EPYC for workstation

Hi All,

Does building a workstation with EPYC make sense or going for Treadripper pro make sense.

Also the latest Gen EPYC 96 core processor’s are getting for 3-4 grand on ebay and they are claiming they are new and brought directly from AMD so they are cheaper.

@wendell Does it make sense to get them from ebay ? Here is the link

Could you please advise and also wanted to ask if this is right place but does Level1 build custom computers for users like me and how much do you guys charge. I want to get into a call with you guys.

Thanks

The description explains that the item is a “Production-Candidate unit (equivalent of ES/QS)”.

So, this is sold at a discounted price because it’s not a production unit. YMMV.

The TR Pro would only get you Zen 3. The Epyc Genoa cpu will get you Zen 4. The only reason to look at the TR Pro cpus is their high clock speed advantages over Zen 3 Epyc’s. The Epyc Genoa Zen 4 cpus match or exceed the clock speeds of the TR Pro cpus. So you get server grade stability and capabilities with the clocks of TR Pro. I’d go for the Genoa QS parts to be forward looking.

Ahh Okay guys make sense. Thank you.

The Zen 4 Genoa cpus are much higher effiiciency. They use much less wattage per core than Zen 3. You can power limit them to 50% of spec and still keep the same clocks as flat out with marginal loss of performance.

Okay thank you.

But does this mean that it would give any issues later point of time. I mean buying prod candidates.

Or is it okay to buy these? And also if I am budget constrained then it am thinking for going for a used 7xxx series CPU as well.

My build must be able to handle atleast 4 6000ADA at some point of time but also looking for a CPU that could run continuously without shutting down time or heating issues.

But also thinking about this one:

Which is one generation old, but note sure if thats a good decision either.

There is nothing wrong with Milan generation. I run a 7713 myself. Wish I had found a better deal at the time for one of the higher clocking OEM parts like a 7B13 or a 7T83. My base clock is only 2 Ghz but if I don’t load it too heavily I can get the cores to run around 2.6-2.9Ghz.

The Genoa parts would be running closer to 4Ghz.

If you are just looking for a gpu host, then just about any generation of cpus (other than Naples) would be sufficient as long as it has enough cores to feed the gpus along with enough memory.

Most of the AMD Epyc motherboard support full X16 slot widths at standard 2 slot spacing. I’ve run 4 two slot gpus before on my Rome motherboard with no issues.

You would want Milan or Genoa generation motherboards and cpus to fully support your ADA gpus at Gen. 4 PCIE.

Get a Asrock Rack ROMED8-2T or SuperMicro H12SSL-NT motherboard along with that EPYC 7763 and that would be a sweet setup.

Or this 7B13 is available at a great price now.
eBay 7B13 64 core Epyc Milan cpu

2 Likes

I am paying attention here - excellent info!

Are you into water-cooling - OR only air-cooling the GPUs?

I’ve tried to always purchase EVGA Hybrid gpus but with them out of business now, I don’t have many options. That is how I could fit four two slot gpus on my Epyc hosts. Most have 3080 hybrids or water blocked cards with a couple of older 2080 Ti air cooled cards. This daily driver is still rocking three old 2080 hybrids.

When I purchased two 2080 Ti’s off a teammate I lost the ability to run 4 hybrid cards with the 3 slot 2080 Ti’s. I did pull a kludge on one one where I swapped out the I/0 plate from a 2-slot 2080 hybrid card so I could fit it in a 2-slot location on the bottom of the stack.

All my hosts are full custom cpu waterblocked. Two Epycs, a 7713 and a 7V12. Two 5950X and one new 7950X host.

Thanks for all the great inputs, I might go with the Milan now.

Having onboard audio (re: what you get with TR over Epyc) is also kinda nice!

While it’s nothing to write home about (really, it’s just ‘good enough for anyone other than audiophiles’ imo), I’ve had enough issues with audio devices that having it onboard is a fairly decent plus in my book lol

Other than that though… With todays prices? Epyc’s lookin friggin fantastic :drooling_face:

I’m really looking forward to seeing how the new Xeon W’s shake out efficiency-wise as well though, super interesting time to be building!

Since its preproduction, you have zero guarantees on anything, even basic compatibility. It potentially even worse situation than buying legitimate production cpu from random hw scrapping company.

If you buy this, you will be entirely on your own, unless seller offers support. What kind of support can they offer however, If original vendor offer none?

You can expect lower performance if its engineering sample, maybe board compatibility issues and zero guarantees or support from AMD.

IF its QC or EC as stated, than its not really AMD product and should not have ever been resold.

Look if you are adventurous , have a lot of scratch money and don’t mind wasting it along with some time, its definitely interesting project. For something like overkill homelab I mean.

If you plan on using this productively or worse, depending on this machine, go looking elsewhere. It way too risky for way too much money otherwise.

Just me 2cents, I got my 2x EPYC 9684x and the MZ73-LM0 Rev2 from ebay from tugm4470 and so far about 3 weeks in, everything is looking okay and checks out. Not going to lie, the shipping and assembly time were nerve wrecking since I couldn’t know if I got scammed or not until the system was operational.

2 Likes

I’m mad at you for pointing all this out lol. Makes me really want Zen 4. But the costs are killer compared to older options.

The Zen 4 cpus are actually really reasonable right now. Don’t know for how long though with crypto mining coming back.

But the high-end motherboards are still outrageously priced. Even bottom barrel Zen 4 capable boards are where the mid-level to high-end Zen 3 boards were priced.

I’m finding the same thing happening with the Epyc motherboards. The Zen 3 capable boards are too high priced compared to the functionally equivalent Zen 2 boards. But the used Epyc Rome and even Milan cpus are very reasonably priced. Just bought a 7v13 64 core Milan Epyc for less than what I paid for my opening day 7950X cpu.

But can we find a matching motherboard for Milan generation. I saw those but I was scared that may be don’t know how long these will work. And please tell how do you compare the speed to 5950x or 7950x. I know cores are way way higher but still.

Thanks guys for all the answers