Threadripper & Ryzen builds

[Juraj]

Truth be told, if you already spent the money on 2990WX and MSI MEG, both very pricey things, you shouldn't skimp on memory.

The good thing is, DDR4 memory is finally a lot cheaper than last year, in fact I just bought another 64GB set from Crucial (Ballistics 4x16GB CL15 2993Mhz) for 400 Euro on Amazon. I paid for the same set almost 700 last September !.

For Threadripper, to have quad-channel memory of at least 2933Mhz (for 2990WX this is still the stable maximum for 64GB+ capacity in 16GB modules, otherwise 3200MHz is reachable with latest AGESA update for lesser capacity) is absolutely paramount, the performance with memory intensive software like Corona absolutely depends on it. There is no other way to get full performance out of your 2990WX.

Sell what you have, buy different one.

[balatschaka]

I've got a boring MSI SLI x399 and old GeiL 4x16Gb Dragon 2666 Ram and it runs almost alright(51s Corona Benchmark).
With your 2133Mhz Ram, don't you get lots of VFB Window flickering and freezes? Anyway it's definitely the ram.

Remember to put them into the primary slots and enable the xmp profile.

[Njen]

I see some amazing deals for 2990WX's on eBay, like between $400 - $600 below the retail price. The item descriptions say new but repackaged.

What are people's thoughts on this? is there a way to know if a CPU has been used simply by looking at it (assuming it was cleaned of all thermal paste)?

[Edit]
I got this response from the seller when I asked if this really is too good to be true:
"I know it seems to good to be true but it truly isnt... I bough them at liquidation the exterior packaging was opened causing them to become technically “open box” they have never been used on a motherboard and the open box reduces the value unfortunately... I’ll guarantee you that you won’t find another one at this price as I’m trying to flip them quickly.."

This auction was posted 3 days ago.

[Juraj]

Always ask for personalized photo when in doubt, always pay with PayPal for cash-back security, but quite often these deals are true. 30-40perc. discount isn't unheard of on unboxed, opened HW items.
That's why I am always looking up for deals :- ).

In fact, the deal has to be at least 30perc. +/- better as you can't do tax write-off (22perc. for me) of second-hand items from sites like these (the sellers are rarely tax registered).

The good thing with Threadripper is it wouldn't even matter if it was used, there is no way to run it at high-voltage or damage the pins (as they are on board :- ). Check the deal thoroughly and if it appears safe, go for it.

BTW the box is terrible in fact, when my brand new 2990WX arrived from HW e-shop, the chip was floating inside that massive box because it doesn't really hold it tight. I almost got heart attack when I saw it.

[michaltimko]

Going to get set of 64gb ram and as far as i know, Zen works "best" with b-die .

Its worth throwing 300eur more for 3200 CL14 just solely for 3ds max and rendering purposes compared to 3200 CL16 ? Did some research but most of it is comparison in games.

btw : found B-die finder https://benzhaomin.github.io/bdiefinder/

[Juraj]

I would say no, but would be interesting if you changed the timings only in bios and tested. It's not so much the price alone, but you could buy 128GB set of the cheaper one almost.

[michaltimko]

Just bought F4-3000C14Q-64GVK (b-die) for 400e (bazos).

They worked out straight away with just with XMP enabled and  they are running at 3000/14. I wasnt able to OC my old set, it was running at 2666/16 even with CL15 specs.

There is zero difference compared to my old 32GB set (2666/15) in CB R20 and Corona benchmark is slightly faster (47s vs 43s).

Aida screens if someone is interested

3000/14 https://bit.ly/2uXQBik
2666/16 https://bit.ly/2G27pd5

[Juraj]

I vaguely remember testing my 3000 CL15 kit at CL18 as that was XMP2 profile and I don't think it did perceivable difference to a point that frequency did. No one quote me on that though...it was half year ago.

Nice kit, I saw it there too on Bazos browsing :- ). This G-Skill set was there for a while.  There was actually even 2990WX for 1200 euros, I was watching that one just for fun (waiting for TR3 instead) and eventually it got bought.
Always suggest browsing it.

[jamesdowling]

Jumping back in the thread quickly, I came across a new aio/hybrid LC from Alphacool and wondered if anyone had it in their system? you have to buy a separate TR4 mount so I was wondering if it covered the entire processor?

https://www.alphacool.com/eisbaer-extreme-280-black-edition-cpu-aio

Its pretty expensive (£260) but the reviews sound really good for the 18core i9. I moved into a shared office space and the fan noise has been causing some issues for someone (really wasn't that bad lol) so I have had to run my 2990wx stock 250w which is not ideal.

[Juraj]

It won't cover the die, mounting plate is only so the screws would reach. It also wouldn't be that silent despite what reviews say, those fans can reach 48dB for full performance, that's jet engine coupled it would be on top of the case.

