Intel LGA2011-v3 Platform: Processors and Motherboards

Intel Core i7-6800K is the junior representative of the Broadwell—E processor series. It has a small number of cores and Hyper-Threading threads by the standards of this series: six and twelve, respectively (one core runs in two threads). But this is anyway more than the eight—threaded flagship of the Kaby Lake line — Core i7-7700K.

The base frequency of the 6800K is 3.4 GHZ, the Turbo Boost auto—overclocking frequency of two cores is 3.8 GHz, and the auto—overclocking frequency of all cores is 3.6 GHz. It is on it that the chip works most of the time. If desired, the unlocked multiplier allows you to resort to manual overclocking to 4.5 GHz. Fortunately, instead of a dubious thermal pad, there is a well-conducting heat solder under the processor cover. Of course, you should indulge in overclocking only if you have a good tower cooler that can take away at least 140 watts of heat (see the article "Silence and overclocking: the top five processor coolers"). The box cooler is not supplied with the 6800K. Such a high frequency with numerous streams allows you to enjoy the latest games in 4K resolution and ultra graphics settings.

The 6800K also does not have an integrated graphics accelerator: there simply was no place for it in the chip of such a multi-core processor. However, there is little loss, because Intel Core i7-6800K is recommended primarily for assembling gaming PCs with two, three or even four flagship video cards (see the article "Overview of GeForce GTX 1050, 1050 Ti, 1060, 1070 and 1080 video cards").

The sixteen-threaded Intel Core i7-5960X belongs to the penultimate generation of LGA2011 processors (Haswell-E), which is why its process technology is relatively large and hot — 22 nm. But it costs as much as a quarter cheaper than a 14-nm Core i7-6900K with a similar number of threads. However, the maximum volume of supported RAM is only 64 GB, unlike Broadwell-E with 128 GB.

The suffix "X" in the name of the Haswell-E chips means the same as "K" — an unlocked multiplier, that is, the possibility of manual overclocking. But the old technical process does not allow the 5960X to take the 4.5 GHz overclocking bar, it will have to be limited to 4.2 GHz. However, even this is much better than the initial frequency of 3 GHz. And the large area of the crystal and the contact cover make it appropriate to use not only an air cooler, but also dropsy (see the article "5 proven tips on how to cool a PC in the summer heat").

As a result, we can advise Intel Core i7-5960X for two cases. The first is the assembly of an uncompromising multi-video gaming PC for 4K- and even 8K-resolution with a guaranteed performance margin of five years. The second one is for professional software that requires a balance between numerous cores and a high processor frequency (first of all, these are applications for three—dimensional modeling).

They give it for half price Intel Xeon E5-2630 v4 has not a lot, not a little, ten physical cores or twenty virtual threads. At the same time, it costs as much as half as much as the Core i7-6950X with a similar number of threads, but also operates at a significantly lower frequency (but also with less heat dissipation — 85 watts). Moreover, Xeon E5 processors are not subject to manual overclocking (the multiplier is tightly locked).

The base frequency of the 2630 v4 is 2.2 GHz, and the frequency of automatic overclocking of two cores is 3.1 GHz. When loaded on a larger number of cores, the frequency constantly floats between these two values. However, this is not critical both for video installation and for virtual machines — several software computers with independent operating systems running on the same physical PC.

This is where Intel VT, AVX and AES hardware instructions reveal their potential, speeding up work with virtual machines, data compression and encryption. Support in multiprocessor configurations of up to 1.5 TB of RAM is also useful (see the article"How to choose RAM for a computer or laptop?"). As a result, the Intel Xeon E5-2630 v4 is not the best for games, but it is excellent for easily parallelizable professional tasks that are not particularly demanding on frequency.

MSI X99A Raider is one of the most affordable motherboards with an LGA2011-v3 socket. Unlike analogues, it is sold with a fresh BIOS firmware that supports not only the old Haswell-E processor family, but also the latest generation of Broadwell-E, including Core i7 and Xeon E5 models.

The large ATX form factor made it possible to accommodate as many as eight DDR4 RAM slots (total volume — 128 GB) and three long PCI-E slots for video cards (NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire bundles are supported). There was also a place for a newfangled M.2 slot for high-speed SSD drives (see the article"How to choose an SSD drive for a desktop PC and laptop?"). In the case of a flagship processor and a bunch of video cards, its use is fully justified.

As a result, the MSI X99A Raider turned out to be a motherboard without unnecessary frills like the variegated colour of radiators and the illumination of the printed circuit board. The emphasis is on reliability and durability (high-temperature chokes MSI SFC and Dark Chocks), as well as simple one-button overclocking directly from under Windows (MSI OC Genie technology). As they say, I turned it on and it works!

ASUS X99-M WS breaks the well-established stereotype that a motherboard with an LGA2011-v3 socket must necessarily be a large ATX format. Due to its reduced size, it is possible to build a gaming or work PC based on it in a relatively compact MiniTower case (see the article"How to choose a computer case?").

The mATX printed circuit board imposes restrictions only on the number of RAM slots (four instead of eight) and video cards (two instead of three or four). But even 64 GB of RAM and a pair of NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFire graphics cards should be enough for the vast majority of users. In terms of supported processors and their overclocking, the X99-M WS is in no way inferior and even surpasses ATX analogues. According to ASUS engineers, the motherboard is capable of consistently delivering a 1.8 V processor supply voltage, which opens the way to extreme overclocking.

The X99-M WS has a special emphasis on network connections: two gigabit Ethernet ports and the same gigabit Wi-Fi 802.11ac adapter with an external remote antenna are available at once. This allows you to implement a backup Internet channel or place a PC at any convenient distance from the router. Considering the above, we can advise the ASUS X99-M WS primarily to those who want to get maximum capabilities from the motherboard with minimal size and are ready to pay extra for it.