Scratching the upgrade itch

[Bones]

I'm thinking about doing a build based on TR, probrably the low to mid-tier version of TR.
Ryzen is also a possibility.

As for expected useage, there isn't any real concern for gaming performance because I don't game, instead I do things like video rendering, file related stuff and the like and a TR should serve that purpose well with Ryzen being capable too.
Some overclocking is an eventuality but nothing of immediate concern with this.

My real question(s) are what board(s) should I consider?

Understand I'm not talking about anything sub-par or even mid-tier so much, I usually go for the good stuff when doing a build but there are some blankspots with the boards TR/Ryzen would use related to quality of these boards.

ATM I'm thinking either an Asus Crosshair Hero or perhaps an ASRock Tachi based setup for TR, I've heard alot of good things about the Tachi boards but don't know if the latest TR versions are up to this rep or not. I've already heard that the Extreme version of the Crosshair is buggy/crap so I'm looking the other way unless someone can disprove it.

The ones for Ryzen I'm less clear on related to all this.

I'll go ahead and say anything MSI is all but out on this due to what I've experienced with the brand before (Very prone to VRM failures and extreme VDroop issues due to subpar quality components like Nikos MOSFETS being used for such) BUT if there is something they make that's isn't comprised of "El-Cheapo" components (Like Nikos or something just as bad - Inferior quality components) I'll at least take a look at it.

Not looking to go with a monster amount of cores because that would be a bit overkill for my needs, that's why I'm along the lines of the low to mid-tier TR chips with Ryzen as a possibility here.

I'll definitely be looking at some B-die sticks, that's one area I don't know much about (Brandname and compatability-wise with DDR4) but do know to look for something with the lower CAS 14 or 15 timings and not 100% sure how much I'd really need, ATM I"m thinking 32GB's total but can go for more if it's best to if doing a TR build.
Just want to know what would be good for anything suggested and of course, clock up if I really want them to at some point.

May also grab a a new GPU too, my current card (GTX 970) is doing fine but looking for down the road viability too.

And please - No Pro-Intel suggestions, that's not what I'm asking for and frankly I'm running one of those right now anyway.

Suggestions?
I'll go ahead and say thanks in advance guys.

 

[Caring1]

I've only heard good things about the Asrock Taichi boards, so I am biased towards them.
The newer version of them has improved power delivery and a slightly different BIOS, and that is basically the only difference from what I have heard.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

If I were seriously considering a TR rig, I’d wait to see what AMD announces in the middle of this year. The current 4 CCX TRs have higher latency due to memory sharing that TR 2 should resolve with the chiplet design. I suppose if you keep to the 2950X or 2920X, you won’t have that compromise as each CCX gets a dual channel memory bank.

 

[AmioriK]

I just wanted to say I've owned 4 MSI Ryzen mobos:
X470 pro carbon
X370 sli plus
B350 pc mate
B350 mortar

All of them except the mortar had excellent voltage regulation. I'm taking less than 20mv droop or fluctuations on vcore, when read off the CPU voltage sensor (not the mobo's) . Even the pc mate took my 1800x to 4.1 @ 1.42v no issues, but on a bench table with fan on vrm heatsink

That said the mortar does have trash voltage regulation, and god-awful vdroop, it's like 100mv and LLC does jack to stop it. Pc on that board is impossible without massive vcore overshoot just to get it stable under load. But I'm using that very board in one of my 24/7 crunchers with a stock 1700 and it's been fine lol.

Anyway, I love Asrock ATM and I've got a friend who will swear by the taichi (he has the x370). My b450 pro4 is a solid board too, handling 2700x with near 24/7 crunching so the quality is there even on budget boards.

One board I love, for TR, though, is the Gigabyte Designaire best looking board ever. But I know jack s*** about whether it's decent of not so I'll stop at just saying it's the prettiest mobo I ever saw lol.

3200 c14 Sammy bdie is hands down best ram for Zen. Can't go wrong with it honestly. Expensive though.

1920X are suuuuupet cheap ATM it's mental value for rendering, but as @Darmok N Jalad says, it might be worth waiting for Zen2 TR, or AM4. That will support up to 16 Zen2 cores

 

[Bones]

Thanks guys - Some good info here and will look into it for sure.

I've noticed Gigabyte boards aside from the Aorus Xtreeme don't have the slot I'd need for my soundcard (PCIe 2.0 x1), just the 4 PCI-E slots and that's it aside from the m.2 slots/covers.
Speaking of MSI, the MEG Creation X399 looks excellent BUT again, I'm weary of MSI for the reasons given and the past experiences I've had with the brand.

On the Ryzen side of things The Crosshair VI/VII Hero X470 looks good and the Tachi for Ryzen looks good too. I guess the biggest ting for me to do is decide whether I'll have a Ryzen or TR for this build, although Ryzen is cheaper to get and would be fine the TR seems more suited for my future needs based on long-term viability expectations.

