The most 'future proof' platform as of today

JonDol

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Hi there, I plan building a new PC in the upcomming weeks and would like to be able to upgrade the CPU some time in the future, let's say in 2018. Which of today's Intel socket/chipset combinations would allow me to do this ? Z170, X99, C236, C612 ? I'm not really for waiting till the end of the year for the Z270 and I don't remember any roumors about the X99 / C612 successors. Could you please give me some guidance ? Ty
 
Solution
i7 6900K would do a good job for you.

also do you mean like dual CPU motherboards? like a xeon build? if you do want to go for that and you dont have a limit lots of Xeon E5 - 26xx v3/v4 to chose from. but theres alot of used xeon CPUs floating around the internet, and alot of people get them for really cheap prices so you may want to see there for a dual socket build since its really really pricey to go for a brand new dual CPU setup. again unless you really dont have a limit you can invest for this.

this is one example of a feature packed motherboard.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/X99-DELUXE-II/.

j3ster

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most people would say you cant really use that term for Computer Hardware. in just a blink of an eye intel or AMD might just drop a platform all together. intel does this quite alot hahaha.

the most notable recommendation would be the Z170 platform with 6600k or 6700k CPU. (assuming you would overclock).

the X99 is also good but only if you would be going for rendering, editing and so on as this chipset holds 6 core CPUs as standards. while the likes of the Z170 are only so far Quad core at max.

but i build my system 3years ago. this i7 3820 and by just upgrading my graphics card i was able to play the games i want at 1080p @ very high - max. with some tweaks and there for games like BF4. so if you are on a budget the Z170 will be the best. its really the most recommended right now. that is if you are only focusing on games.
 

bignastyid

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"would like to be able to upgrade the CPU some time in the future, let's say in 2018. Which of today's Intel socket/chipset combinations would allow me to do this ?"
Likely none of them. Broadwell-e is likely the last cpu for the 2011-3 boards, Skylake-E is rumored to use a new chipset. Cannonlake(2017) will require a 200 series chipset, and I wouldn't be surprised if Icelake(2018) uses a different socket.
 
You have just told us that you want to buy a tool, but no indication of what you will do with it .... If I said "screwdriver" and your goal was to bang in a nail, that would be bad advice.

Sandy Bridge processors from 5+ years ago remain viable today... there is marginal advantage to be gained from a CPU upgrade today.

What will be the primary usage of the PC ?

- If it's gaming, then Z170 w/ a 6600k makes perfect sense

- If it's gaming, with some CAD, video editing or some other heavy stuff ... or you just want the fastest possible gaming rig w/ up to 2 GFX cards, then Z170 w/ a 6700k is the better choice.

-If it's going to be a workstation, it will be application specific ... you might start with the article here and then continue looking for apps you will use... but the 6800k Broadwell-E does very well here in most tests ... but, once ya get off the 1st page of apps, for most programs in that link, 6700k wins

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i7-broadwell-e-6950x-6900k-6850k-6800k,4587-4.html

 

Quixit

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There is no real way to do this, by the time you'd want to change CPUs the sockets will be incompatible. Intel releases new sockets every 2 years. The X99 successor use an LGA3647 socket, which is totally new.

Because of this I'd recommend getting a decent CPU and a motherboard that supports it and sticking with it for a while. CPUs haven't been improving very quickly recently so it probably won't be a problem.
 

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
In reality there is no real thing to future proofing, if you go a lower end CPU yes down the road you can go to a better one (but it will be YOUR responsibility to keep up with the CPUs and grab one before they are discontinued and disappear; else you will pay dearly for it at a time when better CPUs will be available and at lower cost. If you say go Z170, yes there will be an upgrade path with the Kaby Lake CPUs, but the power increase will prob be minimal again +/- 10% gain and to fully utilize it Intel will be offering a chipset for the mobo i.e. Z2xx (maybe Z270) much like the 1150 socket and going Sandy Bridge (P67) to Ivy Bridge (Z77)
 

kittle

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I set out to do the same thing -- build a future proof PC. After 6 years, its still viable, so Id say "it worked"

My original core i7 980x is still viable today, but ive upgraded the GPU 3 times and maxed out the ram on my motherboard.

so based on my experiences, here are some tips:
1) Get BIG case. Something with LOTS of room to grow.

2) Get a good QUALITY power supply -- not one with big wattage, but a reliable one (many sites out there will help with this). This ensures a bad PSU wont fail and take out parts of your system with it.

3) Get a motherboard with lots of expansion slots, and Lots RAM slots. 4 or more.

4) DO NOT overclock anything -- this shortens the lifespan.

