Anyone still running an X99 Broadwell-E system?

Mr. Bluntman

Mr. Bluntman

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I was just curious, as the prices on eBay finally fell to a sane level for a 6900K so I bit. Still more than I wanted to pay, but with the new consoles coming I figured 8 cores will soon be the requirement.

As the thread title asks, are any of you still running one of these systems? What has been your recent experiences with it in terms of it holding up 5 years later?

Post your thoughts and comments. I'm eager to read your feedback.
 
I went from a 10700k to a E5 2699 V3. I ended up using my "server X99" as my main. Prices are finally bearable. X99 still has life in it yet.
 
I had a 4820K at 4.6 GHz all-core. It's just too slow even for games like Dota 2. I got 50% more fps when upgrading to a 9900X with the same GTX 1080.
 
Last summer, I was happy with the price for a used ASUS x99 Deluxe and an Intel 6800K so I bit...
I like it. I came from a I7 3770 ( non k). The x99 platform is at a good price point right now on the used market. Though lately I've been eyeing 78xx parts...
System is in my Sig.
 
They still perform pretty well to be honest though the lower max OC clock speeds hurt a bit at 720p and 1080p compared to newer but 1440 and 4k will even them out more.

Monstieur said:
I had a 4820K at 4.6 GHz all-core. It's just too slow even for games like Dota 2. I got 50% more fps when upgrading to a 9900X with the same GTX 1080.
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Got to love those old 4 core HEDT parts.
 
D-EJ915 said:
They still perform pretty well to be honest though the lower max OC clock speeds hurt a bit at 720p and 1080p compared to newer but 1440 and 4k will even them out more.


Got to love those old 4 core HEDT parts.
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Especially with the crippled PCIe lanes unless you stepped up to the $700+ 6850K and eventually $1000+ 7900X! A 40-PCIe-lane HEDT part was $300...
 
I recently built up a 10850k machine for my primary but up to last month i was on a 5960x @ 4.3ghz since it was released. It's now being used as our tv pc but it's still very relevant. I'm positive i could've used that 5960 longer but got the itch and scored a 3090 😉
 
The used market for Intel is pretty crap right now. Nothing pre-Skylake is going to do much better than the budget 4c/8t modern chips, and RAM is cheap as hell, so no incentive really. For games anyway. If you need tons of threads, there are still options, but they are going to have to be productivity focused rigs I would say. Still just a bad time to build/ upgrade, what with the scamdemic.
 
I did not use Broadwell-E, but I used a Haswell-E system for a number of years. I upgraded from a 5820k to a 3900X about a year ago. The difference really was not huge. I'd still be using the 5820k as my main system today, but the system developed some reliability quirks. I had a nice overclock on the 5820k, but that also meant that it put out more heat than my 3900X does now despite the 3900X having double the cores.
 
I built an X99 based SFF PC for my wife a few years back and installed an ES 10 core/ 20 thread Xeon that bumps along at 2.2Ghz. System is still running strong today w/o issue. Only reason to upgrade in the future is my younger son is using it for school & gaming now.
 
Evil Scooter said:
I built an X99 based SFF PC for my wife a few years back and installed an ES 10 core/ 20 thread Xeon that bumps along at 2.2Ghz. System is still running strong today w/o issue. Only reason to upgrade in the future is my younger son is using it for school & gaming now.
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I forgot there were a couple SFF X99 boards made. Didn't they sacrifice the quad channel memory or use laptop DIMMs in order to fit the form factor?
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
I forgot there were a couple SFF X99 boards made. Didn't they sacrifice the quad channel memory or use laptop DIMMs in order to fit the form factor?
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I used the Asrock X99 Extreme MOBO, don't think it sacrificed anything and uses full size memory.

*** See what I did there. My mistake.. it's not a "SFF", it's a "Micro ATX" motherboard. Still fits a Corsair H100 cooler and 1060 6Gb.
 
Well, I'm on x99, but still using Haswell-e (not Broadwell-e). On a J-Batch 5960x that clocks to 4.625Ghz stable + memory at 3000Mhz at 13-13-13-26 @ 1T. I do not feel limited at all on my RTX 3090 and bench just as high at 1440p and 4K as those with new 10850k's or AMD CPU's (looking at raw gaming performance or graphics scores anyway).

