New mobile workstation

[Juraj]

Sadly the ITX boards are much better than that mATX which looks like to be dying format. But then you're limited to 2x32GB only.

[Giona]

New crazy idea:
what if I put a Ryzen Threadripper 3960X in a case like the Sliger Cerberus X? Will it have enough airflow for a CPU like that? Would be better to use a standard sized case to avoid overheating?

I'm thinking about the Threadripper just because of the 8 DIMM support on the motherboards. In teory should be easier to put 128GB of RAM, even later.
This new workstation should last for few years, so it has to be quite flexible.

Maybe my idea to go for a "mobile" ws is not the best thing..

[Juraj]

Cerberus-X is pretty big "small case" :- ). The issue with Threadripper in such cases is that you can only use watercooling because all TR4 air coolers are too tall.

But the only good watercooling for TR4 is the faulty Enermax Liqtech II. You will simply have to risk it (or try to open and replace the liquid inside based on Level1tech youtube tutorial).

[Giona]

Ok, so if I decide for a Threadripper build I'll opt for a different case. I don't want to risk with faulty watercoolers :)

[Juraj]

The Threadripper cooling situation kind of sucks. There are basically 2-3 Air coolers and exactly one Water AIO.

The Air Coolers (Noctua UH14s TR4, BeQuite DarkRock Pro TR4, Arctic Freezer 50 TR4) are all 1KG heavy which makes the PC portability an issue because of the stress it puts onto motherboard when vertically moved around.
And the Enermax AIO has simply the worst reputation of any single product on market ever had.

Because of low volume of this platform (Threadrippers X Self-built), there is quite a little development done by 3rd parties. Every Threadripper is outsold by Ryzen by at least  1:20 and Ryzen's AM4 socket being almost same size as Intel's 1151/2066 there is hundred times more options available.

Portable Threadripper is thus possible but either risky (Enermax AIO) or quite complex and expensive (custom loop, but even loops are not that super travel-friendly when filled with water already).

[Vuk]

If you want 128gb of ram you can still go with a 3950x and find a MicroATX motherboard that supports it. There is one from Asrock I don't know how good it is, can't guarantee but it supports 128gb ram so 4x32gb sticks should do the work.
With MicroATX, you can still find a good and small case. For Threadripper 3000 there are no MicroATX motherboards plus as Juraj said you would need a beefy air-cooler that can't fit the Cerberus X. You could use water cooling and make a loop but I wouldn't event bother doing that with a mobile workstation...

For 128gb of ram you could go with 2 options:

1) 3950x and MicroATX board with a Cerberus non X model that is MicroATX and I guess you will have better airflow than a mini-itx system plus you can use an AIO like a Kraken X62 to cool it. I actually have a 3950x paired with a B450 Tomahawk Max in one of the workstations in the office and the X62 keeps it cool without any problems. Of course its a bigger case but I think you will be fine especially if you add a blower gpu.

2) 10980xe which is now half the price costs a bit more than 3950x but has 2 more cores and runs faster in Corona. It has a slightly better turbo boost max on 1-2 cores as well. Pair it with an Evga x299 microATX motherboard inside a Cerberus non X or even use an Asrock X299 minitx. Both of these boards support 128gb ram. The ASRock uses SODIMM might be harder to find those sticks in 32gb format though...

The Cerberus case looks really nice and compact!

[Juraj]

It's this one, talked about it above :- )

Well...there is exactly one microATX as well, the Asrock X570 Pro4, and it has somewhat under-nourished power cascade. It might survive 3950X with some airflow on the VRM.

I did little bit more research on it and it's apparently the worst board on market. Good up to 3700X, not 3950X.
It has pseudo 8 phases (+2) on cheapest mosfets available, at 50A.

 Pair it with an Evga x299 microATX motherboard inside a Cerberus non X or even use an Asrock X299 minitx

This board had revision "x2" and it's actually really good board for the format. So this is pretty good solution if you can source 10980XE (not 7980xe/9980xe because those are not soldered) for MSRP.

Now back to cooling, LGA 2066 can be cooled with any cooler on market, but there is also exactly one that absolutely stands out. Every other (like the popular shit from Corsair) is the same, Asetek pump plus thin 28mm aluminium radiator.
This one is on another level: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07XT8VMJ7/ref=psdc_430499031_t1_B013WAY9UQ

38mm thick radiator and VRM fan!

Alternatively, a pricier solution is to build your own custom AIO by buying CPU Block/Pump/Res combo (Only made by Alphacool). There is also version with bigger reservoir, the non-LT version. This video below shows the more compact LT version.
You can also do 38mm thick rad, but copper based one and put Noctua NF-A12x25mm which are the only good fans in the world.

t=1s

[Vuk]

Yes, I thought that the Asrock X570 Pro4 would be good enough to run it on stock since I run my 3950x on stock but apparently it really seems that it is crap :).
None the less I still think he can use a X570 itx asus board and a stock 3950x with an 240/280 aio and have no thermal issues at all while rendering. The Optimum tech guy did a review I posted before in this thread with the N case and his thermals were ok after 30min of rendering plus he wasn't using a blower gpu. But if 128gb ram is a must then yes something like a x299 evga micro atx board inside a cerberus case makes more sense indeed!

