Messages

31

Hardware / Re: Threadripper 3990x vs 3970x

« on: 2021-04-15, 11:56:36 »

I think the best person to ask this would be Juraj since from what I remember from the forum threads he has the 3990x on both air and loop but I might be wrong :)

@ADVenturePO

I am pretty sure that Blender, Cinebench, and Corona benchmarks don't scale the same way. Maybe I am wrong but from what I've seen on youtube reviews Corona was the only benchmark that was giving 2xperformance versus 3970x.
I never ever ran a Blender benchmark in my life so I can't really talk about that. What I can talk about is real-world performance, and in my case, the results are not always in line with the Corona benchmark.

I won't even mention animation frame rendering (especially frames that are under 20mins) where at least in "my case" the 5950x works the best as it's always the first machine that loads the scene due to the best max turbo on one core. By the time, the 3990x has loaded the scene the 5950x is already a few passes in :).

I would like to hear the opinion of the people who ran their 3990x's on-air and then upgraded to a custom loop. If it's actually that much worth it and their use case scenario since mine is purely from a rendering node perspective :).

32

Hardware / Re: Threadripper 3990x vs 3970x

« on: 2021-04-14, 14:40:52 »

@ twoheads

I run the 3990x at stock with xmp  turned on in bios on 4x sticks of 32gb memory at 3200mhz. We run it as a render node while the 3970x's and the 3960x's are the main cpu's we use in our workstations. I stopped overclocking all my machines in the last 2-3 years. I can see someone who has 1-2 computers getting out a benefit from this but from my point of view (13+ machines) it is just a hassle.


I build and maintain all the computers in the studio and the overclocked machines are usually consuming 200% of the electricity at the cost of a 5-10% performance increase. Not to mention the stability issues which tend to develop over time. I am not saying I am an expert overclocker but I just don't have time to play with the settings and risk stability issues during project deadlines so lately I just go with the stock+xmp solution which works great for me to be honest.


Also a side note regarding water loops you mention. Just for reference, I paid my water loop and all of its components (EK) + the water block for TRX around 500-550 euros and my 3970x runs at the same temperature as the other identical workstation which runs the Deep Cool Castle V2 360 Aio (135-150 euros) which is an AIO that doesn't even cover the entire CPU like my block does. The performance between ours cpu's is identical so it's pretty much all about the silicon lottery at the end of the day.

33

Hardware / Re: Threadripper 3990x vs 3970x

« on: 2021-04-13, 14:09:08 »

The 3990x doesn't require a more expensive board. It can run easily on any of the 16 phase boards and pretty much 90% of the lineup is ok apart from some Asrock budget boards that come with 12 phases if I remember well. As for the cooling, it works perfectly fine with the Noctua U14s cooler you need a water loop only if you are planning to overclock it.

The 3990x is not twice as fast as the 3970x, don't look at the corona render benchmark it is not a real-world scenario. Bigger scenes take more time to parse and will open faster on computers with a higher turbo on a single core. The scenario is this first comes the cpu in terms of scene opening than the hard drive than networking (Cpu>ssd>network). My 3990x is around 80-85% faster than the 3970x.

As for the price it depends from country to country you can get the 3990x for less than twice as much but keep in mind that for 2x3970x you need 2xPSU 2xram kits 2xgpu's and so on. If you can afford the 3990x I would go for it over the 3970x. If you want to wait sure wait but I doubt you will be buying anything new before July or even August.

34

Hardware / Re: Workstation configuration

« on: 2021-03-21, 17:02:36 »

I suppose a good buy right now for someone who just needs the GPU for running the viewport and not rendering, would be a 3060 with its 12gb of ram. Depending on the market they run around 750-1000 euros.
If you can get your hands on one that is not more than 800 euros I guess it would be a better buy than a used 1080ti. Again it depends on how well you know the history of the used card you are buying. If you are not sure I would just invest 100-200 euros more for a new 3060 for which you get a warranty as well.

