Question 1

What cooler would you recommend for this processor?

Accepted Answer

Depends on how hard you intend to stress it.   I'm running all 16 threads at 100% load continuously,  slightly overclocked to 3.56 GHZ.  (scientific computing using BOINC).   I'm using a  NZXT Kraken X61 liquid cooler MODEL FX140V2.

At the moment, in a rather warm room (81 deg. F.  27 deg. C.),  all 8 cores are averaging about  75 deg. C.   The fans are  quite quiet.

I'm comfortable about this temp, and thinking about overclocking a bit more.

/Dave

Question 2

What motherboards actually support the i7 5960x? I have looked at so many boards and they all say they support it but they don't I got the MSI gaming 9 ack and it said it had support but my 5960x did not fit.

Accepted Answer

I'm not familiar with that board but it has to have an X99 chipset and a LGA2011 -3 socket.  Perhaps you have an older board with the LGA2011 socket (X79 chipset).  An example of a board that works is the ASUS Rampage Extreme V which I use with this CPU.

Also double check the orientation, the socket is keyed to only let you plug it in one way so maybe you had the processor backwards.

Question 3

Up to what speed __ ghz?

Accepted Answer

I have read reviews where they use basic liquid cooling and easily run this chip at 4.5GHz. That's fun, of course. That does not interest me. I wanted the 8 physical cores and 16 Hyper-threaded cores for smooth content creation, such as video and lightfield photo processing. I run the CPU and memory at stock speeds and this works very well for me - smooth, cool and uses power efficiently. I am not a gamer.

Question 4

Can I upgrade my old PC cpu The XPS 8300 , 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-2600 CPU to this i7-5960X Haswell-E 8-core?

Accepted Answer

Uhhh..  No.  And by that I mean, anything is possible, however you will need a new motherboard, new heatsink, new memory and likely a new case since the Dell chassis are rarely "standard" ATX compliant.

Question 5

what motherboard goes with this?

Accepted Answer

This is strictly a user preference and knowing how it will be used!  Mine is an ASUS Rampage V,  it allows everything(VM,Data, Music, Pictures, Video, RAID, USB3, NFC, external everything, excellent on board sound, & New WFI a/c).  Need I say any more?

Question 6

my pc motherboard is a gigabyte X79-UD3 will this processor work in my system? and if not can someone recommend one that would be the best for my rig to get the best performance out of it.

Accepted Answer

No this processor is designed for the X99 chipset and your current motherboard is of the previous gen X79 chipset. You would need an X99 motherboard and I would recommend Asus because I've always have had great experiences with Asus. Currently on my X99 deluxe I have overclocked my cpu to 4.4ghz, 3000mhz on the ram. Oh almost forgot. Making the swap to X99 requires that you to switch from DDR3 ram to DDR4 ram. Hope this helped you, cheers.

Question 7

Is this compatible with a late 2013 iMac?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely not.  This is for motherboards with the new X99 chipset.  Macs have not been refreshed with this yet.

Question 8

Is this an unlocked processor that can be bumped up with a multiplier? For some reason Newegg does not state whether or not a CPU is unlocked. Judging by the price it probably is but....

Accepted Answer

Yes, it is unlocked.  I've pushed mine as high as 4.2 GHZ under very light load.   However, the real limit is heat.   I'm usually running all eight cores at 100% cpu utilization, 24 hours a day (scientific applications from BOINC).  Under this load, I'm running all 8 cores at 3.1 GHZ, and core temps are stable at about 72C., and I don't want to run any hotter than than on a continuing basis.

Question 9

What water cooler are you guys using for the 5960X? I thinking of buying the Nepton 280L.

Accepted Answer

I'm using the NZXT Kraken X61.    The computer has been running uneventfully for 8 months.   I'm slightly overclocked - running  at a fixed 3.56 GHZ with all 8 cores fully loaded with BOINC tasks  24 hours a day (and in a room that is often at 80 degrees F.)  Core temperatures vary with the type of job running, but are on average about 73 C.

Question 10

Will i7-5960x work in my asrock x79 motherboard?

Accepted Answer

It won't, unless there is someway to shoehorn it in.  I built a new rig pairing a i7-5960x with an ASUS Rampage V, and  now a month later I couldn't recommend anything else.  I've been building rigs at the rate of about 1 per year since the beginning of time, for PCs that is, and this has been the smoothest, quickest, and on a relative bases the best so far.  Would you believe, I haven't experienced a single hiccup.  And, what I use it for includes some very heavy simulations and analytics.  I haven't done any serious gaming for awhile, but with this rig I am sure having a hard time resisting.

Questions & Answers