TL;DR Skylake Platform Viable?

[Burchbrother]

I have an old computer I build in say 2011. I am excitedly awaiting the release of Fallout 4 for PC. After review the specs needed to operate the game, I realized my PC is a little bit aged (being away at college tends to put a damper on upgrading the ole' PC).

After doing research the past couple of months, Skylake was released and yada yada yada. It's good, much benefits. But, I am wary that there will not be support in terms of hardware expand-ability in the months/years going forward. I know that is kind of a theme when it comes to PC parts; they tend to reign supreme for short time frames and then moved on after a couple of years/months.

Skylake questions:

GPU-I'm not really worried about since it isn't concerned with motherboards (atleast modern GPUs).

Memory-DDR4 is snazzy I guess. Don't see the need for more than 16G for my purposes and 2400MHz will also suffice. (RIP DDR3 for most Skylake mobos)

Storage-Will PCIe SSDs be worth it and phase out (slowly) SATA? Increased bandwidth that revolutionary?

CPU-Will the i7 6700k be the high(est) end in terms of Intel socket? what is the time frame before the move to the next socket? LGA 1151 longevity

Motherboard-No idea where to start, no expert.

I guess my largest question is, how long term is Skylake? I know the i7 4790k is pretty baller right now and has been for a while. If I spend the money on the system, will the 4 core Skylake CPU last more than 2-3 years it terms of high-end gaming compatibility?

If this question has been asked, please point me to some info. THX

 

[PP Mguire]

The better question to ask, is what do you have now? My CPU is from 2011 and I plan to use it the next few years. There's no viable reason to upgrade since IPC hasn't changed much since Sandy Bridge.

 

[Burchbrother]

My CPU is the AMD Bulldozer...so although it has 6 cores, it hasn't aged well. and since it was a budget build, I didn't have the latest and greatest at the time. I know it would be a massive upgrade for my system if I did, but I also know the older system is a little cheaper and still high end. Thanks for the reply. (I wish I built a sandy bridge system) *sigh*

 

[Yami]

My CPU is the AMD Bulldozer...so although it has 6 cores, it hasn't aged well. and since it was a budget build, I didn't have the latest and greatest at the time. I know it would be a massive upgrade for my system if I did, but I also know the older system is a little cheaper and still high end. Thanks for the reply. (I wish I built a sandy bridge system) *sigh*

If you're going from Bulldozer, a Skylake build would be quite a good upgrade.

Memory-DDR4 is snazzy I guess. Don't see the need for more than 16G for my purposes and 2400MHz will also suffice. (RIP DDR3 for most Skylake mobos)

Yeah, DDR4 2400MHz is what I'd go for.

Storage-Will PCIe SSDs be worth it and phase out (slowly) SATA? Increased bandwidth that revolutionary?

Yes, but I'd just get a SATA3 SSD for the moment as they're cheaper and more than good enough for most users.

CPU-Will the i7 6700k be the high(est) end in terms of Intel socket? what is the time frame before the move to the next socket? LGA 1151 longevity

The socket will exist for another year at least, possibly two.

Motherboard-No idea where to start, no expert.

I'm a fan of the ASRock Extreme series.

 

[PP Mguire]

My CPU is the AMD Bulldozer...so although it has 6 cores, it hasn't aged well. and since it was a budget build, I didn't have the latest and greatest at the time. I know it would be a massive upgrade for my system if I did, but I also know the older system is a little cheaper and still high end. Thanks for the reply. (I wish I built a sandy bridge system) *sigh*

**** me, I'm sorry lol. AMD's module system is total ****, so it's more like you have 3 cores which makes matters worse AND Bulldozer IPC was actually worse than Thuban (Phenom 2). ****ty, I know.

So the question is what's a more budget viable option for you. The only thing Skylake has on Haswell is support for more RAM via DDR4 (64GB vs 32GB not that you'd ever need that much), 4x PCI-E 2.0 lanes provided by the PCH for an M.2 SSD (so it doesn't dip into the 16 lanes for 2x GPUs), and slightly higher IPC you won't see in games anyways. So, with that being said does it seem viable to you? Socket 1151 has one more processor coming next year codenamed Kabylake and more than likely an 1151 motherboard refresh will come with it.

If you're going from Bulldozer, a Skylake build would be quite a good upgrade.

