New workstation :New Threadripper 3960X or 3970X or Ryzen 3950X

[100%indifferent]

Great info, thanks. I must've gotten my wires crossed on thinking these procs had cooling issues. Makes making that new purchase easier. Before I pull the trigger though, where's the best place to see how these cpus compare to the newer gold xeons? I know the threadrippers are faster, but just how much should I be expecting?

[Alex_M]

No worries.

The best way to compare CPUs for rendering is to check their scores at the Vray benchmark page and I would also check their Cinebench R20 scores. My 3970x at stock scores ~47 000 in the Vray benchmark and ~17 000 in the Cinebench R20 benchmark. Please note that while checking scores on the Vray benchmark pages people not always state if their CPUs are overclocked or not. So frequently there's no way to tell if the particular score was made with their CPU at stock. If there's no notes left by the user, I would take the average of all the scores for that particular CPU.

[Digital Magic]

I've just checked the product page of this case. If you are going with water cooling, it appears that it supports up to 420mm radiators at the top of the case (which is plenty even for Threadripper 3970x) and 240mm at the front. You can ask the seller for confirmation and more info about radiator support. For the 32-core Threadripper I would not get less than 280mm radiator. I think 360mm is preferable for this CPU.

Thank you very much. I was looking and their specs and I thought the case would accept large radiators in several locations. The video confirms it. Apparently the case can accept lots of radiator options but the site builder says no for all of them except one. For some reason the builder (cyberpower) only offers the Asetek 570LC 120mm (Fatboy) Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Copper Cold Plate (2x 120mm) with that case. I contacted them with my concerns and they said that is was plenty for the 3970x with 128GB RAM even if I rendered 24/7 no problem.

I also was reading about some of the HSF and AIO coolers for Threadrippers here https://www.cgdirector.com/best-cpu-...-threadripper/
and they said the HSF coolers were fine and simple but might run into a heat issue during long processing tasks where an AIO might be better.

This is out of my league. I intend to leave the PC rendering for days at a time. I sure don't want heat issues.
I've changed out components before but never installed or swapped a liquid cooling system and in an expensive machine that rather scares me

[dlparisi]

What ram speed is everyone using on their new systems? Reviews seem to be all over the map for what they are using with little data for one speed over another (especially in anything not gaming). I'm considering just getting a somewhat typical 3200 cl16 (4x16) but can go up to a 3600 cl16 if it's advantageous.

[suurland]

What ram speed is everyone using on their new systems? Reviews seem to be all over the map for what they are using with little data for one speed over another (especially in anything not gaming). I'm considering just getting a somewhat typical 3200 cl16 (4x16) but can go up to a 3600 cl16 if it's advantageous.

I'm in the same situation, I'm getting 128gb, would prefer 4x32gb so I could upgrade with another 4x32gb later if needed.

So the top runner right now is F4-3200C16Q-128GVK https://www.gskill.com/specification...-Specification from G.Skill But seems like these are quite new, and I can't find them in stock anywhere.

G.Skill did announce new ram back in Nov which looks more or less designed for threadrippper. https://www.gskill.com/community?cls...&id=1574739775 release was Q4 2019 but I couldn't find them so I emailed G.Skill and was told: "If you are looking for a higher speed memory kit, such as DDR4-3600, the estimated release time frame has been postponed to late February to early March. Please check back for the QVL compatibility list when it is available for your motherboard when those memory kits are released."

So if anyone have any recommendations I would also like to know.

[dlparisi]

I was looking at exactly the same memory but in 16x4. The higher speed 3600 cl16 are about $75 more, the 3600cl18 are about $50 more. I realize it's not much in the grand scheme of things but if it only gets me 1-2% faster rendering I don't care. If it does make for a snappier interface or other noticeable improvements I might be up for it though. Not really interested in OC BTW. All on QVL as well.

[dlparisi]

Interesting read on ram timings on ryzen...https://www.techjunkies.nl/2019/10/15/__trashed/

[Vipera]

I have G.SKILL TridentZ RGB 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4 3200 Model F4-3200C15Q-64GTZR installed on MSI TRX40 PRO WIFI Motherboard. The memory says it should work on CL15-15-15-35 timings and 1.35V. But on my system it works as CL16-15-15-35. I cannot lower latency from 16 to 15. I asked G.SKILL and MSI tech support. MSI gave me new BIOS version but no luck.

