5950X ---> Threadripper

Hardware Build a PC
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“Your topic is similar to…” esc X, “Welcome to Level1Techs Forums —” esc X, hmmmm, it’s interesting to me, I am not really good at much but I think it will be OK, maybe someone else wanting a threadripper would be interested, it matters because all this involves a lot of money and time and instead of building this thing I could be on the clock for one of my clients but then I wouldn’t learn as much or be able to repair it as easy in the future, I would like respectful polite helpful responses, OK others need to be able to fiiiiind it, got it, OK category?

Now for the actual post:
I haven’t done a build since 2005 and never fully recovered from throwing out my back the last time I tried to pick that one up (full tower Lian Li). As I type this there is an unopened AMD 5950X on my desk / bench, $602.00 and change out the door at Best Buy with a 60 day return policy. I already bought 10 motherboards and 5 more CPUs and stacks of RAM and PSUs and everything but it was all imaginary. I need a new machine so I can feel EXTREMELY superior to 99% of the people I meet on the bricks (and possibly some of you here), and maybe some video editing, for fun, yea I got a YouTube channel and I want to be famous too.

Praise, admiration, and total domination are my ultimate goals, in Donkey Kong. My new wife, 18.8 years my junior, Dani B, asked the other night, “how much will the whole system cost”, not that she really even cares, but maybe she is concerned about the future, some, when I stated $1,500.00 to $3,500.00 just for the processor, she didn’t bat an eye, yea I married an amazing woman. The word Threadripper just has this sort of dangerous, crazy, out of control sound to it, and now I want one, the question is…drum roll please…surprise…which one and for how much??

What am I going to do with a 24 core to 32 core Threadripper? I already told you most of it, but, I have no idea really, I will find things, and with all that being said, I do like money, don’t love it, but I like it, and I don’t enjoy squandering it or wasting it if possible. What’s better than a Threadripper, well the PRO of course!!! Maybe the 5000 series isn’t out yet, and the 2000 series is too old, so I am looking at the 3000 series, perhaps the 3975WX. So, now that you have invested so heavily with me here, and I do seriously appreciate it, by reading all of this, time you will never get back at all, maybe, or maybe not, which exact Threadripper Pro, or perhaps basic Threadripper, would YOU buy and why, or should I buy, and why??

I would like to maybe spend about $1000.00 to $1,200.00 on the GPU, and the RAM will start out at 64G, but I want that 256G in the future maybe, or maybe even 512G so I can REALLY brag!!! Go easy here please, my brain is still trying to wrap around this website, all the rules and regs, your YouTube channel, and all the data and info…of which there seems to be vast oceans of. Thank you very much, I need the system up and running ASAP, I have a low self esteem and need a boost, so please be timely with your reply if you plan on doing that. Threadripper or Threadripper Pro $1,500.00 to $3,500.00 and why, but hopefully no more than $2,500.00?? PV

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For bragging rights, go EPYC. Add a few A400’s from nVidia, 1 TB of ECC RAM, an 8TB NVMe drive from Corsair to have all the space and speed you need for whatever you’re gonna throw at it and you’re done. So is your bank account, btw :stuck_out_tongue:

More realistic: wait for AMD to actually launch their AM5 platform later this year. Ryzen 7000 has a promising spec sheet. Also not coming cheap though, but considerably less then an EPYC system.

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If you want bragging rights, the rumored Zen 4 96 Core / 188 threads EPYC CPU would hit the spot, to be released within a year. However, even the 16 core / 32 thread 5950X is overkill for most peoples needs, and the rumored 16 core / 32 thread 7950X will be even more monstrous than that.

Realistically speaking, unless you are into virtualization or building heavy software projects like the Linux kernel, 24+ cores are pretty much just a waste of money. You might as well just roll a few joints from $100 bills, at least that makes you high.

If you cannot wait, pair that 5950X with 128 GB of 3600 MHz CL16 RAM, a $1500 6950 XT, a 4 TB NVMe 4.0 SSD and a Gigabyte Aorus Master X570S motherboard. Then give that build to your wife and upgrade next year.

If you can wait, February next year looks like a really good time to be buying a PC right now.

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PulpViking: Not sure if you are looking, but I bought a new sealed Threadripper 3960X TR 24 core, and a Gigabyte Aorus Master TRX40 motherboard. I backed out of the deal because I found I wanted graphic card crunching power, not CPU.

I can offer some negotiation room if you are looking to purchase.

