $500 a board?

Again; most of these USB3 ports are probably just running off an internal hub. There is probably only two controllers on the motherboard.
I actually find that external hubs are easier to use than having all those devices plugged directly into the computer.
I have a pair of "industrial" hubs (metal construction, individually fused/surge protected ports etc) affixed to the underside of my desk and that is far more convenient than connecting devices directly to the PC.
 

I work more on this machine than I game, and the upgrade for me is to get extra cores, as they are quite beneficial for me.

Honestly - and I don't mean to harp on about it, but one of the biggest things where I am seeing problems due to the CPU on a day-to-day basis, is trying to play multichannel DSD files in Media Center - and that is a software problem, since MC18 can handle playback just fine.
 

I'm probably going to get a 5930K CPU, I don't want to be annoyed by the PCIe lanes later, considering that two GPUs and a PCIe SSD would already exceed its available lanes (plus I might want an additional low end GPU to run extra screens on the side, as two GPUs in SLI can only run 2 screens AFAIK)

Unless you are running dual GPU cards (GTX 690, 760 MARS, Titan Z, 295X2 etc.) I was under the impression that there was nothing which currently requires PCIe3 16x bandwidth to the GPU.
 
I hadn't heard that about Nvidia GPUs but a quick search does come up with results saying that Nvidia only supports two monitors per master GPU - though I think that may be outdated information. After all, you can run Nvidia surround with three monitors off a single card for example.
 
I must say that it concerns me a bit though - I was planning on moving my current 1080p display off to the side, adding a 144Hz 1440p display, and possibly another monitor rotated 90° to the side of that.

[Hendrik]

I was under the impression that there was nothing which currently requires PCIe3 16x bandwidth to the GPU.

The keyword being "currently". I do hope the base platform will hold me through a bunch of generations, and I would rather have the headroom for full GPU resources even in 2-3 years, when a new GPU replaces whatever i'll have until then. Admittedly its quite a price premium for 12 extra PCIe lanes, but the way I plan it, its 150€ extra for a piece of hardware I'll be using for years, so its a good investment.

I hadn't heard that about Nvidia GPUs but a quick search does come up with results saying that Nvidia only supports two monitors per master GPU - though I think that may be outdated information. After all, you can run Nvidia surround with three monitors off a single card for example.
 
I must say that it concerns me a bit though - I was planning on moving my current 1080p display off to the side, adding a 144Hz 1440p display, and possibly another monitor rotated 90° to the side of that.

A single GPU can run 3 screens, no question. As far as i know, the problem starts when you SLI two GPUs, for some reason the whole SLI construct can only run 2 screens then.

A quick search brings it also up in the FAQ:
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/sli/faq#s1

Seems to still be up to date information.

I've been thinking about just using a 750 Ti or something like that, if i run into that limitation (right now I won't be running SLI, but I might eventually), pretty cheap and no external power connector, seems like a good choice.
I've been using the Intel iGPU on my old setup for an extra screen, but of course that option is not available anymore.

[Daydream]

The problem with the gaming side of things is that we gonna have 4K screens. Within a year tops. Dell has a 4K IPS 24" screen out now for $800. I'm hoping the next generation of graphic cards will guarantee 4K fluid gaming without staking multiple cards or breaking the bank.

[Hendrik]

That's mostly a GPU thing though, which is part of the reason I want to remain flexible with the PCIe lanes for future upgrades. CPUs might not scale up as fast anymore as they used to, but GPUs are still on that path, especially if 4K gives people a reason to want much more performance.

[Hilton]

No CPU or MB upgrade for me this cycle. I still have a 4960X @ 4.8Ghz and nothing I do apart from the occasional bluray recode would take advantage of an extra 2 cores.
I'm not even upgrading my 4way SLI GTX580s yet, they'll be good until next gen GPUs too. 

Worth upgrading from a 2600K though if your going to a lowend 6core with X99, but only if you want cores for re-encoding video, otherwise 2600K still remains one of the best OC CPUs ever, and at clock for clock I doubt a Haswell-E 6core will be much better for anything else.  Games are still GPU limited and the 2600K should still reach higher clocks than Haswell-E.

[6233638]

Games are still GPU limited and the 2600K should still reach higher clocks than Haswell-E.

