I have an almost 3 year old system with a 6 core i7 3930K (SB-E) overclocked to 4.6 GHz on liquid, 8 GB of RAM and an EVGA GTX580.  

 

Was wondering if there would be any benefit at all to upgrading to a new Devil's Canyon Haswell chip.  Obviously it would be a reduction of cores from 6 down to 4, but are there other benefits that would make it an upgrade and worthwhile?  Was also thinking about a GPU upgrade to a GTX780 but didn't think the SB-E would match up well enough.

 

Thoughts?   I mostly use FSX but am considering also taking the plunge to P3D, and I know that the GPU is used to a greater degree in P3D.

No benefit IMO, wait for the next "tock" :

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/20/intel_details_four_new_enthusiast_processors_for_haswell_broadwell/

Ah...so you're thinking 8 core?  That would be an upgrade for sure.   Just wonder what the prices will be. 

Was also thinking about a GPU upgrade to a GTX780 but didn't think the SB-E would match up well enough.

 

Well, SB-E uses PCIe 3.0, so your 580 isn't making any use of that (it's only PCIe 2.0), but a 780 would.

Stick with what you got to me its a much better cpu and those extra cores will help smooth things out, Im thinking about getting the i7-5930K as its rumoured release date is is September. On my current motherboard i have had two to the dimm slots die so i need a new motherboard so going to save up for a while and see if it gets released.

 

The price i have seen on them at the moment is $550usd but that could change.

Well, SB-E uses PCIe 3.0, so your 580 isn't making any use of that (it's only PCIe 2.0), but a 780 would.

 

Unfortunately the i7 3930K only supports PCIe 2.0.   http://ark.intel.com/products/63697

Unfortunately the i7 3930K only supports PCIe 2.0.   http://ark.intel.com/products/63697

 

My mistake. I heard conflicting reports on whether it was supported or not. Some sites said no (Intel), others say yes, but with a BIOS, driver upgrade, or a workaround to essentially force it to use the higher speed.

Of course here is the important question...

I have a i7 3930K which doesn't support PCIe 3.0, but a mobo (Asus P9x79) which supports PCIe 3.0. So would there be any real performance gain for spending $500 on a GTX780?

I use mainly FSX today, but do plan to move to P3D with time.

$500 and new GTX780 with current CPU/mobo? Waste of $500?

I would hang on to what you have for now. Spending $500 on a gpu for FSX, is a waste of $500. I expect the new I7 extreme cpu's to cost an arm, a leg, and maybe a kidney.  :o The next gen cpu's will be worth the wait.  Patience Grasshopper!

 

  cheers, Jazz.

There's no replacement for displacement...or cores! Broadwell-E would be my next step from a 3930K. As for the video card, you're good until you upgrade to P3D V2. I'm basically on that path with a 3820K and a 560ti-448, using them on P3D 1.4 (FSX+).

Thanks.  So it seems the consensus is to hang tight.  Just out of curiosity, if I did move to P3D v2.x now, would that make the GPU upgrade worth it, both from a performance and cost perspective?  Is there $500 worth of benefit? 

 

I'd prefer to hang tight and do the CPU to the Haswell-E or Broadwell-E (8 cores) and get the 800 series NVidia card that will inevitably be out by then.   

The investment in a new GPU would definitely be worth it if you went to V2 now. Your current CPU @ 4.6 ghz is more than enough to run it, it is a beast you know!. V3 or age will probably dictate your CPU cycle. Sit tight on X79, no need for Haswell-E. Save some bean until you can invest in a kick &@($* X99, 2011-3, DDR4 rig. Then you can move the 780 to it...just a thought.