On Reddit:

-Phil

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I was aiming to go Threadripper with 24 cores but as nothing was announced. The new 7000 series does seem good if you game. The release is still a while away and more news may come.

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for an e-penis. and your willing to drop grands… wait a couple of months as amd is releasing a new architecture boost that across the board looks like a step change in performance.
much like going from core 2 to i series.
serious mate if your gonna drop that much scratch you dont want it to be out dated 3 months after you get it.
in this case in particular as the entire range on amd cpu’s is about to jump to a new platform and node shrink.

if we were half way through a cycle i would say go for what ever e-peen extension you need to satisfy your inadequacy’s :smiley:
but saying as new stuff could arrive in 6-12 weeks… my advice is wait.

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I weighed up threadripper vs. Ryzen 9 and its a no brainer for me.

For desktop use, there’s not a lot that makes use of even 16 cores, unless you’re planning to spin up a VM lab. in which case EPYC is probably more appropriate because you can stuff multiple terabytes of RAM in there.

So my vote is: don’t bother with threadripper.

Go 5950X as a max for the desktop and if you want more for VMs, etc. get an EPYC box to sit in a corner/other room/whatever for VM lab.

Where i am, i could build a 5900X plus EPYC for about the cost of a high end threadripper CPU - with no board, etc.

Threadripper really is a hard sell at the moment and its a LOT of money to dump into a desktop based system when very little will use it - and if you’re pushing a lot of VMs, etc. EPYC just makes more sense IMHO. More memory channels, more PCIe, lower price.

Unless you very specifically need the PCIe or memory capacity on Threadripper, a 5950X will likely out-perform it in most things at the moment. 8 core CCXs with unified cache, better IPC, better clocks.

You may well be about to blow a lot of money on something that will perform worse for you unless you have a very niche use case.

Also as above. New stuff is about to drop. If you must go higher end, wait.

Or spend the extra above Ryzen 5000 on something nice for the wife. :joy:

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That may be the case for TR Pro 5000 SKUs in the retail market, but all other new platforms are scheduled fall to winter this year. So pretty much half a year to go until AM5, Genoa and new Xeons hit the market. Right now it’s more of a calm before the storm situation where current and last-gen is still very pricey because of the lack of competition.
Threadripper 3000 still is a good product, but with 12-channel DDR5 on the horizon and PCIe 5.0 for everyone, in 2023 quad-channel DDR4 won’t be anything special although 64 lanes of PCIe4 will certainly age better than the rest.

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The next best thing is always around the corner, you’ll never buy a machine if you opt for that strategy :stuck_out_tongue:

You can buy an EPYC Milan right now if you want a Zen 3 with more than 16 cores.

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I do agree in general. Milan boards are really not that expensive in comparison and you can even get dual socket. But most people love the Threadripper for still being good for gaming due to the higher clock speeds compared to EPYC SKUs. It’s the “one CPU to cover all bases” approach that isn’t there for Ryzen or EPYC.

True. But as of today, we have some major changes happening soon. New boards, new CPU, new memory, new PCIe standard, probably more OCulink/miniSAS in Workstation boards. It’s just more than just going from 5800x to 5800x3D. For consumer boards it’s also the advent of “as much NVMe as you want”, ending prior pcie lane constrains.

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Definitely, but we really are at the end of the zen3 cycle.

I specifically bought a 5900 last month because of this, but hey, if you want the ultimate e-peen machine, right now isn’t the time unless you want the ultimate buyers remorse in a couple of months :smiley:

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If you plan on a lot of PCIe peripherals / GPUs to be attached, then Threadripper
If you plan on doing VM / IOMMU divvying, then Threadripper
If you plan on having future resilience*, then “Yes” #coresforsale
If you plan the rig, being [relatively] tame on power draw, then Ryzen 9
If you plan on crafting a tidy package [with a pretty bow], then Ryzen 9
…

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The past 3 days or so I have been in a tornado of moving vans, semi-trucks, storage units, dirt, grime, an upset wife (I blame her college education and mom mostly), and cash…gosh I love the moving business and plan to use the new system to help run it.