[Alex_M]

Did you load the XMP/DOCP profile stored in the RAM or you entered the timings and voltage manually? You should do the 1st. Also, is that particular kit of memory listed in your motherboard's memory QVL list? If it is, it should work 100% of the time at its XMP/DOCP profile. If it's listed in the QVL and it still doesn't work at the advertised timings and clock speed even with the latest BIOS there might be something wrong with your memory kit. Be aware that memory kits not in the QVL list of your motherboard aren't guaranteed to work properly or at least at their advertised XMP/DOCP speeds.

[Vipera]

Did you load the XMP/DOCP profile stored in the RAM or you entered the timings and voltage manually? You should do the 1st. Also, is that particular kit of memory listed in your motherboard's memory QVL list? If it is, it should work 100% of the time at its XMP/DOCP profile. If it's listed in the QVL and it still doesn't work at the advertised timings and clock speed even with the latest BIOS there might be something wrong with your memory kit. Be aware that memory kits not in the QVL list of your motherboard aren't guaranteed to work properly or at least at their advertised XMP/DOCP speeds.

This kit is not listed in motherboard QVL list. It is set to load XMP profile but CL timing still do not set to 15. But it is Ok, I am fine with the current settings.

[Digital Magic]

What ram speed is everyone using on their new systems? Reviews seem to be all over the map for what they are using with little data for one speed over another (especially in anything not gaming). I'm considering just getting a somewhat typical 3200 cl16 (4x16) but can go up to a 3600 cl16 if it's advantageous.

Well I checked the QVL and all but the last (and most expensive) were on backorder so I got this: G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 128GB (4 x 32GB)

• DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600)
• Timing 16-18-18-38
• Voltage 1.35V

And then after it arrived the other cheaper stuff was back in stock. Go figure.
So I'm ordering my system with the minimum RAM (16GB) and then will replace it with the above. Will I need to change anything in BIOS?
I am using 3200 speed because that is what it says on the AMD site and I don't want to get into overclocking and potential stability issues that I know nothing about

[fraggle]

I finally update some month ago to AMD 4650G while waiting for the Ryzen 5....
For 1/10 of the price of the xeon 5620 purchased 10 years ago, I run a benchmarck way faster, and the 5950X will even be even faster.
I'm no more an intel client.

[Alex_M]

I have G.SKILL TridentZ RGB 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4 3200 Model F4-3200C15Q-64GTZR installed on MSI TRX40 PRO WIFI Motherboard. The memory says it should work on CL15-15-15-35 timings and 1.35V. But on my system it works as CL16-15-15-35. I cannot lower latency from 16 to 15. I asked G.SKILL and MSI tech support. MSI gave me new BIOS version but no luck.

You need to turn off GDM (Gear Down Mode) in order to set odd CL RAM timings such as CL17, CL15, CL13 etc. Go into BIOS and in the RAM timings section try turning off GDM.

[Morbid Angel]

I got a new build that's 3990x 64/128 cpu with 256Gb ram. Its been my workstation for last 3 weeks. Rock solid so far. The benchmarks tho are only benchmarks as in real world testing it does about x2 times faster then those of the xeon machines. For example a dual e5-2683v4 (32core total) 64 thread is exactly twice as slow. So those 32 xeon cores are running at 2.5 Ghz when at full load, while 3390x runs at 3.2 Ghz It almost seems that the 3990x is just two 32 core cpus sandwiched together in one chip, just my imho tho, but when I see stuff being processed before rendering like compiling of geo for example cpu is often at 50%, then upon start of rendering goes to 100%. Its still an incredible value because intel just does not offer anything close to this at this price range.

[Alex_M]

Congrats on the new system! There's really nothing like it on the Intel side, even if you splash an outrages sum of money for a dual 28-core Xeon Platinum system which would still be slower in most workloads. The Threadripper will be quite a bit faster in single-threaded workloads too with its 4.30 Ghz boost vs only 3.00 Ghz boost on your old Xeons.

BTW, Threadripper 3990x is actually made out of 8 x 8-core chips connected together via Infinity Fabric, not 2 x 32-core chips. The giant chip in the center is the IO die that houses the memory controller and the PCI-E connections.