AIOs aren't silent by default, they're silent if you decide to run it at <250W as well, or they're decently loud but can help you reach higher overclock. To get both at same time, you have to go with much more overbuilt custom loop.
I think lot of hardware reviewers have very relative standards when writing what they consider "silent", but decibels don't lie.

I would still look only at TR4 dedicated AIOs, nothing else.

I can empathize with people who are annoyed by the buzzing, I recently even installed accoustic foam underneath table and against the wall to dim the noise pitch into more tolerable range. And we run our workstations extremely silent by most standard with Sonos constantly playing something but still.

[jamesdowling]

Ah ok thats a shame, theres no way im paying that much if it doesnt cover the entire CPU. The sound is almost silent now so it should be fine with office relations, It's actually the motherboard that seems to be the noisy part now.

Maybe once TR3 comes out there will be a better AIO solution.

[Juraj]

I still see some horror stories from Liqtech II on AMD reddit, so I don't really know what to actually suggest.

[michaltimko]

As i said in my previous post, my CB score didnt changed BUT i noticed that with new RAM modules, clock is capped at 3.0 while rendering. Honestly, i dont know if i had same situation with my old mem set but as far as i know, this cpu can hit 3.3-3.4 at stock speeds so i was curious whats happening. Went to bios, turned off XMP profile and boom, cores are peaking up to 3.4 and my CB score (R20) went from 10 900 to 11 440. Thats rougly 5% difference. 5% is like +- 2.5-3min difference while doing 1hour render. Doesnt matter much for me but im curious if its worth to run on 3000mhz/cl14 then if only noticable difference is lower CB score.

Im not into overclocking that much, i have basic knowledge but any ideas whats happening ? They are running now at 2133/CL15. If i enable XMP back, cores are capped at 3.0 again. Also, while rendering, my PPT is at 100% limit (250w). I think it wasnt red before but again, wasnt paying that much attention to it before.

EDIT : Apparently, only Cinebench is hitting 100% PPT while peak speed is always 3.3ghz. I can hit 3.4ghz peak speed while rendering one of my scenes and PPT is at 88% in corona.  If i enable XMP its back on 3.0ghz max and PPT is 100% again even in Corona.

This is kinda weird if you ask me.

[Juraj]

You could try manually inputting all the timings and clock for memory without having XMP set it for you (it sets all sort of other stuff as well, potentially overriding your overclock/power settings).

AVX code is still affecting AMD architecture in Corona, so there will never be absolute parity with something like Cinebench or Vray, I've asked devs multiple times about this and there is no way they can get rid of it due to their compiler.
3.3-3.4 +/- is the correct all-core speed roughly for 250W ceiling/default settings.

I had all sorts of odd shanenigans where the Spectre hot-fixes bundled with regular Windows updates (every 3 months +/-) would cap the 2990WX clock at 3.0 for 250W all-core due to affecting power settings. But outside of that, no issue with memory clock/timings. This sounds like XMP-profile/AVX-turbo issue.

[michaltimko]

You could try manually inputting all the timings and clock for memory without having XMP set it for you (it sets all sort of other stuff as well, potentially overriding your overclock/power settings).

AVX code is still affecting AMD architecture in Corona, so there will never be absolute parity with something like Cinebench or Vray, I've asked devs multiple times about this and there is no way they can get rid of it due to their compiler.
3.3-3.4 +/- is the correct all-core speed roughly for 250W ceiling/default settings.

I had all sorts of odd shanenigans where the Spectre hot-fixes bundled with regular Windows updates (every 3 months +/-) would cap the 2990WX clock at 3.0 for 250W all-core due to affecting power settings. But outside of that, no issue with memory clock/timings. This sounds like XMP-profile/AVX-turbo issue.

Yea, shortly after my post i set frequency to 2933 manually and put 14/14/14/34 while voltage remained at auto (1.35) and im getting 1480-1500 points now, so you are right, its something wrong with XMP profile. PPT is hitting 100% again while rendering in Corona but at least, CB score is same. I think i hit ceiling with memory and stock CPU clock.

 Also noticed that if i set offset to -0.125mv like before, it cuts my score by 200 points which wasnt the case before with old memory set. Undervolting wasnt affecting performance but now it does. However, temp is sitting at 58-59C now which is okay i guess (was 49-51 with undervolting).

My decision now is all about silent + cooler PC with little performance drop vs stock voltage, little perfomance boost but noisy case. 58-59C is that stupid treshold where fans are starting to blow up quite a lot. Or even setting everything to default, i dont really feel any performance gain. At 2133mhz clock, CPU runs cooler and i cant really see any difference between 3000 and 2133 except aida benchmark

Screen : https://bit.ly/2VHezdt .