I read up on EPYC because of your reply (Extreme Performance Yield Computing??), I really appreciate it. Yea I agree, I could wipe out $10,000.00 on this but it’s just not necessary, hopefully. If I take the average of my 2 grandfathers and my dad, I have about 6 more years to live, so this may be the most powerful machine I ever build, literally, ha! Need to make out my will to secure a worthy owner of this beast after I am gone…:slight_smile:

TR Pro is faster than EPYC? I don’t know, but that name Threadripper sounds so cool. I AGREE 1TB RAM!!! Desktop Windows Manager is hammering my RAM and it seems my fresh install of Windows 11 is chomping through about 27%, I am so looking forward to running multiple OSs on the new machine, especially Ubuntu.

That Ryzen 7000 sounds incredible, with this 5950X sitting here, I feel like seeing if my local Best Buy has everything else I need and just putting it together so I can move off the laptop, then build the ThreadripperMechanizerDominatorMachine!! If CPU prices go up, I could possible sell the 5950X for more than I paid.

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I would say, if you are about to die, spend money on experiences, not material stuff. Get your wife pregnant, have some kids, go on a vacation on a cruise. Stuff like that.

As for computing, 5950x should be way faster than anything threadripper or epyc. A TR makes sense if you are going to use Gentoo though.

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Thank you for the reply, all of you here are great, I really appreciate it. 96 cores…WOW!!! I see, yes I am now certainly glad I bought this 5950X sitting here, for a secondary machine should I go forward with the TR which is sort of the plan now. Agreed, build out the 5950X, perhaps, use it as I build the Threadripper, then let her use it as I build her out a slightly less powerful machine, great idea. Maximum PC Magazine I picked up the other day June 2022 issue, uses the 5950X in the high end build at the back of the issue, they also explain how to build a water cooled rig with hard tubing, something I am going to do. I think I will buy the TR before next year actually, but I will take that into serious consideration.

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Thank you for replying with this! I think I have been looking at the exact model some, not so sure I want to go all the way to 32 cores. Your MB is a work of art, seriously very very nice!! WOW!! TRX40 AORUS MASTER (rev. 1.1) Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global] (https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/TRX40-AORUS-MASTER-rev-11#kf)

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Seriously mate
If you have a 5950x on hand today I’d build that and see how you go. You could even build a Ryzen 7000 to go with it next year and still have change left over from a threadripper build.

Terabytes of ram and tens of cores sound great but there really is a limited use case where you’ll see any benefit from it due to diminishing returns and the limited ability of most software to scale to the core counts available outside of serious business productivity workloads. For the stuff that can’t scale with core count, newer architecture will give you more performance.

I work with heaps of VMs for network simulation etc and my work machine at the Day job still an i7 6700 with 64 gigs and it gets by just fine for that. 8 or more cores for most non niche workloads is heaps. My home machine is a 5900x 12 core and it isn’t 3x more responsive doing what I do because both machines aren’t anywhere near fully pushed cpu wise.

THAT SAID

If this threadripper build will not financially interfere with anything else you want to spend your remaining time on then go nuts and build it rather than wonder what if.

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And sorry, to clarify - by “serious business productivity workloads” i don’t mean in the PCMARK business productivity suite (e.g., MS Office) type. :smiley:

I mean high end physics simulation, high end 3d rendering, etc. Workloads where being able to do 1-2x more work at 100% CPU load is actual real money or better decision making. More cores beyond 8 or thereabouts won’t make almost all single user workloads faster.

If you’re not doing any of that, and thinking “but i want to run some VMs!” then you’ll be surprised at just how far you can go in a home/lab environment given sufficient RAM (64-128 is a heap to exeriment with!) and SSD capacity. A lot of the recommended requirements for infrastructure servers are based on having thousands of end users connected. Not one, like a typical home lab :smiley:

Given your home/lab environment only has a handful of users (maybe just one) 95% of the time your VMs will be 99% idle. Unless you know you’re going to have many VMs doing a lot of heavy work… Zen3 based stuff may be faster than zen2 based threadripper.

Also… if you really are keen on playing with the VM stuff… clustering (i.e., multiple machines set up for failover, etc.) is something you could play with given say, 2 (or more) boxes instead of one big box.

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This actually made me desire a new build less. Given that I own a 6700k and have 16gb of RAM which sits and idles most of the time, I really would have no use for spending a bunch of money for a new build. Despite wanting to game at higher fps (still at 1080p though). For the one thing I’d use a VM here and there, my current build is more than enough. Not op and not topic related, but thanks for solving my indecision, lol. :smiley:

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Put it this way… even on my 2700x i’ve accidentally left a few home-lab server VMs running in the background while gaming before.

Didn’t notice (plenty of RAM).

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