I game at 4K, and in the most intense games, my CPU threads only top out around 60%, so I think I am good for awhile.

X99 was a great platform and still holds up if you have a great CPU overclock and have optimized all aspects of your system.

I teased picking up a used 6950x on ebay if I could get one for sub $300; but in order to beat my 5960x at it's current clock speed, I'd have to be able to OC the 6950x to at least 4.4Ghz to match it in terms of IPC, which from what I recall, BW-e tended to hit a wall around 4.3Ghz unless you were lucky.
 
Was running a 5820K X99 system since early 2016. I got a massive inheritance in March (still more to come) but instead of building a whole new rig I just got 32GB (4x8) of DDR4 3200 to replace the 16GB of DDR4 3000 and swapped the 5820K for a 5960X.

Cost about £150 to do. Will swap in a better GPU in the spring...if I get the chance. I can see this setup lasting me another couple of years at least.
 
III_Slyflyer_III said:
Well, I'm on x99, but still using Haswell-e (not Broadwell-e). On a J-Batch 5960x that clocks to 4.625Ghz stable + memory at 3000Mhz at 13-13-13-26 @ 1T. I do not feel limited at all on my RTX 3090 and bench just as high at 1440p and 4K as those with new 10850k's or AMD CPU's (looking at raw gaming performance or graphics scores anyway).

I game at 4K, and in the most intense games, my CPU threads only top out around 60%, so I think I am good for awhile.

X99 was a great platform and still holds up if you have a great CPU overclock and have optimized all aspects of your system.

I teased picking up a used 6950x on ebay if I could get one for sub $300; but in order to beat my 5960x at it's current clock speed, I'd have to be able to OC the 6950x to at least 4.4Ghz to match it in terms of IPC, which from what I recall, BW-e tended to hit a wall around 4.3Ghz unless you were lucky.
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My 6950x is only stable to 4.1GHz at 1.28v. I don’t much like to hike voltages, but could probably jump it if needed. The only game that’s even challenged this CPU is Cyberpunk. I occasionally blip 100% on my 3080. Most of the time it’s 60-80% CPU. 3440x1440. Max settings on everything, psycho RTX.
 
Archaea said:
My 6950x is only stable to 4.1GHz at 1.28v. I don’t much like to hike voltages, but could probably jump it if needed. The only game that’s even challenged this CPU is Cyberpunk. I occasionally blip 100% on my 3080. Most of the time it’s 60-80% CPU. 3440x1440. Max settings on everything, psycho RTX.
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I must admit I'm currently only running my 5960X at 4GHz (both CPU and cache) with 1.25v. I was running it 4.4GHz CPU and 4.2GHz cache but I'm not really doing much gaming currently so throttled it back. I could throttle it all the way back to 2GHz for what I'm doing but...
 
Still have an x99 i7-5820K and i7-5960X in the house. They were my first two PC builds. I've toyed upgrading the cpu in the 6-core. It's in a nice mobo, loaded with RAM, and might extend life another 2-4 years. Ebay pricing on 6-year old CPU a bit too stiff for me atm.
 
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I have a 6850K and an Asus Rampage V Edition 10 motherboard with 48GB of DDR4 3000Mhz memory I am not sure what to do with. I thought the board was bad initially and upgraded to a Ryzen 3800X. Turned out the power supply was the problem instead of the board. I used the 6850K without issue when I gave the Ryzen CPU and board to a family member whose computer broke. I thought I could snag one of those Ryzen 5800X/5900X's with little issue last year to replace it. I upgraded to a 10700K system recently and have been happy with it with the exception of the lack of PCIe lanes/slots. I have everything packed neatly in the original box it came in. I thought about selling it, but for some cosmetic damage to the motherboard and some of the heat spreaders on the memory.
 
akhoundog said:
I recently built up a 10850k machine for my primary but up to last month i was on a 5960x @ 4.3ghz since it was released. It's now being used as our tv pc but it's still very relevant. I'm positive i could've used that 5960 longer but got the itch and scored a 3090 😉
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Hey, I just did the same upgrading my HTPC with my 5820k. Don't forget you can disable cores on X99. I'm running my hex as quad.
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
I forgot there were a couple SFF X99 boards made. Didn't they sacrifice the quad channel memory or use laptop DIMMs in order to fit the form factor?
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Yes it did. The ASRock X99/ITXac or whatever it was called only had two DIMM slots and came with a low profile 1U Xeon CPU heatsink and fan.