Unless it's an architecture issue with Fermi, I'm not sure that's the case. With only a single GTX570 in my system there are a number of games which don't even hit 60fps while being far below 100% GPU load.

[Hilton]

Unless it's an architecture issue with Fermi, I'm not sure that's the case. With only a single GTX570 in my system there are a number of games which don't even hit 60fps while being far below 100% GPU load.

GPU limited. You may find some older games are not, but they would be the exception to the rule.


http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/core_i7_5960x_5930k_and_5820k_processor_review,14.html

[Hilton]

And if you want definitive proof, here's a list of 66 games compared between a 2500K & 4790K with a Titan.
I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but CPU clocks are still more important than cores or optimisations and Intel have been focussing on mobile CPUs and reducing power consumption. As I said very few games benefit from anything faster than 4Ghz on 2500/2600K.

Get yourself a new GTX and you'll double your framerate.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2389580

[Hendrik]

Something I read earlier, apparently ASUS uses a special socket that uses more of the CPUs pins, which is not validated by Intel and Intel claims using the CPU on such a board will void its warranty.

Not sure how that will play out. If this situation doesn't change and all ASUS boards have this socket, I may go for another board after all.

[6233638]

Something I read earlier, apparently ASUS uses a special socket that uses more of the CPUs pins, which is not validated by Intel and Intel claims using the CPU on such a board will void its warranty.

Not sure how that will play out. If this situation doesn't change and all ASUS boards have this socket, I may go for another board after all.

Yes, it seems that they reverse-engineered what the extra pins do, and are using it to improve power delivery to the CPU.
Speculation is that the pins were left there for a future revision where the voltage regulator is moved off the CPU again.
 
I had not heard that using one of these boards would void your warranty though.

And if you want definitive proof, here's a list of 66 games compared between a 2500K & 4790K with a Titan.
I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but CPU clocks are still more important than cores or optimisations and Intel have been focussing on mobile CPUs and reducing power consumption. As I said very few games benefit from anything faster than 4Ghz on 2500/2600K.

Get yourself a new GTX and you'll double your framerate.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2389580

Well a lot of these are older games, but some do show big differences in performance.
I seem to recall playing Skyrim and finding areas where I couldn't hit 60fps despite a GPU load well below 100%.
Perhaps using a faster GPU can still make up for it, but it's clearly not just a GPU problem if the load is <80%.
 
Some of the games like Stalker and Metro - both games I have enjoyed - are showing significant differences moving from a 2500K to a 4790K.
I understand that many games are GPU limited, but there are definitely still cases where the CPU is the limiting factor.
 
After all, things like Mantle and DirectX 12 would not be such a big deal if the CPU didn't matter.

[Hilton]

Do as you please... its your dollars, but don't complain when you only see a 3% increase in performance from a new processor.
A GPU is a much better investment for gaming.

Mantle and DX12 are GPU pipeline optimisations that all CPUs will benefit from.
Theoretically all DX12 and Mantle games will scale better per CPU clock, but that has nothing to do with new CPU architectures and everything to do with streamlining GPU pipeline instructions between CPU and GPU.
Microsoft got 50% better CPU utilisation in 3Dmark when they ported it to DX12.

That's the reason some of your games don't fully utilise the GPU or CPU, because of poorly optimised code and/or internal GPU architecture limits.

[mojave]

My i7-5820K  and other components ship today. I should have them by Thursday or Friday.  I started off wanting to upgrade my motherboard because I need a Thunderbolt port for my new Lynx Aurora 16-TB. I was going to get a 4790K but decided to go ahead with the X99 stuff. This is the first time I've ever bought the latest chipset/processor.

[6233638]

This is the first time I've ever bought the latest chipset/processor.

RAM too, I hope.

[mojave]

RAM too, I hope.

RAM, motherboard, drive, etc. In fact, my video card won't even be released until later September. I'm thinking about a GTX 970.

Case:  Silvertonetek GD07 with rack ears
CPU:  Intel I7-5820K
Motherboard:  ASUS X99-Deluxe
Thunderbolt card:  ASUS ThunderboltEX II
Memory:  GSkill Ripjaw DDR4 2400 (4x4GB)
PSU:  Seasonic Platinum SS-860XP2
Drive:  Samsung XP941 256MB 4X M.2
CPU Cooler:  Corsair Hydro H75
Blu-ray drive:  ASUS 12x Blu-ray internal drive
OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit

GPU:  GTX 970?

