First the initial build list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/snfRZf I started in other thread on a simple Ryzen build, but my desire for VFIO and virtualization made me realize I may be better off jumping into a Threadripper system for a workstation. I do have some questions for a build based on a 1900X chip for now. I may update it to a 2950X when prices on that drop a bit but we will see if I need that much headroom. At any rate the basic board I have chosen until I have a compelling reason to change is a Gigabyte X399 Aorus Pro.
My initial ram choice is a G.Skill Ripjaw V series 64gb kit (4x16) DDR4-3200 CL16. I do note that Threadripper does support ECC ram but from what I have seen on pcpartpicker.com I didn’t really find any compatible sets. My initial thoughts are to start at 64 gigs of ram in the machine to give me plenty of room for running a couple of VMs aat the same time.
Is it that the ECC ram in DDR4 is particularly hard to come by now? From what I have read the Gigabyte board supports ECC ram unless I am reading something wrong. Is ECC better for the host system on a VM workstation in Threadripper?
Lastly the case I plan to use is a Fractal Design Meshify C Black ATX High-Airflow Compact Dark Tint Tempered Glass Window Mid Tower Computer Case, FD-CA-MESH-C-BKO-TG. The version on the list is the closed I could find but it is what I plan to use since the Egg had a flash sale last night that caused me to bite and it looked quite capable. I have seen case reviews that make me think it will be a great set up for a air cooled box but if I a nuts to fit this in there for some reason shout out folks.
I would recommend to go with a 12 core 1920X if you want VMs, as 8 cores will very likely not be enough very fast if you have a couple of VMs running.
ECC RAM is not that hard to come by, but it may very well not be listed in PCPartPicker as the ECC support isn’t always shown very good on the motherboards for Ryzen.
As memory on 1st gen Ryzen was flackey enough already I wouldn’t go with 3200 CL16 as that is a random loot box of may work, may not. Try to find a 3200 CL14 kit those are more than likely Samsung b-die and those are very very likely to work on 1st gen Ryzen.
I use the Dark Rock Pro TR4 for a 24 core 3rd gen Threadripper and it holds it at a “non throttling” temperature and that in a case that is not made for such a high temperature beast.
Your Meshify C will do a great job with cooling if you run decent fans in it.
I sadly can’t mention anything about ECC compaitbility with your motherboard and I haven’t found a video mentioning it, it should be possible that it does “use” the ECC capability of the RAM.
But all in all if you have the money I woudln’t go with a 1st or 2nd gen Threadripper as it is a dead platform in the end and go with 3rd gen.
Thanks, but it looks as much as I would like to go with a Threadripper then realistically its outside the budget I made for myself with these upgrades. On the plus side I did finally find a regular Ryzen build based on Gigabyte X570 AORUS PRO that should work fine for the VFIO I want to do even if I have to drop into an LTS kernal for a bit to do it. I will pair that with a Ryzen 9 3900x.
For now I will just use one NVME for the Host OS the other as an LVM for the guest systems. I will also toss an existing EGVA GTX 750 Ti 2gb Card I have now.
Unless I hear a compelling reason otherwise it’s the solution I think I will go with.
Just a little update. I did build the new box and it’s a rather nice glorious R9 3900x with 64gb of ram and while the Gfx card is only a GTX 1660 Super for now (I want to see what the upcoming AMD offering is before deciding on more of an upgrade). It was an interesting experience getting my hands into some real hardware again.
I will say that the be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler could have been chosen better by me. I ended up grabbing a Gigabyte Aoras Master x570 board and that particular cooler is ok as long as you are ok only using 2 ram slots. I should have gone with their slightly smaller version and that is on me for not checking. I would also recommend swapping out your stock cooler brackets before you mount the board as doing that in the case was something of a challenge.
Speaking of which I did run into one little thing the board wants in addition to the usual 24 pin plug 2x 8pin power plugs and I have yet to see a power supply that actually has that. I ended up using a Seasonic Focus GM-650, 650W 80+ Gold PSU and it only has 1 of the right power plugs. So far the system is nice and cool and stable but I am not overclocking anything at this point and in fact I am not even using the built in wifi the board comes with so I am hoping that won’t me too much of an issue.
Also that Meshify C case is nice but I don’t particularly care for how the glass panel mounts it just seems that its a break waiting to happen but that could just be my bias on such things too. Everything fit but it was rather tight. The cable management of the case was excellent however and very well designed even though I am not the uber cable tying guru I was more than satisfied with how it came out.
So far its whisper quiet and from what I can tell so far is running with 54c on the CPU, 37c on the motherboard, 30c on the NVME Drives and 49c on the GPU at idle. Running the Heaven Benchmark with a windowed 2560x1080 4xAA running the CPU jumps to 59/60C and the GPU up to 54c and I find that entirely acceptable with not even ramping up the fans one bit.
At any rate I thank everyone for the feedback and suggestions I have gotten.