Yeah, DDR4 2400MHz is what I'd go for.

Yes, but I'd just get a SATA3 SSD for the moment as they're cheaper and more than good enough for most users.

The socket will exist for another year at least, possibly two.

I'm a fan of the ASRock Extreme series.

Slightly amend my comrades answers a bit.

Memory-DDR4 is snazzy I guess. Don't see the need for more than 16G for my purposes and 2400MHz will also suffice. (RIP DDR3 for most Skylake mobos)
DDR4 has no performance benefit over DDR3 for practically any application right now besides server usage. Game testing has been done between 1066 all the way to 3000MHz and there isn't a degree in performance. ALl the numbers sit in the margin of error area. 2400 is a decent middle ground, but if 2133 is cheaper by a bit from a sale or something I'd get that.

Storage-Will PCIe SSDs be worth it and phase out (slowly) SATA? Increased bandwidth that revolutionary?
SATA will be around for some time yet because Skylake and the mainstream platforms are PCI-E lane limited in terms of dual GPUs and M.2/PCI-E SSDs. Once this is changed, I see M.2 becoming the main standard for a slew of reasons.
As for you, I'd get a good M.2 SSD and if you need large storage get a HDD or a 500-1TB Samsung 850 EVO for Steam or whatever. For comparison I do not see much of a real world difference between my HyperX Predator (4x PCI-E 2.0 M.2) vs my Corsair Neutron GTX.

CPU-Will the i7 6700k be the high(est) end in terms of Intel socket? what is the time frame before the move to the next socket? LGA 1151 longevity
No there will be at least one more gen on 1151 from Intel's "tick" cycle.

Motherboard-No idea where to start, no expert.
ASRock, Asus, MSI, GIgabyte, whatever. Although I'm running an Asus it was an Ebay steal but I prefer ASRock myself. Don't fall for a stupidly expensive board, you'll get the same basic features and performance from the cheaper ones. IE Extreme 4 vs Extreme 7.

I guess my largest question is, how long term is Skylake? I know the i7 4790k is pretty baller right now and has been for a while. If I spend the money on the system, will the 4 core Skylake CPU last more than 2-3 years it terms of high-end gaming compatibility?

The way gaming is going still (even with DX12 around the corner) I can see my 3960x lasting another 4 years. Something Skylake should last 5 at least. When you add overclocking to the mix probably longer. DX12 is taking overhead off the CPU and scaling features like AI and such to suit the processor in question. With this being said, you'd only need to change CPU if and when overclocking grants a good FPS boost. Right now, overclocking isn't even needed on SB let alone SKylake.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

I thought Kaby Lake is another "tock" that'll stay on 1151, with Cannonlake being the 10nm "tick" & would move away from 1151 sockets

 

[PP Mguire]

The tick is the shrink, the tock is architectural improvements. Skylake is a tock, and so Kabylake should technically be a tick, but it isn't. The problem is, the transitions are becoming more and more complicated so their cycle has been pushed back. Canonlake was going to be the next transition for the tick, but they had to add Kabylake in to buy them more time making it the tick but it's still going to be 14nm. There were a bunch of articles about Moore's Law and how the tick this gen isn't going to be a shrink. So yes, you're technically right, but it's supposed to be a tick next round. Tick/tock isn't necessarily for sockets though.

 

[MadmanRB]

I dunno if Skylake is any more viable then anything honestly, as you will need DDR4 ram and DDR4 is still quite pricey.
Heck you could just go Haswell refresh and be fine, skylake just doesnt seem to be as attractive from what I read on it

 

[Yami]

I dunno if Skylake is any more viable then anything honestly, as you will need DDR4 ram and DDR4 is still quite pricey.

It's not really that expensive any more:
£65 for 2x8GB 1600MHz DDR3
£80 for 2x8GB 2400MHz DDR4

Hardly bank-breaking.

Heck you could just go Haswell refresh and be fine, skylake just doesnt seem to be as attractive from what I read on it

Haswell's fine but personally I'd go for Skylake just for better M.2 support.

 

[PP Mguire]

The M.2 support is practically the same. Only difference is the PCH offers 4 lanes of 2.0 for a single M.2. Any additional slot will use up precious 3.0 lanes from the CPU just like Z97.