5) Dont get a laptop. They are not very upgradeable, and typically have a shorter lifespan -- The good quality Lenovo Thinkpad I got about 2yrs after buying my desktop died last year.

And lastly - the upfront cost will be considerable so plan accordingly (my system cost $3500 before upgrades). but this high upfront cost will save you the hassle of buying other systems in the future.
 
4) DO NOT overclock anything -- this shortens the lifespan.

Documentable reference please.

My sons build from the example above was built on 2011-04-24:

-i7 2600k is overclocked to 4.8 Ghz
-Twin 560 Ti GFX cards are overclocked 27%

The machine gets hard use each and every day.
The machine has never blue screened.
It's over 5 years old.
It's never been upgraded
It cost about $1,700
It's In a tower case with plenty of fans and a decent air cooler.
Max core temp recorded was in last 5 + years was 79C
No need to add more memory, started with right amount from the getgo. Nothing has gotten less than 16GB in last 2-3 years. When using high speed RAM, adding 2 modules at a later date is too much of a crapshoot.

Been building PCs since 1993, and if any component could be overclocked, it was. No persona;l, office, neighbor, friend, colleague or client has ever had a failed component other than:

(3) Opticals failed
(3) MoBos were broken when user upgraded cooler
(1) MoBo failed when user pulled GPU socket out of board when upgrading GFX card.
(1) GFX card (EVGA FTW) was returned because it never could reach its advertised speeds.
(4) SSDs failed
(12) I am guessing a dozen or so HDs failed
(2) RAM modules failed

Also, be aware that if you use almost any RAM at is "advertised speed", you are overclocking. The number on the package is Intel's XMP speed which is.... by definition ... "overclocking".
 

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
+1 ^^^^^

What can/will shorten lifespan is people trying to OC things that have no idea what they are doing and getting/taking bad advice - i.e. we see lots of threads of people that saw some video or read something where someone did a, say OC to 5 using 1.4 vCore or something like that. To properly OC you take things up slowly and monitor as you go, not all CPUs, GPUs, DRAM, mobos, etc of a given model are equal
 

JonDol

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Hi all, Thank you for your comments. The main use of the PC will be SW development (need to run at least 2 virtual machines in parallel with SW builds in each) and casual gaming (the OS will be Windows). There won't be any CAD/movie production. I'm also thinking about this PC as a multi seat rig (4 places, Windows Server OS). I know that a PC for internet browsing could be cheap but that takes a lot of time to correctly administer/configure one, plus a Windows Pro license in order to ease the job.

Cheers
 

JonDol

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Not going to think budget for this 'long term' PC but to give an idea the limit will be at most 1000 $ / CPU, maximum dual slot motherboard. Want the best features of the moment though: USB 3.1, Thunderbolt 3 and NVMe support. Reasonably priced SSD and HDD and most likely GeForce 1080.
 

j3ster

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i7 6900K would do a good job for you.

also do you mean like dual CPU motherboards? like a xeon build? if you do want to go for that and you dont have a limit lots of Xeon E5 - 26xx v3/v4 to chose from. but theres alot of used xeon CPUs floating around the internet, and alot of people get them for really cheap prices so you may want to see there for a dual socket build since its really really pricey to go for a brand new dual CPU setup. again unless you really dont have a limit you can invest for this.

this is one example of a feature packed motherboard.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/X99-DELUXE-II/.
 
Solution

j3ster

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heres something i came up with what you have said. if you dont live in the US so dont mind the $$$$, rather see what the parts are and get their prices in your country, and get your idea from there.

850W very good PSU for possible future upgrades for example another GTX 1080 or maybe even 2 GTX 1080Tis or AMD equivalent.

8 core CPU which you can overclock, a feature packed motherboard, for the cooler i dont know what your likes and wants are so I just picked a good aircooler but you can go for AIO coolers if you want. reasonably priced good performing SSD and a 5TB storage drive.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6900K 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($1078.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus X99-DELUXE II ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($409.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($154.85 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Black 5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($219.44 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Edition Video Card ($699.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass ATX Mid Tower Case ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA T2 850W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($129.95 @ B&H)
Total: $3391.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-30 12:40 EDT-0400

or you can for this one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($348.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-PREMIUM ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($378.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($154.85 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Black 5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($219.44 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Edition Video Card ($699.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass ATX Mid Tower Case ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA T2 850W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($129.95 @ B&H)
Total: $2630.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-30 12:47 EDT-0400

its a shot in the dark since i dont know your ceiling but most of what you look for are in these 2 proposed builds. again if you are not in the US dont mind the $$$ just for reference only.