My budge is set on the threadripper pro 3955wx and it’s ASUS SAGE motherboard and match the other parts with it. I’m future proofing as best as I can. Gaming will be secondary but I will be running high end CADD programs and rendering. One GC for now. I’ve watched L1s vids about TR Pro but can’t go that big yet. And I don’t plan on overclocking anything. Just plug and work. So with the idea of expanding to a stronger TR Pro later, how should I plan this build…given that it’s only 16 cores.
Like if you will need massive amounts of RAM installed later on ?
Or that you CAN expand this down the road as needed.
The PRO variant is the one that has 8 memory channels so best to do a minimum of 8 DIMM’s to match this.
What you are wanting to to confirm of course is what that minimum amount of RAM will be as this will start to add up once you go to those higher capacity modules.
It will be down the road as needed. From what you’re saying is if I were to use any quantity of RAM at all, I should go ahead and fill up all slots?
I’m trying to navigate between buy once/cry once and future expansion. I may want/need to get the bigger CPU/GPU. Wait a min…who am I kidding…of course I want a bigger CPU/GPU.
But GPU is going to hurt. Maybe it wont be a 3090.
Researching I found that if I want 2nd 3090 in the future, I should have a 1600w PS.
I also will need a case to give myself some room.
Anyway, help is always appreciated and the hunt is on.
You don’t HAVE to fill all 8 slots but you won’t get full 8 channel memory performance without it.
If you want to be able to expand, fill 4 slots. You’ll still get quad channel bandwidth which is still 2x normal desktop memory performance and in line with regular threadripper.
It’s not like performance will be half either. AMD CPUs have large caches on them.
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^^ This, it’s up to you how much memory bandwidth you want.
I personally would just go for a standard non-PRO Threadripper myself but if you are going with the PRO version then why not max the memory bandwidth to begin with.
It’s like getting a crated V8 Big Block and putting a two-barrel carb on it 
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Not quite. Quad channel is still way more bandwidth than most people need. 8 channel is like getting a big block and paying big block fuel to run to the shops.
For most people.
Don’t forget quad channel ddr3 was more bandwidth than most people needed just a few years ago, and dual channel ddr4 is about that fast. Never mind even quad channel.
8 channel in a workstation is mostly about just re purposing Epyc processors with no changes. There may be some extreme edge case where it makes a difference for workstation but I very much doubt cad, rendering or gaming will tax even quad channel.
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OK, I will let you have that one
I can say however that my current 2950X does quite nicely on quad-channel DDR2666 RAM modules.
Prices are only going up, unfortunately. So, as always, it comes down to what I can afford right now. If I’m going to get RAM, might as well fill it up.
Regarding available bandwidth, there’s a good discussion over at Lenovo p620 forum about limitations when using a 12 or 16 core TR Pro:
Threadripper Pro Memory Bandwidth
Has to do with the number of 8-core CCD’s, and the way the memory channels are hooked up. Question was whether the 3955wx only has two physical CCD’s, and does this reduce the effective bandwidth to 4-channel speed?
Notice the the big jump in price between the 2 CCD 3955wx and the 4 CCD 3975wx.
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I appreciate this as it helps me adjust my budget. Painfully, though.
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