6800k vs ebay xeon for Gaming PC

[Stormfire19]

I was planning on building a gaming pc with a 6800k and then found out that were dirt cheap xeons for sale on ebay. Some of the deals seem amazing, like a 16 core v4 for $340. I also understand there are ethical concerns about Engineering Samples, but i'm not worried about that. Will the performance be better than a 6800k for gaming, or should I stick with what I initially planned for.


Thanks.

-Stormfire19

 

[talha5541]

yes the preformance will probably be better for the i7 6800k.But what game do u usually play as some are more gpu intensive ,also what v4 were u planning to go with though ? i am interested because i was looking to build a dual xeon v3/v4 setup. for that price i think the e5 2667 v4 which i believe have a high clock which is quite good for gaming

 

[theonerm2]

I would go for the Xeon personally if you can get it cheap. You can get much more longevity out of the 16 core CPU. It will also have much more cache which can help more than a good overclock would in some games. Games that take advantage of more cores will especially work better and moving forward that will be the way to go. Right now clock speed is king though for gaming performance so if you want better performance now the 6800K or even better the 6700K would be the way to go. Right now for gaming the best CPU you can get is the Core i7 6700K. It clocks the highest and has the latest skylake architecture. I wouldn't even try overclocking a 6800K without a very good water cooler and I don't mean one of those closed loop coolers either. I am talking about a very expensive open loop cooler. The heat generated by the broadwell-e processors is tremendous when overclocked. 4GHz is the max I would overclock to on any lesser water cooler and I would say that a 240mm radiator is the minimum that I would use.

So... If you want the best performance today get a 6700K and overclock. If you want good performance that will get even better in the future and last a very long time then get the Xeon. If you want something in between the 6800K is your option but I don't see a reason for choosing it over the Xeon sense the Xeon is so cheap and has many more cores. Though I would be wary about buying from Hong Kong or China. I've read good feedback from sellers from Hong Kong selling those Xeons but sellers from that location have been known for shady business practices and selling counterfeit or fake items. Be aware that you may get cheated out of your money if you buy from them. Because they are from a different country than Paypal there isn't always a way for paypal to resolve an issue in your favor and get you your money back.

 

[Stormfire19]

I would go for the Xeon personally if you can get it cheap. You can get much more longevity out of the 16 core CPU. It will also have much more cache which can help more than a good overclock would in some games. Games that take advantage of more cores will especially work better and moving forward that will be the way to go. Right now clock speed is king though for gaming performance so if you want better performance now the 6800K or even better the 6700K would be the way to go. Right now for gaming the best CPU you can get is the Core i7 6700K. It clocks the highest and has the latest skylake architecture. I wouldn't even try overclocking a 6800K without a very good water cooler and I don't mean one of those closed loop coolers either. I am talking about a very expensive open loop cooler. The heat generated by the broadwell-e processors is tremendous when overclocked. 4GHz is the max I would overclock to on any lesser water cooler and I would say that a 240mm radiator is the minimum that I would use.

So... If you want the best performance today get a 6700K and overclock. If you want good performance that will get even better in the future and last a very long time then get the Xeon. If you want something in between the 6800K is your option but I don't see a reason for choosing it over the Xeon sense the Xeon is so cheap and has many more cores. Though I would be wary about buying from Hong Kong or China. I've read good feedback from sellers from Hong Kong selling those Xeons but sellers from that location have been known for shady business practices and selling counterfeit or fake items. Be aware that you may get cheated out of your money if you buy from them. Because they are from a different country than Paypal there isn't always a way for paypal to resolve an issue in your favor and get you your money back.

Will the 6700k have better performance in gaming because of better single threaded performance?

 

[theonerm2]

Yes. Single threaded performance is very favorable in games of today. More than 4 core and 8 threads won't do much for you in most games today as most developers don't parallelize the code that well to take advantage of more cores. It's a lot of work for the developer and most have strict deadlines they have to meet so there just isn't time to optimize the game to run on many cores nor does it make much sense to do the extra work because how many people have more than 8 threads these days? Not too many. In fact I'd say the 8 threaded or higher cpu's are a minority especially on the Intel side. Maybe not on the AMD side though because the FX 8320e is rather cheap. But where those higher end broadwell-e chips shine is the cache which can be very beneficial in some games. As you can see the Core i7 5775c Broadwell cpu beats the higher clocked 6700K in a few games due to its 128MB of L4 cache. This is unrelated to the broadwell-e though.