To the OP's question, I skipped Broadwell-E entirely as it was lackluster to say the least. It was no better than the Haswell-E CPU's they replaced.
 
Dan_D said:
Yes it did. The ASRock X99/ITXac or whatever it was called only had two DIMM slots and came with a low profile 1U Xeon CPU heatsink and fan.

To the OP's question, I skipped Broadwell-E entirely as it was lackluster to say the least. It was no better than the Haswell-E CPU's they replaced.
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Especially since Spectre and Meltdown firmware/microcode updates disable multiplier OCing on Broadwell-E and Windows 10.

https://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/122477-windows-10-kb4100347-update-breaks-broadwell-e-overclocking/

Thankfully, I don't plan to OC my 6900K anytime soon since my heatsink is only rated for 150W. Still a nice upgrade from my previous 5930K.
 
The way things have been performing for me; I think i can milk X99 till LGA1700 and DDR5. In all my years of PC building, this platform has by far lasted me the longest and has been solid.
 
III_Slyflyer_III said:
The way things have been performing for me; I think i can milk X99 till LGA1700 and DDR5. In all my years of PC building, this platform has by far lasted me the longest and has been solid.
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Hell yeah, even my consumer level 2600K rig carried me from circa 2011 to 12/21/2019. That was a game changing generation, X99 was a small step above X79. If it were not for the platform changes of I/O, the chips would still be mid tier.
 
X99 is still solid, plus you have so many options for CPUs. I am using a 2689 v4 in my secondary PC which has 3.1GHz base and 3.8GHz TB. Still works very well for me.
 
A Xeon 2689 v4 does sound pretty tasty, just like an i7 6950X. But I'm very pleased with my upgrade at any rate. Next is an M.2 SSD and more external storage. 2, hell, even 6TB just doesn't last for me like it used to. I'm having to store stuff on my RAID array on my Core 2 Extreme/9800 GT SLi system. Once storage is sorted then it's time for a GTX 1080 Ti founders edition and 32GB RAM upgrade and this system is done.
 
The biggest benefit of the V3's are all core unlock. Verses the V4. 22 cores @ 2.2 vs 18 cores 3.6. Oddly enough, I am using about 10% of what it can handle anyway.
 
Dual Xeon Haswell-E for a Plex server/NAS. Thinking of downgrading it to have separate compute and storage nodes.
 
6850K @ 4.25 on an ASUS ROG STRIX X99 GAMING here. I used to have a 5820K but it was having problems after overclocking it hard for a long while.
 
Dan_D said:
This word, what does it mean? It shouldn't apply to computers. :)
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I can't be helped, I'm reminded of this...

thinkitmeans.png


...and no, the word downgrading should not apply haha....
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
Electromigration is a real bitch.
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Yeah, I learned the hard way. After swapping around a bunch of PCIe slots with my new GPU, I'm pondering reinstalling Windows since its acting wonky (drivers fighting each other). Fun times indeed...
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Yeah, I learned the hard way. After swapping around a bunch of PCIe slots with my new GPU, I'm pondering reinstalling Windows since its acting wonky (drivers fighting each other). Fun times indeed...
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One of the reasons why I really don't overclock much, and the times I have it was never an extreme overclock (like taking my old Core 2 Quad Q9550 from 2.83 to 3.4 was the most extreme I've ever done in terms of raw MHz) or was it kept for long. With my luck, I would never hit the silicon lottery anyways.

And fun times indeed. The worst part of a fresh OS install is waiting for Windows Update to get around to doing it's thing in full.
 
StormNobleheart said:
I am debating if I should sale or use my 6850K, and Rampoage V Edition 10 for a server.
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It would be a good use for those EDIT: 6 cores/12 threads. Personally I would just keep it in a box for a rainy day in case my primary system decided to let out the magic smoke.
 
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