Building new system, Threadripper 2990WX vs i9 9960X?

[Raven]

So looking at putting together a new system and looking for advice.
Budget wise I can get either the 2990WX or the i9 9960X (in SA I can actually get the i9 slightly cheaper than the TR), the rest of the system would be identical either way.

Now on Vray Bench, there is only one 9960X listed with a score of 27908.
Plenty of 2990WX's with scores from 18926 - 32341.

However on CPU Benchmark.net the i9 seams to out perform the Threadripper by quite a bit with a score of 28820 vs the TR's 23395.

I know the i9 will probably be faster on Phoenix sims for example, (one of the reasons for my upgrade) but anyone got real world experience on its rendering (The VRay score just gives a rank, would love to know what the time per frame difference would be)
I know the Threadripper is quicker, but wondering, if it is just by a few seconds is it better to go for the i9 for the better phoenix performance.

Thanks

[squintnic]

i got a 2990wx a few months ago but if i was to do it again i would go the i9
2990wx is slow on phoenix (as expected) and with 128gb of ram has an issue with my particular gigabyte motherboard where it cant run 3200 ram at full speed and falls back to 2100 or something pitiful....really disappointing and no consistent fix for it. beware.

i prefer the responsive feel of my 4 year old i7 5930k for everything except CPU rendering.....

i wont stray from intel again lol

[JezUK]

Cue Alex_M

[Muhammed_Hamed]

I've used both CPUs in few builds, and did few benchmarks.
The i9 9960X scores 3400 in Cinbench R15 and 1 minute in Corona Benchmark
The 2990wx scores 5000 and around 40 seconds in Corona's .. both at stock speeds..

Reason why you see different scores for the 2990wx in Vray benchmark is that it depends on temps and OC.. Some scores will be low because the CPU is not cooled properly(same for the i9), you can find accurate numbers on websites like OC3D or GamersNexus
I would recommend the Threadripper personally, it is a much better value overall. In rendering with V-ray it is like 65% faster, and for single threaded tasks it is not far behind the i9
You should avoid cheaper entry level boards, you will need either the X399 Meg Creation or Zenith Extreme Alpha, those 2 boards can handle the 2990wx nicely, I have used both in many builds and RAM at 3200 MHz works just fine.
I would recommend Gskill TridentZ 3200 Mhz, it works nicely with Threadripper.. you will only need to enable XMP in bios
About cooling, Stick to Kraken X72 or Corsair H150i Pro and you should avoid Enermax.
I don't use Phoenix, only Vray Next

there is only one 9960X listed with a score of 27908.

This is extreme OC and probably delidded, normal score at stock speeds should be around 20k
If you can wait until next weekend I can test the new Vray benchmark with 9960x here, at stock speeds.

[Muhammed_Hamed]

And yeah the 9960X is cheaper here locally and on Amazon/Newegg
It is the 9980XE that is a bit more expensive

[squintnic]

Muhammed have you got your threadripper running 3200 ram with 128GB installed? Have you had to adjust the power usage as well?
Im reluctant to fiddle with the bios - is it safe lol? (im really untechnical)

[Raven]

Thanks Muhammed,
Here is what I was looking at.

AMD Treadripper 2 2990WX
MSI MEG X399 CREATION AMD X399
Corsair H150i PRO RGB Liquid CPU Cooler
G.Skill F4-3200C16Q-64GTZR TridentZ
Samsung 970 PRO 512GB NVMe SSD
Segate Barracuda Pro 4TB HDD
MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8GB GDDR6
Corsair RM1000X 80+ Gold 1000W Modular PSU
Corsair Obsidian Series 900D Black Aluminum
Windows 10 Pro

[Muhammed_Hamed]

Muhammed have you got your threadripper running 3200 ram with 128GB installed? Have you had to adjust the power usage as well?
Im reluctant to fiddle with the bios - is it safe lol? (im really untechnical)

2933 is max I could achieve with 128 GB of VRAM, any other memory configuration I was able to achieve 3200 Mhz without touching timings
Using all 8 dims makes things harder on this platform, I have played with timings for hours but nothing worked for 3200
2933 is not bad and should be totally possible, and if you stick to 64 GB or 96 GB of RAM you should be able to achieve 3200 without manual tuning.
If you can only run at 2133 like what you described above you might have a faulty Mobo or your RAM is not the best

Thanks Muhammed,
Here is what I was looking at.