So clock speed isn't the whole story but still on the whole the Core i7 6700K is the best out there for high performance gaming right now.

 

[Stormfire19]

Yes. Single threaded performance is very favorable in games of today. More than 4 core and 8 threads won't do much for you in most games today as most developers don't parallelize the code that well to take advantage of more cores. It's a lot of work for the developer and most have strict deadlines they have to meet so there just isn't time to optimize the game to run on many cores nor does it make much sense to do the extra work because how many people have more than 8 threads these days? Not too many. In fact I'd say the 8 threaded or higher cpu's are a minority especially on the Intel side. Maybe not on the AMD side though because the FX 8320e is rather cheap. But where those higher end broadwell-e chips shine is the cache which can be very beneficial in some games. As you can see the Core i7 5775c Broadwell cpu beats the higher clocked 6700K in a few games due to its 128MB of L4 cache. This is unrelated to the broadwell-e though.

So clock speed isn't the whole story but still on the whole the Core i7 6700K is the best out there for high performance gaming right now.

Thank you so much!!!

I am still new to all of this and have chosen the xeons. I want to watercool it and I chose the phanteks enthoo primo case as it is good for watercooling, has SSI EEB support and looks badass. But I am not sure how to orient my water cooling loop and what fittings I will need besides standard compression fittings. I am concerned the ram sticks in between the cpu sockets will block a tube connecting the blocks together. I'm also worried that the d5 will not be enough for 4 water blocks and 2 rads, but rads don't have much resistance. Thanks.

Here is the list of my current parts:

PC:

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/k9VgtJ

CPU cooler: EK Supremacy EVO Universal CPU Liquid Cooling Block - Acetal CSQ (EK-Supremacy EVO - Acetal (Original CSQ)) x2

Radiators: Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper Quad 120mm Radiator x1
Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper Dual 140mm Radiator x1

Tubing: PrimoChill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Tubing 3/8"ID x 1/2" OD - 10ft Retail Pack - Bloodshed Red (PFLEXA10-12-R) x1

Reservoir: Alphacool Cape Corp Coolplex Pro 15 LT - 150mm x1

Pump: Swiftech MCP655-PWM-DRIVE 12v Water Pump - PWM Enabled w/ G1/4 Thread Ports (Perfectly Tapped)

 

[theonerm2]

Did you already buy the Xeons? I'm afraid you can't legally buy those engineering samples because Intel legally owns them no matter what. You as the buyer do not own those processors and cannot own them no matter how much cash you spend on them. I didn't know it was technically illegal to sell or buy those engineering samples until last night when I did some research on it. I just did not understand why those chips were so cheap. now I know why. It's because it's illegal.

 

[Stormfire19]

Did you already buy the Xeons? I'm afraid you can't legally buy those engineering samples because Intel legally owns them no matter what. You as the buyer do not own those processors and cannot own them no matter how much cash you spend on them. I didn't know it was technically illegal to sell or buy those engineering samples until last night when I did some research on it. I just did not understand why those chips were so cheap. now I know why. It's because it's illegal.

That sucks 🙁

But what about the watercooling?

 

[theonerm2]

I'm the wrong person to ask about watercooling as I'm not very experienced with it. I know just as much as you about that if not less. I usually just stick to air coolers and closed loop water coolers.

 

[Stormfire19]

Did you already buy the Xeons? I'm afraid you can't legally buy those engineering samples because Intel legally owns them no matter what. You as the buyer do not own those processors and cannot own them no matter how much cash you spend on them. I didn't know it was technically illegal to sell or buy those engineering samples until last night when I did some research on it. I just did not understand why those chips were so cheap. now I know why. It's because it's illegal.

Okay, Thank you very much though.