I may switch to Noctua fans if the stock fans aren't quiet enough with PWN control.

[Hendrik]

I'm still wary about ASUS boards and the warranty problem of the CPUs when using it. I couldn't find a English report though, only two German tech sites that picked up the story. I don't want to be bitten in the ass on a $500 CPU though.

Until its clarified I've been looking at MSI or ASRock as alternatives, both have pretty nice boards as well, including medium range models with just the stuff I need and not $100 of features I'll never use. Gigabyte boards all fall short on a few things I value though (like a 32Gb/s M.2 port)

[mojave]

I did read about the extra pins at bit-tech.net. However, I haven't seen any mention of warranty anywhere.

Now, notice the slight difference in pins between the Ivy Bridge-E sample on the left above and the Haswell-E on the right? Asus has discovered that these extra pads provide access to additional voltages and monitoring. According to Asus, it can significantly enhance overclocking of both the CPU and memory, although for the most part the benefits will be mostly at the extreme end of the scale using liquid nitrogen. However, it did show us a live demo of a supposedly standard set of 2,133MHz DDR4 running at 3,000MHz and it also claims that there's next to no voltage drop. We'll be investigating this further but for the moment motherboards with Asus' OC Socket feature sport the extra pins to exploit these extra gubbins.

I can't believe how much the ASUS X99 boards cost. The past few boards I've bought have been MSI and I've spent around $140 each. I went with ASUS because of the ThunderboltEX II card that is available.

[mojave]

ASUS even mentions the "OC Socket" in their launch announcement. I can't imagine it would void any warranty.

OC Socket for extended overclocking headroom and ASUS 5-Way Optimization
X99 Series motherboards are equipped with a brand-new ASUS innovation — our patent-pending OC Socket. This unique socket includes extra pins that connect proprietary circuitry to extra contacts found on Haswell-E's land grid array (LGA) and is 100% compatible with Intel’s new LGA 2011-v3 (‘Haswell-E’) processors. In combination with the ASUS UEFI BIOS, OC Socket enables higher DDR4 memory frequencies, lower memory latencies and enhanced stability while overclocking, extending all the way to extreme overclocking conditions, such as Liquid Nitrogen (LN2).Users are also able to increase DDR4 memory frequencies to 3200MHz and beyond, even with all eight DIMM slots populated.

[6233638]

I can't believe how much the ASUS X99 boards cost. The past few boards I've bought have been MSI and I've spent around $140 each. I went with ASUS because of the ThunderboltEX II card that is available.

It's not just ASUS - Socket 2011 boards have always been expensive when compared to the consumer ones due to the increased complexity.
 
It doesn't help things when the consumer motherboards since around the 7-series have been particularly inexpensive. (I seem to recall P67/Z68 being 1.5-2x the cost of Z77 boards and Z87/97 have been priced similarly)

[Hendrik]

ASUS even mentions the "OC Socket" in their launch announcement. I can't imagine it would void any warranty.

Intel seemed pretty clear when responding to an inquiry from the German tech site, and flat out said using a CPU on a non-validated platform would void the warranty. They seemed absolutely not happy with ASUS actions. And apparently you can clearly see on the CPU which pins were used in a socket from small indentations.

ASUS of course tries to defuse the situation by claiming its no different than any other main board optimizations every manufacturer does, but honestly reverse engineering unused pins on a CPU seems pretty insane already.

[mojave]

I found this cached thread at Overclock3D, but the original seems to have deleted  ?:

Using an ASUS OC Socket DOES NOT VOID WARRANTY!

[Awesome Donkey]

I saw that too, not sure what to make of it. I suppose we'll have to wait and see for an official (English) response.

[Awesome Donkey]

ASUS' OC Socket is safe to use without voiding the warranty. Time to buy a Rampage V Extreme!

http://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/anton-shilov/asus-clarifies-situation-with-oc-sockets-cpus-are-covered-with-warranty/?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email

[mojave]

CPU Water Cooler and Blu-ray drive arrived yesterday. Case arrived today. Other stuff to arrive on Monday. No playing around this weekend. I'll start a build thread next week.

