X99 VS. X370

It’s that time of the year again— summer’s coming up, and I have the inevitable urge to jump into liquid cooling once more with a brand new system of my very own. I alluded to my copper dreams last issue, but this time I wanted to talk more about the spec. Processor choice, in particular. That’s nice to say: choice. It’s neat to have choice. AMD or Intel; Ryzen or 2011-3; X370 or X99.

Yep, I’m looking to go with a highend desktop processor this time around. I need to get myself one of those lairy eight-cores. Naturally, the two choices on hand are AMD’s 1800X and Intel’s i7-6900K. Both have eight cores, both pack 20MB of cache, and both pump out some phenomenal multi-threaded and single-core performance, given their specs.

The problem for me, however, is chipset. We’ve spoken in depth this issue about the odd position in which AMD has placed its latest 7 series chips: HEDT performance, with a mainstream chipset. And that’s what’s giving me pause for thought. Connectivity support isn’t enough for what I have in mind on the X370 platform. Couple that with Intel’s better thermals, impressive arsenal of motherboards, and more adventurous overclocking experience, and, well, that choice starts to dwindle once more. So, Intel Core i7-6900K and Rampage V, here I come, I guess!