Prices are just crazy right now and I don't think they will go down yet. At least not for the next month or two. People are selling 1080ti's that have been mining for 4 years straight and they are asking like 650-850 euros for it... Crazyyyyy! :)

35

Hardware / Re: Second Workstation vs. Home RenderFarm vs. Online?

« on: 2021-02-05, 14:36:02 »

I personally don't use any online render farm so I can't really say anything about that. But I heard Rebus is quite ok and easy to setup. On the other hand, you did mention you want to be more in control so buying a few computers might be a better route.

I do remember a few years ago (5-6) when rendering farms were expensive and not as nearly as cheap as they are today so do count that as well. A friend of mine using Rebus was paying around 2-5 euro per rendering in 4-5K resolution. This is of course information I got from him like 1-2 years ago so I can't really say how cheap they are now but I doubt that they are any more expensive than that and plus there is a lot more competition right now.

If you need to render a lot of renderings in a short timeframe be prepared to just use a render farm or to invest 3-4 times over your budget in a personal render farm :).

Now if you ask me I would always get a good workstation PC. The 2990wx is a fast machine but I think it would be much more viable as a rendering node. I would suggest you upgrade to a 3990x as you said. I think that the performance gain would be massive especially since the improvements from gen 2 to gen 3 TR area great. If you want to save money, you could also buy any other lower tier 3000 Threadripper and just move the 2990wx to your personal farm.

I use both DR rendering and Backburner. If you are working on multiple images or projects you could easily send various backburner jobs to your 2990wx machine to render them while you are preparing other scenes/cameras for rendering.

If you don't need more than 128gb of ram then you could also set up 2-3 16 core 3950x or 5950x rendering nodes and use them instead. The 3950x go quite cheap right now so I am pretty sure you can easily build 3 of those workstations for the same money as one 3990x. The only thing is if you are willing to introduce even more machines/computers to your workflow since tomorrow you might have more work/maintenance to do with 3 instead of 1 extra machine.

Also, on a side note, a 5950x is a completely viable replacement to a 2990wx it has similar multicore performance but smokes the 2990wx in single-core performance so any other task besides rendering will be smooth AF.

36

Hardware / Re: Random resets on new workstation

« on: 2021-02-03, 19:06:12 »

Hi, guys thanks for all the replies. The issue went away at some point for 1-2 days the only thing I did was swapping the mouse USB cable from the bios flashback port.

The first thing that came to my mind was PSU or RAM then I ruled out the PSU but seems you may be right Juraj. I usually buy Seasonic or Evga but for some reason, I bought this one since it was on a good deal and I heard it had Seasonic components + a 10-year warranty.

I also wrote on the overclockers forum in the X570 Tomahawk thread and there are quite a few people there having the same issue as I do. Random restarts or random bluescreens. Actually, quite a few people having issues with the 5000 series right now due to the AGESA updates from AMD and bad Bios versions. One of the guys there (overclockers forum) told me to play a bit with LLC, voltage control, C-states, and the current type. I did some changes in the bios and for now 2 days without any issues. I did disable fast boot and all of the above mentioned by jalapeno.

If it crashes again I am going to do a PSU swap the only problem is that I doubt that the vendor will accept a PSU return :( . In case the PSU swap doesn't help I'll just swap the CPU as well luckily I have another one just in case :)

37

Hardware / Random resets on new workstation

« on: 2021-01-27, 22:17:29 »

Hi my dear Corona colleagues.

So I bought the MSI X570 Tomahawk board for a new workstation build for one on my colleagues at work. I built the system myself and tested it, everything was working fine. I was running XMP on the ram (2x32gb 3200mhz Kingston sticks) and PBO. All was stable until a few days ago when the PC started getting random restarts. In the last 3 days I get 3-4 random restarts in a time span of 8-10 hours of work on this computer. It is not related to any specific action/program or process it just happens randomly. It happened once while doing some 3d modelling work, then while browsing some photos on the server and then just before I launched interactive rendering.

When I enter the Event viewer I have a Critical log Kernel-Power 41 task Category (63).