[Hendrik]

I'm still patiently waiting. The RAM I want also hasn't shown up on any vendors around here yet (a 4x8GB set >= 2800 MHz, <= CL16), but I don't even know for sure its going to be released right away. They announced all these modules at the same time, but only the slower ones are showing up...
I'm not in a huge hurry, if the situation doesn't change in a couple weeks, I may go with a slower set though. I was hoping for a faster set to get the latency down again from the high CAS times, but in the end it probably wouldnt matter much at all anyway. I just don't like compromising.

I decided against a closed-loop water cooling solution though, as their performance really isn't any better than a huge air cooler, and the good ones are harder to put in a case properly (because the heatsinks get huge).
I'm going to get a new Noctua NH-D15, a huge beast for sure, but quiet and stellar performance, and my case has a lot of clearance for huge air coolers (at the same time putting in a huge heatsink from a water cooler is problematic though)

[mojave]

The GSkill DDR4 3333 was released today on newegg in the US. It was $699 but is already out of stock.

The Corsair H75 cpu cooler should fit fine in my case and the cooling/noise looked similar to the Noctua. I don't have enough height for the Noctua. My current HTPC uses a Scythe Big Shuriken 2 and it is extremely quiet. My intake (80 mm) and two exhaust (60 mm) fans on the current HTPC are Noctua. I thought about another Scythe, but decided to try water cooling. I can still use Noctua fans on the radiator, too, if I need to.

[6233638]

I decided against a closed-loop water cooling solution though, as their performance really isn't any better than a huge air cooler, and the good ones are harder to put in a case properly (because the heatsinks get huge).
I'm going to get a new Noctua NH-D15, a huge beast for sure, but quiet and stellar performance, and my case has a lot of clearance for huge air coolers (at the same time putting in a huge heatsink from a water cooler is problematic though)

I like how water cooling looks, and closed-loop coolers/rads seem like they would make working inside the case a lot easier, but it seems that GPUs are what benefit most from watercooling these days.
The additional risk with water cooling just isn't worth it in my opinion.
 
I would suggest that you might want to pick up an NH-D14 rather than the 15 though - the 15 has problems with some motherboard layouts, blocking the first PCIe slot.
RAM compatibility is better on the 15 though.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swijjjpVR0s

[Hendrik]

I use the Scythe in my HTPC as well, but the HTPC isn't running a -E CPU at decent OC levels either.

I used one of the first popular closed-loop water coolers a few years back (the Corsair H50), and it worked decently, but at the cooling performance I want (since I do plan to OC a bit), I would need at least a Corsair H100/H105 or any of the competitors double-wide coolers, and fitting those is always a bit harder.

PS:
The 15 comes with PWM fans, I don't really want to get a 14 and then replace its fans with PWM fans after.
If it doesn't fit, I can still always replace it.

[6233638]

PS:
The 15 comes with PWM fans, I don't really want to get a 14 and then replace its fans with PWM fans after.
If it doesn't fit, I can still always replace it.

The 14 is supplied with PWM fans as well if you buy the LGA2011 version.
 
I actually ordered the LGA115X version but was shipped the LGA2011 version and an 115X mounting kit instead since they were out of stock at the time - I guess they were focused on NH-D15 production since it was released shortly after.
 
I'm glad they did, since I normally can't stand PWM fans, but Noctua's custom driver seems to have eliminated the ticking/pulsing noise that normally bothers me with standard PWM fans.
 
I believe the 15 will give slightly better temperatures, but the potential for blocking the first PCIe slot is a concern.

[Hendrik]

I suppose that might be annoying.

Noctua has compatibility listings for boards as well.

NH-D15:
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=68&lng=en#LGA2011-3_Asus

NH-D14:
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=41&lng=en#LGA2011-3_Asus

Amazingly, they don't even try to hide that fact, its just plain out there.
For some reason they don't have that notice for the X99 Deluxe though, is its first PCIe slot one further down? Its hard to judge from the board photos (the low resolution on  the ASUS website isnt helping), but it might.

The WS has 7 slots in total, and the Deluxe has only 6, so it might start one further down, avoiding this problem?

