Threadripper & Ryzen only builds (3rd Gen starts on page 50)

[zollska]

Hello guys!

I'm looking to order a 3970x workstation in the office and the vendor i contacted had some notes on the choosen parts, but i'm not sure if they are right with their claims...

Cpu cooler, they said that the noctua u14s with and additional fan is not sufficient for cooling the 3970x but eveyrone on the internet said otherwise :) They offered a fractal design celsius+ s36 aio but i'm not a fan of those becausethere is no good aio for the trx40 ihs as far as i know and i'm still afaraid of leaking.... the system will have 2 2080ti-s and as far as i know the coolers warranty doesn't cover the damages cased to other system parts :)

case i really want a quiet case that can have good enough airflow so i went for the new fractal design define 7 XL but they said that the be quiet silent base 601 would be better. Even if we change the define 7 xl-s top to the perforated version. i find this a bit unlikely but again i'm no expert..... but i've done a bunch of research. and EposVox also usesee this case with a similar setup. and i really need usb c gen 2 support on the front of the case.

GPU asus turbo 2080ti x2 with the blower style fans. They told me that the cooling for these is not sfficent but i've seen a ton of build for redshift and octane with these cards. And they are better for case temps because of the blower stly cooling.

I really want a quiet, black, window -and rgb-less case just like the ones puget systems is shipping but with local support (hungary)

hat do you guys think? Am i being unrealistic with this setup? anyone has some experience with the case or can someone recommend a quiet enough case with comparable airflow (eighter with fans or opening the case door is necessary)?

[TomG]

Sounds like they are just trying to sell you stuff that's more expensive (just my opinion). Let's see what people say though. The only part I'm aware of is that water cooling is not needed, and not a good idea. While I only have a 3960X here, the Noctua is exactly what I got for myself based on research, and afaik it should be great for the 3970X too. The rest I don't know about, but if you have done your research and seen lots of reviews, feedback, people commenting on their builds, etc. I would trust that, e.g. if that GPU had cooling problems I'm sure there would be lots of reports about that, and if you aren't seeing those reports, then it doesn't have cooling problems.

[zollska]

Sounds like they are just trying to sell you stuff that's more expensive (just my opinion). Let's see what people say though. The only part I'm aware of is that water cooling is not needed, and not a good idea. While I only have a 3960X here, the Noctua is exactly what I got for myself based on research, and afaik it should be great for the 3970X too. The rest I don't know about, but if you have done your research and seen lots of reviews, feedback, people commenting on their builds, etc. I would trust that, e.g. if that GPU had cooling problems I'm sure there would be lots of reports about that, and if you aren't seeing those reports, then it doesn't have cooling problems.

As far as i know the 3960x is a bit more toastier than the 3970x so the noctua should be good even for longer (i.e. 10-15 hour rendering sessions). The office space has great temps and if i would start a longer render i would deffinetly open the case front and maybe even remove the dust filter.

to be honest I' really dont want liquid cooling. There is a 28 core mac pro right next to me and the lacie big 40 tb external storage unit is way loader. And that thing is air cooled... :(

[TomG]

I've had my 3960X doing 20 to 40 hour animation renders with no problem, if that's a reassurance on how well the Noctua does.

[Juraj]

You did your research well and you are right with all your assumptions, while your vendor is not. I will add some further comments:

- Noctua NH-U14s is the best cooler for 3rd-gen Threadripper. It does its job the best on 3990X, but works decently well on 3970X and 3960X as well. The average temperatures in open-bench at 20C ambient is like (60C/70C/80C).
- AIO do work only for 3960X and 3970X because they have chiplets in middle of chip under heatspreader. Despite that, the Noctua NH-U14s is still better choice.
- You don't need second fan on NH-U14s, it's very narrow heatsink with no issue of static pressure. Second fans only add pressure, that's why they come with thick D14 and U12a. On NH-U14s, it only helps by 1-2C, but increase noise due to turbulence (same decibel rating, but very annoying sound). Some people are ok with this, I dislike it a lot and I tried lot of setups on U14.

-Fractal Define 7XL is good choice for big CPU + 2xGPUs + silence. It's definitely the only case which lets you add 3x140mm fans in front. The BeQuit while similarly silent, has pretty bad issues with hot-air recirculation due to that whole around the case connected chamber. The design is just not ideal.
-Define series can add up to 10C to internal temperatures with the closed front panel, so make sure to actually populate all 3x140 slots (or 3x120) in front as counter-measure.

Don't buy 2x2080ti. Single 3090 is better choice by a lot. Unfortunately it's nowhere to buy in Europe.. specially the best version, FE from nVidia (the best because it puts 40perc. of heat directly out of case, good thing for Threadripper, esp. with dual-GPU setup. It's effectively semi-blower design).
If you absolutely need GPUs right now, buy single 3080 if you can find it for correct price (close to MSRP), or second hand 2080ti for 500 Euro maximum.

I've had my 3960X doing 20 to 40 hour animation renders with no problem, if that's a reassurance on how well the Noctua does.

And Tom lives in Texas for what it's worth :- )

[zollska]

Thank you Tom and Juraj!

Great news! I heard similar news about the be quiet cases (although i love their products). They came up with a new contender for the case.
The Phanteks Eclipse P600S Silent looks like it could solve the airflow problems as it seems like it has better airflow than the r7 xl, even is its a bit smaller(?) case. Do you guys have any experience with it? i can't really find any threadripper build reviews that are reputable.

The vendor - whom i'm talking to at the moment - will do the final assembly and testing, because i don't really feel comfortable assembling a computer this expensive :)

We will be needing this computer in 7-8 working days as a new colleague arrived yesterday :) Thats why i went for the 2080ti-s as they are more available but i will as if they could supply one 3080. AS time is of the essence for this build alternatively I would rather have one rtx 2080 ti now and add a 3080 as it becomes available.

To be honest i didn't ask them for one as i was already worried about how the 3000-s series cards extra power consumption translates to heat inside the case. I probably won't be able to lay my hands on a 3080 FE in the next few days.

[lupaz]

Why so much GPU power if I may ask? For Corona you'd be fine with 1x 1080ti.

[zollska]

This build is for a more  "all-rounder" workstation. We use 3ds and c4d for most production, but a lot of after effects, premier etc and a ton of simulations as well. we're planing to implement redshift too, so thats why we need a buckload of GPU power :) Most of the AE plugins a C4d plugins benefit from GPU power (sadly mostly cuda).

[Jpjapers]

Why so much GPU power if I may ask? For Corona you'd be fine with 1x 1080ti.

Fstorm or other software probably!
Ive just bought a new machine today but holding off on the GPU til i can get a 3080 FE.

[Juraj]

We might be waiting for a long time in Europe... (For FE version)

[zollska]

I wanted to place an order for one 3080 or 3090 but the 3 suppliers i contacted both told me that the best they can do is set up an email notification if a 3080 or a 3090 becomes available. They also told me that every few day there are 1-2 cards available for the maximum on 1 hour...so if i get an email i should by instantly... this is a bit crazy :)

[Luke]

Hey all,

What is the best cooling solution for the AMD TRP 3955wx? Does the Noctua NH-U14S fit this chip?

Thanks.

[Juraj]

As was stated 100 times, it's always Noctua NH-U14S indeed :- ). We might get bigger TR-compatible D15 and U12A somewhere in 2021 but who knows.

[Luke]

Thanks mate, i couldnt find anywhere if the NH-U14S fits the wrx80 chip...

[Juraj]

Chipset is different, socket is the same.