This is the PC:
Cpu: 5950x
Mobo: X570 MSI Tomahawk bios Ver: V14 - latest stable
RAM: 64gb (2x32 3200mhz)
GPU: RTX 2060super
PSU: 750w asus strix gold
SSD: Kingston A2000 1TB
Cooler: Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280
Win: Running latest win update

Yesterday evening I did several tests for several hours with no issues at all. Of course before all this I turned off both xmp and pbo and restarted the bios to default. I am running bios version V14 from November 2020 which is the latest stable version.
Did Prime95, OCCT, Valley, Furmark. I even ran Prime95 and Furmark at the same time, having both the CPU and the GPU stressed to 100% for 1 hour and without any crashes. Temperatures are just fine below 73C in full PRime95 load, Psu also 12V,3V and 5V rails look good in OCCT after the 1 hour test which didn't give any error. I don't doubt the PSU to be honest I started doubting the ram or the ram slots on the mobo.

Today I ran Memtest86 on my other workstation. Both sticks after 2 straight hours of testing each ( total 2 of 4 passes) gave no errors. I am currently testing the slots on the Tomahawk motherboard for now there are no errors when 1 slot is populated after 2 hours of testing. Will try the test now with both slots populated but my guess that this is fine as well since dimm slot A2 gives no errors.

Anyone have any ideas of what it could be? I could try another PSU since I have a spare one, could even try a different cpu since I also have a 5900x laying around in a box and waiting for another build. But before I do that I would like to hear some opinions from you guys it would help a lot since I am completely stuck :(

38

Hardware / Re: Threadripper & Ryzen only builds (3rd Gen starts on page 50)

« on: 2021-01-21, 16:21:47 »

The test is with one 3090 or with 3x3090? Since in the text you copy-pasted it says 3x3090?

I sincerely doubt that gpu rendering is going to completely change cpu rendering, maybe in a few years, yes but at the end of the day I would never drop Corona for gpu renderer just because of the speed. It would need to be a complete package for me in order to make a switch and right now Vray Gpu isn't.

Triple 3090 rendered his scene over three times faster than a 3990 so logic would dictate that a single 3090 would match the processor speed. Unless AMD manage to fit more cores on the same die (very unlikely) then GPU is without a doubt the future. If i can buy a  3090 for half the price of a 3990X and match the rendering speed that gap in price and performance is only going to get bigger as time goes on. The 3000 series cards are the gamechanger and will drive so much development because of their extra horsepower. Im of the opinion that within the next 10 years offline rendering will be basically obsolete as realtime develops better pipelines and integration. Thats maybe 2 iterations of GPU development. I know a couple of people wiothin epic who are confident unreal 5 will cause some significant shifts.

Sounds great but I never actually thought of going GPU since the scenes I work with use over 64gb of ram. On the other hand, the 3090 has 24gb of ram and that opens new possibilities but I switched from V-ray to Corona a few years ago and I never looked back :). I just like Corona way more than V-ray to be honest...

39

Hardware / Re: Threadripper & Ryzen only builds (3rd Gen starts on page 50)

« on: 2021-01-20, 19:15:03 »

The test is with one 3090 or with 3x3090? Since in the text you copy-pasted it says 3x3090?

I sincerely doubt that gpu rendering is going to completely change cpu rendering, maybe in a few years, yes but at the end of the day I would never drop Corona for gpu renderer just because of the speed. It would need to be a complete package for me in order to make a switch and right now Vray Gpu isn't.

40

Hardware / Re: Threadripper & Ryzen only builds (3rd Gen starts on page 50)

« on: 2021-01-13, 14:49:46 »

Hey guys as always great help! Also thanks @Juraj! That also went through my mind at some point since I managed to find a refurbished 2970wx for 800 euros but it is just better to sell the combo  (mobo+cpu+cooler) and go for 5950x or even maybe a 3950x since it's like 600 euro new here or around 330-350 euro cheaper then the 5950x.

41

Hardware / Re: Threadripper & Ryzen only builds (3rd Gen starts on page 50)

« on: 2021-01-12, 17:40:07 »

Hey, guys I know it is not Gen 3 related but do you think it is a good idea to upgrade one of my old workstations ( 1920x with X399 Strix-e gaming mobo )by just swapping the CPU with the 2990wx?
Sadly used on eBay is not an option since it's a big hassle to get it shipped so I have an option to buy it directly in the shop for around 1600 euros. Do you think it is worth it and do you think that the U14S can handle it on stock I was thinking to just use it as a render node in the farm.