[6233638]

I suppose it must be different if they say that it fits OK on some of the boards, but the position seems very similar in photos. It's only a 5mm difference though, so perhaps that's to be expected.
I didn't realize they had such a comprehensive and up-to-date compatibility list.
 
That's something I like about Noctua - they seem to be honest about any of the claims they're making, and aren't trying to cover up the fact that the NH-D15 may be too large for some boards.
I thought it was mostly an issue with mATX/ITX boards, but it looks like there are quite a lot of standard ATX boards with compatibility issues as well.
 
It's less of an issue with the X99 boards since they have so many PCIe lanes, but I'd be hesitant to buy one because of this. I generally don't upgrade my cooling solution every time I upgrade the PC - only if it's actually necessary, and I'd hate to run into problems later.
 
Upgrading to the NH-D14 was more about noise than temperature for me - my old Thermalright True 120 still did a good job keeping an overclocked 2500K cool.

[Hendrik]

When I do a entire rebuild like this, I like to keep my old system working (which has a NH-D14 in it, fwiw), so I can recycle it as a development platform or who knows what use i can find for it, so usually a new CPU also means new cooler for me.
If it fits on the board I use, I might as well get the 15 then.

I'm leaning towards the X99-A now, maybe going to wait for the X99-Pro once it comes out to see what it offers. The A has one tiny limitation that makes me want to checkout other options (ie. it cannot run 3 PCIe x16 slots and the M.2 slot at the same time, at least not when two double-wide cards are installed and block some other slots, while the Deluxe can do that and just cuts the last PCIe slot to x4). Future proofing is annoying - or expensive, how ever you see it.

[mojave]

When I was trying to decide on cooling I read a bunch of reviews. The reviews seemed to be all over the place regarding cooling at idle or load and sound levels. This Corsair H75 review at Guru3D has the Corsair H75 1dB quieter than the Noctua NH-D14 at both idle and load. With an i7-3770K overclocked to 4.6Ghz, the Noctua was 72 degrees at load and the Corsair was 79 degrees. The Corsair was 1 degree cooler at idle, though. I decided the H75 was good enough.

[Hendrik]

Well, an air cooler also has the advantage that it provides a bit of airflow over the MOSFETs and the RAM, and considering how cheap those two Noctua coolers are (the NH-D14 is the price of the H75, the D15 is slightly above) .. if the case has the room for it, its not much of a choice for me.
If there wasn't enough room, I might reconsider such a water device.

[6233638]

I would also add that there's more to noise than simply the SPL.
 
With watercooling you have pump noise in addition to fan noise, and I replaced all my previous Corsair fans with Noctuas because I found them annoying - not nearly as bad as the Silverstone AP fans or Scythe Gentle Typhoons though.

[mwillems]

With watercooling you have pump noise in addition to fan noise, and I replaced all my previous Corsair fans with Noctuas because I found them annoying - not nearly as bad as the Silverstone AP fans or Scythe Gentle Typhoons though.

My one foray into watercooling was nixed by pump noise after a year.  The pump noise was louder and more distracting than a fan, I think one of the bearings may have gone bad.  But it was a sealed "all-in-one" so there was no way to get in and fiddle with the bearing without wrecking it/voiding the warranty. 

[mojave]

Pump noise is one reason I went with the H75 over the older, but more "high end" H80i. The new pump in the H75 is supposed to be a quieter design from the little I could read about it.

I just opened up the GD07 case and the H75 will fit great on one of the 120mm fan locations. Corsair recommend mounting the fans as intake fans so cooling blows across the motherboard. There is another 120mm case fan that also blows across the motherboard.

From HardwareCanucks.com review of the H75 and H105:

On the positive side both of these new models do use Asetek's latest waterblock and ceramic bearing pump design. The latest trend in the AIO marketplace has really focused on the pump noise versus performance aspects and this new low profile pump promises to boost efficiency while also offering a reduced acoustical profile. It’s really the best of both worlds.

[Awesome Donkey]

Personally I'm doing a custom water loop for my 5930K build.

[RoderickGI]

Noctua has compatibility listings for boards as well.

NH-D15:
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=68&lng=en#LGA2011-3_Asus

NH-D14:
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=41&lng=en#LGA2011-3_Asus

Did you consider the Noctua NH-C14? It doesn't have any mounting issues with any of the ASRock or ASUS X99 motherboards. It may not have the latest fans or the ones you want though. But fans can be changed.

