I have an i7 920 StudioCat DAW with 16GB of RAM that has been serving me well for a few years now.  I'm considering getting a new one and wondering about how much of a performance increase I might get from the Z99 chipset based build with either a 5820k or a 5930k Haswell CPU.  I've done a bit of searching and haven't found any recent audio benchmarks. Would these be a significant upgrade, or should I put it off another 6 months to a year?
 
Also, how much of a difference is there between the two CPUs I'm considering.  It's basically a $200 difference in price on the DAW I'm looking at. Is it a $200 difference in performance?
 
My main goals are to keep up with the ever increasing CPU needs of some of the newer VSTi plugins, and to try to keep latency as low as possible while using them.

If you're really pushing performance boundaries (video game composition where you're running HUGE orchestral mock-up, lots of video compositing/rendering, etc), socket 2011-3 Haswell-E machines are fantastic.
 
For straight up audio production (even dense projects), the 4790k at 4.4GHz is capable of extensive DSP Processing.
With a rock-solid audio interface, I doubt you'd ever need go above a 128-sample ASIO buffer size.
 
Socket 2011-3 is overkill for straight up audio production... unless you're pushing performance to extremes.
 

BTW, That's a beautiful guitar in your avatar!
 

Thanks for the info Jim.  Sounds like I can save even more money and have something that will take me over the limits of my current setup. (I had a feeling you'd be the one responding on this. LOL)  Email just sent with the last of my questions before I hit the button to buy.
 
Re: the guitar... thanks man. It was my first Warmoth. Recently picked up another that is in the shop right now getting some repair work done. 

I'm going to have to check out Warmoth.  Certainly read about them... but haven't seen/played one.
Beautiful looking guitars!

I think the Warmoth necks are what helped to generate their popularity.  Lots of custom options, to construct what you want with many other guitar parts as well, to get precisely what you want.  Never heard any complaints...ever.  Kinda like your computers ;-D

If you do check out anything Warmoth, check out either their in-stock showcase items, or hit ebay looking for used parts and it will save you some money.  The green one was all showcase items and features a super light-weight swamp ash body with maple top. The blue one I ordered the way I wanted it and it has mahogany body with maple top (still pretty light for a hog guitar).  Both of them are chambered because I'm getting older and my shoulder likes lightweight guitars.
 
Thanks again for all your help in answering my questions on the new DAW.  Saved me some significant money and will be just what I need.  Was just reading the order confirmation over my morning coffee.  Looks like it should arrive soon after my school semester ends and I'll have time for the daunting task of installing everything and getting it up and running.  Can't wait to try it out!

Sorry for the off topic but Jim Started it :) 
My custom built Strat has a Warmoth neck. I think it's better than most of the $2,000 US Strats that I've played.
I'm stoked about scoring a set of Mod Shop Pups for only $56 Black Friday deal. 
They originally retail for $225 or more street price of $150. 
Samarium Colbalt Noiseless. And I also scored a mother of toilet seat Pick guard to put them in.. When I'm done I'll be into this guitar for only about $500. 
 

 
 
 

Wow, that is a lot of guitar for 500 bucks! Is it a photo flame or a real maple flame? Not that anyone would know if you don't tell them.
If I were you I would just tell Jim what you want the DAW to do and go with his recommendations. He knows what he is doing and his prices could easily be higher. Yeah you could buy parts and build something cheaper but you cannot buy the knowledge of which components play together with no problems... that is one of the things you pay Jim for, a machine that simply works , is guaranteed, built for your needs, with CS too!! To me it is a no brainer.
 
Julien

Yep, already placed my order, and Jim saved me the money of going for the all-out insane DAW.  I'm getting basically what I'll need and should last me awhile, the ones I was first looking at are more geared toward dense arrangements, so for my guitar and weird synth experiments I think the one I'm getting will be great. 
 
My current DAW is a StudioCat as well and it has served me well, and I'll probably sell it or donate it to a buddy of mine who is not as extensively into recording as I am.  It was still keeping up, but some soft synths were requiring me to bounce a bit more often than I like and running the buffers just a bit high while still tracking.  (I use guitar synth, which adds just a bit more to the latency of its own than tracking with keyboards, or so it seems to me.)
 
Are you asking me about the $500 guitar?  That was JohnnyV.  My greenie in the picture with the maple top was considerably more, but still less than a comparable custom shop.  It is real maple top as well.  (As is the blue one in the avatar... I just kept that one a little simpler on the rest of the parts.)  I kind of went all out on the green one with some upgrades from FU-Tone on the Floyd and Bare Knuckle pickups.  I ordered the body and neck off of Warmoth's in-stock showcase items, which probably saved a couple hundred overall, but it's a very light-weight chambered body, so that made it a bit more.  Like JohnnyV mentions though, you can really save some coin if you shop around a bit and take your time.  There are guys selling parts on Ebay all the time.