I am preparing to do a Threadripper (PRO) 7000 build, and having 512 GB RAM is a requirement; preferably with the headroom to increase down the line.
Everywhere I look, there appears to be a heavy price premium on DDR5 ECC RDIMMs > 64GB. This means that to achieve 512 GB, I need to take the eight-channel TR Pro option. Spending more on the CPU/motherboard to save money on the RAM…
An impossible question perhaps, but does anyone think this situation likely to change at all in the near-term (< 3-6 months)?
I would give it around 60% likelyhood the situation will improve by end of Q1 next year.
Right now? If you can wait to fill all eight 512 GB slots, and start with only, say, 2 slots or so and populate the other 6 once prices come down, it would probably save you money down the line. Another option is to go non-ECC for a while and then do ECC swap later. I understand neither are really something you want to do, but putting it out there just to tick off two easy options that might help you save money short term.
The situation will improve at some point. Just not clear when.
Which is perfect. You need 512GB and you want to use all 8 channels anyway because bandwidth. So whats the problem?
There is some movement regarding non-binary capacities like 24GB and 96GB, not sure if RDIMMs have these options. But 128GB modules always have been ludicrously expensive.
edit: oh you are comparing TR and TR Pro. Well yeah…TR may have 8 slots and you could do 2DPC and get 512GB that way. Not sure if TR boards get 2DPC or 8 slots. Didn’t see the boards yet.
Yeah this sucks. So TR is 256GB 384GB for all intents and purposes. Unless you want to spend around 3-4x on LRDIMMs.
Keep in mind that lanes and memory channels are the reason why TR Pro is more expensive. The CPU is identical otherwise, although variety of SKUs differ.
edit: 96GB RDIMMs are reasonably priced, just checked. But with only 4 slots, that’s not 512GB.
Thinking out of the box here, not even sure if it’s at all feasible, but:
Can you make up for the missing RAM capacity by using a Gen5 NVMe drive either whole or in part as slower RAM/scratch-disk? IIRC Linux has a special FS for Flash drives? Might be an avenue worth exploring.