I use the NH-C14 in a Lian Li PC-C60B case for my HTPC. This isn't a tower case, which gives some cooling advantages, particularly with heavy air coolers. As per my signature, I have an ASRock Z77 Extreme motherboard with an Intel Core i5-3570K. The case has a fan hole almost directly above the CPU socket, and I am able to fit both fans in this installation. So air flows directly down from outside the case through the top fan hole, through the cooler, and then over the motherboard. I run a positive pressure case, so that air plus air from two fans on the right side of the case flows over the whole motherboard, over my five hard disks, and out through an unfilled fan opening on the left, and through the Seasonic SS-660XP power supply, which usually isn't running its fan. (It supports temperature based fan control and is able to turn the fan off at lower temperatures.)

This setup doesn't have the most demanding cooling requirements, and it isn't completely silent, but it is very quiet and offers excellent cooling. It will be even quieter when I get around to replacing the fans that came with the Lian li with Noctua fans.

Worth a look. http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=37&lng=en#LGA2011-3_ASRock

[Hendrik]

The D14 is going to fit no matter what, I've used it in many builds before, and the case has a lot of room specifically for huge cooler blocks like that. The only concern was about the D15, which is slightly wider.

[Hilton]

I have the Corsair H75 on my HTPC cooling an i7 4770 and I cant hear it at all from 3 metres away. Highly recommended.
The radiator even fits in 3 x 5 1/4 drive bays. (press fit, no screws - Im using a really old midtower that doesn't have fan outlet above CPU.)

The Asus GTX760 DirectCU II GPU and Seasonic 550W PSU are also really quiet.

I use the motherboard CPU fan controller to run the fan and another fan header to run the pump. (set for minimum operating RPM for fans and pump, they increase speed if extra cooling's required)

The Spec is:
Gigabyte z87x-ud3h motherboard
Intel i7 4770 3.9Ghz Quad core Haswell processor
8GB TridentX 2400Mhz DDR3 Ram
Samsung 840 120GB SSD
Asus GTX760 DirectCU II 2GB DDR5 Ram which is whisper quiet
Seasonic 550W PSU which is also whisper quiet
Corsair H75 CPU water cooler which is also whisper quiet

[RoderickGI]

The D14 is going to fit no matter what, I've used it in many builds before, and the case has a lot of room specifically for huge cooler blocks like that. The only concern was about the D15, which is slightly wider.

Fair enough. The other point was that the C14 pulls air from outside my case, and blows directly down onto the motherboard. Both advantages in cooling that I like.

I guess the D15 may be quieter though.

[Hendrik]

For some reason they don't have that notice for the X99 Deluxe though, is its first PCIe slot one further down? Its hard to judge from the board photos (the low resolution on  the ASUS website isnt helping), but it might.

The WS has 7 slots in total, and the Deluxe has only 6, so it might start one further down, avoiding this problem?

This part left me no peace, so I checked out the images of the boards and overlayed them to check this out.
The Deluxe and the X99-E WS are the same height, but the Deluxe has one less PCIe slot. On the Deluxe, the first one is indeed one slot further down, and because of this the area around the CPU is more "roomy" - however, the CPU socket is also quite a bit further down, and the absolute difference in socket <> first PCIe is somewhat small, but it may be enough for the bigger cooler to fit, we were talking about 5 millimeters on each side here anyway!

I found a review site that combined the two:
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Motherboards/ASUS-X99-Deluxe-Motherboard-Review/CPU-Cooler-Fit

However, their shot had a bad angle and you can't *really* see how close it comes...

[mojave]

I found a review site that combined the two:
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Motherboards/ASUS-X99-Deluxe-Motherboard-Review/CPU-Cooler-Fit

I just skimmed the article and saw this:

The board did have a few minor challenges with it, the biggest being the lack of a CMOS reset jumper. Without a CMOS reset jumper, there is no way to be entirely sure that the remnants of a previous BIOS version are fully removed from the system, even after disconnecting the CMOS battery for an extended period.

There is a CMOS reset button on the motherboard. It works great. I've used it a couple times.  Also, why would a CMOS reset jumper remove remnants of a previous BIOS version?