AMD Treadripper 2 2990WX
MSI MEG X399 CREATION AMD X399
Corsair H150i PRO RGB Liquid CPU Cooler
G.Skill F4-3200C16Q-64GTZR TridentZ
Samsung 970 PRO 512GB NVMe SSD
Segate Barracuda Pro 4TB HDD
MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8GB GDDR6
Corsair RM1000X 80+ Gold 1000W Modular PSU
Corsair Obsidian Series 900D Black Aluminum
Windows 10 Pro

Looking good!
Only comment is the case you picked, it is very big, very expensive and overkill for this build and doesn't look good.
Look into Bequiet Silent Base 801, it is much smaller and still offers very good airflow, and comes with built-in fan hub for up to 8 fans. it comes with 3 very good silent wings fans and has no RGB
Another option, is Lian Li 011-Dynamic if you like glass and RGB fans, it can equip up to 9 fans..
These 2 are what I use for most of my builds.
Make sure the cooler comes with a mounting bracket for Threadripper, older stock might not include one.

[Raven]

I'll take a look at those options, thanks Muhammed.
Also my supplier says they only have Corsair Dominator Platinum 3000MHz RAM at the moment, any experience on that.
Is there a vast difference between the 3000 and 3200, might be worth just picking up the ram separately then.
Never built a full system before, just ram and card upgrades over the years, so wasn't keen on going all components and building myself (Especially CPU).

Always great to get advice from people who have put systems together in the industry. Thanks.

[Morne]

Thanks Muhammed,
Here is what I was looking at.

AMD Treadripper 2 2990WX
MSI MEG X399 CREATION AMD X399
Corsair H150i PRO RGB Liquid CPU Cooler
G.Skill F4-3200C16Q-64GTZR TridentZ
Samsung 970 PRO 512GB NVMe SSD
Segate Barracuda Pro 4TB HDD
MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8GB GDDR6
Corsair RM1000X 80+ Gold 1000W Modular PSU
Corsair Obsidian Series 900D Black Aluminum
Windows 10 Pro

what ZAR amount they quote you on here if you don't mind me asking?

[Raven]

Hey Morne.
Been while, after switching out the case to a Lian Li and with Corsair Dominator 3000 RAM, I'm looking at R81 610. With build and stress test.

[Muhammed_Hamed]

Is there a vast difference between the 3000 and 3200, might be worth just picking up the ram separately then.

The dominator platinum is way overpriced here as demand is very high from gamers
I've used it with Ryzen before(multiple clients had the RAM in their old build and wanted to move it to their new build), the 4000 MHz version and it worked just fine. for 128 GB of RAM, you will be running at 2933 so 3200 is not necessary
If you get a nice deal on the dominator platinum, go for it. Other than that, stick to Gskill TridentZ if it is cheaper.
And you can definitely build this yourself, it is easier than ever to do this now

About the case, there is Lian Li-011 Dynamic, and Lian Li-011 Air
Either of these should be fine, the first one has a front glass panel and can equip up to 9 fans, while second one has open design front and can equip up to 12 fans(3 extra at front)
Both can house 2 power supplies in case you wanted to add more cards to your system in future
They might come with 3 fans pre-installed, and sometimes they come with no fans. What I would do for my clients, is using 9 RGB fans, 3 for radiator, 3 at the button for intake, 3 at the side for intake,

Check out these fans,
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Magne...g=hardwar0d-20

You will need this for RGB control through Corsian ICUE software,
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Fan-C...g=hardwar0d-20

It will look like this, (Image from google)

If you don't like RGB, you can stick to whatever fans come with the case, and the H150i will have 3 stocks fans that doesn't have RGB

[Raven]

Thanks so much for the advice Muhammed, the Air looks like a nice option for the case.

Having little luck with the Trident Z ram availability at the moment here in SA.
For a similar price range, there is the Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200, any idea if this would be a good option, it is quite a bit cheaper than the Dominator platinum 3000.

Thanks again.

[Muhammed_Hamed]

You need to find TridentZ RAM, it will make things much easier for you.
If it is not possible, Corsair Vengeance should be fine, you will need to play with timings most likely for 128 GB
Using the default XMP won't work, let me know how it goes.. I can help you with that.

[Raven]

I'm going 64GB for now, but will let you know if I need any help on the timing side.

Thanks so much for your advice.