I remember reading on the forum a while back that some people had issues with ram compatibility and generally with performance with the 2990wx.

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Hardware / Re: Threadripper & Ryzen only builds (3rd Gen starts on page 50)

« on: 2020-05-21, 18:43:17 »

@shortcirkuit

The temperatures that you report are pretty much in line with what other people have here on the forum with the 3970x and the U14S. What is your ambient temperature you haven't reported that? Also what case are you using?
My temps on the 3970x are 73C after a few Corona bench runs but my ambient is 24C or even above. I am using a custom water loop. I am pretty sure that in order to have lower temps you would need a custom loop the 3970x is sadly a hotter chip than the 3990x.

43

Hardware / Re: Threadripper Builds

« on: 2020-03-11, 20:41:57 »

Honestly I wouldn't bother with 7% improvement. I guess your power consumption is now doubled plus you loose single core turbo that is highly beneficial for all other tasks that are not rendering.

44

Hardware / Re: Threadripper Builds

« on: 2020-02-26, 13:33:21 »

I've now tested the 3990X across quite a lot of my scenes, and found following to be interesting from looking up at Distributed rendering numbers. My farm is made up or 2698v4 xeon nodes and 2990WXs.

The 3990X is very consistent, the ratio with 2698v4 Xeon node is almost constant. Whereas 2990WX is fluctuating by a lot in ratio with 2698v4, sometimes beating it by more than 30perc. (like it should) and sometimes getting on the same level.
I am not sure what exactly is the cause of fluctuating performance of 2990WX in regards to scene features of Corona ( So I mean the Corona side, not the NUMA nodes and half-bandwidth access to them ), but it's no longer the case with 3990X.

The performance of 3990X is always exactly where it should be, be it simple or complex scene. When 2990WX came out, I found the reviewers bashing the decision to connect only two dies to memory controller to be far too harsh, but judging back, that was really poor decision on AMD's part, and it's questionable whether they needed to do it, or it was intentional crippling  to not cannibalize Epyc.

But the 3rd gen are flawless products, what Zen should have been from beginning. Can't even foresee what Zen3 will bring (since I think they're skipping Zen2+ right?).

Seems that the 3990x is a completely viable solution as a node in stock mode with a Noctua cooler. I actually thought of this in the past few days. My 3970x is faster then the dual 24C platinums I have in the farm. The difference in speed seems to differ from scene to scene so it is not linear. Scenes that are heavy and take time to load seem to open much faster on the 3970x thus giving it the initial advantage. So far I have noticed differences in speed in DR rendering ( Initial scene started from another machine ) from 30% to up to 150%. So one 3990x could easily swap a few platinums thus costing you less in terms of electricity and licenses not to mention the re-sell value of these chips compared to the ES chips which are rapidly dropping in price day by day...

On a side note my node machines are all using sata ssd's as boot drives while the workstations use nvme ssds. All are conected to the network trough 10gbe Nic's could be that there is a bottleneck there but I highly doubt it. I rather think it's and IPC matter and higher turbo boost of single core.

Juraj would be great if you could share some power consumption numbers of the 3990x in various situations?

45

Hardware / Re: Threadripper Builds

« on: 2020-02-24, 14:42:14 »

Yes, I would actually consider Threadripper 1st or 2nd gen only if it was an upgrade of the cpu and I already had all the other parts. In my case, I have a 1920x and a 1950x and I am actually waiting for the 2990/70wx to drop in price swap the cpu's and just put them in the farm. Or I will sell them at some point :D.

I am kind of envious of all the people who skipped gen 1 and 2 entirely and just went straight for gen 3. Pretty much the best move you can do as a new buyer/customer. It's just mindboggling how gen 3 wipes the floor with gen 1 and 2. Difference between gen 1 and 2 was kind of negligible...