[Juraj]

64GB is very little for today, it's what I would accept in laptop only. So his request makes sense.

have no thermal issues at all while rendering.

21C room ambient, 1400RPM fans full-speed, and CPU-only based rendering compared to CPU+GPU(Optix denoise) during IR or classic denoising afterwards, the temps will be higher.
But it's more than fine for such tiny build. But his one is quite smart.

[Vuk]

I think he should probably be fine even with an Asetek AIO as long as he is keeping it stock. I also don't see a point in overclocking such a small system. Even if you overclock it won't be huge overclock that is using the chips full potential due to limited airflow of the system itself, and why would you do that if you are going to lose the turbo boost max of 4.6ghz on a single core :).

I've seen people reaching 4.7-4.9 Ghz on the 18core before with the older revisions but those were all systems residing in a bigger case with a delided cpu and a custom loop cooling solution. And from that point, you are just better going with a Threadripper 3000 cpu...

[Vuk]

Yes and I agree with you but this was a test build where I was actually trying to make a 3950x system as cheap as possible. The person using this system is doing purely modeling tasks and never ever even reached the 32gb mark, the extra added 32gm of ram is just in case and when we use his machine for DR while he is not there if you know what I mean :).

64GB is very little for today, it's what I would accept in laptop only. So his request makes sense.

[Juraj]

Why is over-overclocking discussed suddenly :- ) ?

If for same price (or less!) you can get flashy RGB crap like Corsair H100i whatever that people buy just because they are uneducated, and the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II which has PWM control for pump, twice as thick radiator, VRM fan that will cool the heatsink and make up to 10C degree difference just for VRM, why would you just buy random product that is good enough ?

It's not about overclocking, it's about having the best temperatures and lowest noise in every situation. Stock CPUs still produce lot of heat, and even 1000 RPM fans are still loud enough, you can always go less & less.

Since I do have the 18c dellided i9 7980XE running on 400 Power draw only at 4.5GHz, that requires lot more than any of the above could take regardless, so that is off the table for these builds.

Yes and I agree with you but this was a test build where I was actually trying to make a 3950x system as cheap as possible. The person using this system is doing purely modeling tasks and never ever even reached the 32gb mark, the extra added 32gm of ram is just in case and when we use his machine for DR while he is not there if you know what I mean :).

Now I am just totally confused and had to make sure we are still in the same thread :- D. I am strictly going by what Giona wrote as request.

[Vuk]

I mentioned overclocking because I said that most AIO's could keep up with this cpu at stock especially if he goes the MicroATX route with a slightly bigger case then the N case.
As for RGB who knows maybe he actually likes RGB :) don't be so judgemental of RGB :). The Cooler you linked is not that widespread on other markets in Europe so in 99% of the cases you are usually left with ASetek RGB or non-RGB choice :).

[Giona]

I mentioned overclocking because I said that most AIO's could keep up with this cpu at stock especially if he goes the MicroATX route with a slightly bigger case then the N case.
As for RGB who knows maybe he actually likes RGB :) don't be so judgemental of RGB :). The Cooler you linked is not that widespread on other markets in Europe so in 99% of the cases you are usually left with ASetek RGB or non-RGB choice :).

OT:
LOL, back in the days I was a fan of RGB. Almost 7 years ago I had also some UV neon lights inside my pc :) (and terrible cables managment)



Luckly now I have better tastes..

End of the OT.

Of course I'm not considering overclocking for a build like that.
Anyway the more I think about it, the more I want to directly buy 128gb of RAM for this new pc.

So to recap your suggestions, it seems smarter to choose an Intel i9-10980XE if I really want to keep the small factor.
Otherwhise if I'll decide to forget about portability I should go with a Threadripper 3960X build.

Is it correct?

Any suggestions about the storage? Should I consider SSDs both for OS and project/assets? Or M.2 for OS? I'm not very up to date about this..

Thanks again for the help guys.

[Juraj]

Should I consider SSDs both for OS and project/assets? Or M.2 for OS? I'm not very up to date about this..

You should consider SSD for everything if you have money for it.
M.2 is form factor (layout + connector), not type of SSD, it can internally be slower SATA (which is both interface & form factor as well) or NVMe/PCIe (same, but one refers to internal and other to external interface) which is faster, but only in sequential read/write like transfering lot of big files at same time.

When it comes to software speed, it doesn't matter if it's SATA or NVMe SSD. And even for SATA SSDs, m.2 is better form factor because it's small, can be placed on board and doesn't need cables. But "SATA & SATA" like Samsung 860 is same speed as "SATA m.2" like Samsung 960. "NVMe m.2" like Samsung 970 is the fast one.