The suggestion to wait and see what July 7th brings is another way to go too.

 

[AmioriK]

If you need tons of I/O: TR is the way to go. You can fill up the lanes with M.2 drives, running native gen3 4x, and still have enough left for full 16x on multiple graphics cards. Next year we could be looking at up to maybe 48 or more cores on the X399 platform. That upgradability (should you ever need the cores) plus the bucket load of CPU PCIe lanes is excellent for a more workstation oriented rig.

I have no experience with the TR boards so I can't offer my 2 cents here unfortunately. But Asrock seems solid across the board, forgive the pun.

I did hear bad things about bios support on the old Asus Zenith's, not sure if they fixed that though.

 

[notb]

You should really rethink this approach. Does your video workflow benefit from so many cores?
Even if you're afraid of Intel, you still have some more cost-effective choices from AMD.

Out of pure curiosity, what does "file related stuff and the like" mean?

 

[Bones]

No, I ain't sceered of Inhell at all, got several of those around if you must know.
I simply want an AMD this time around.

Yep - Ryzen would be cheaper to invest into and note I haven't ruled out going Ryzen this time, it's certainly possible to do so.

Files and stuff can mean most anything from video rendering, transferring large files between archival drives, zipping, unzipping large(er) files..... I want something that's not going to take all day getting it done yet still allow me to use the machine during all this.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Just wait for the 7 nm's.

 

[notb]

Yep - Ryzen would be cheaper to invest into and note I haven't ruled out going Ryzen this time, it's certainly possible to do so.

Video editing doesn't benefit from high core count. At the moment 9900K is among the fastest CPUs for mainstream video editing software.
If AMD manages to improve single-thread performance, look for an optimal Ryzen 3.

Files and stuff can mean most anything from video rendering, transferring large files between archival drives, zipping, unzipping large(er) files.....

No offense but what you've said here looks quite funny. ;-)
You copy, you compress... It's not really what people buy workstations for.

But sure... if you're compressing 24/7, a faster CPU will surely let you process more data...

I want something that's not going to take all day getting it done yet still allow me to use the machine during all this.

So maybe a decent task scheduler instead of more hardware?

 

[Hockster]

I know you said no Intel, but depending on what program you're rendering with Intel may be the way to go.

 

[Bones]

I appreciate the efforts to be helpful but please base suggestions on an AMD build as requested in the opening post.

 

[eidairaman1]

I know you said no Intel, but depending on what program you're rendering with Intel may be the way to go.

Yup when software uses a intel compiler, go figure...

 

[notb]

Yup when software uses a intel compiler, go figure...

You can't blame software makers for using a compiler provided by a company that makes 90% of CPUs (and pretty much 100% of CPUs Adobe clients use). In fact, isn't this the way they should work? Optimize their software for hardware, not throw a tantrum?

Intel makes an excellent C++ compiler, but also the best Python distribution at the moment. Nvidia is dominating GPGPU with CUDA.
This is something AMD should learn from the larger competitors. Find a mature market or a niche that will grow, make it dependent on their CPUs and collect the cash. Apart from obvious domination when you make good products, this also supports sales when you don't.

I appreciate the efforts to be helpful but please base suggestions on an AMD build as requested in the opening post.

Well fine. But you should have just written that you want to buy a big ass AMD CPU. You would get recommendations about big ass AMD CPUs.
Once you make up a story of how you edit video and compress files, it's inevitable that someone will suggest a different route. ;-)

Either way, TR seems like an awful choice at the moment. And I'm not saying this because I'm an Intel HEDT and AMD TR hater, but because at this very moment we have a boost of CPU evolution and consumer platforms catch up quickly.
Once this ends and consumer CPUs are limited to 16 cores for another decade, going HEDT will make sense once again (assuming you want more than 16 cores, obviously).

 

[Bones]

@Hockster : Thank you for the video and taking time to post. I do understand you're just trying to help but again, I really want to do an AMD based build this time.
Carry on guys........ I am.

 

[95Viper]

Hi There, everyone.
Please, Keep on Topic and discuss with civility, like the fine people you are.
And, do not demean/insult your fellow members.

Thank You and have a good conversation.

 

[xtreemchaos]

bones, goodluck buddy, i find the 2700x makes my dreams come true ,i carnt find any neg with the chip,all i can say is get fast ram if you can..

 

[Bones]

Thanks man, I've already decided IF I wind up going Ryzen the X2700 would be the chip I'd go for.
Still some evaluating to do but I'll get it sorted before all is done.

ATM it does look like TR is the way for me to go, a 2950X looks to be on target for what I'm planning. Not too much on core count, is within the 180W envelope and it's base speed is good enough.
As for RAM I'm thinking 64GB's is the target I'm looking for as well. Right now I know where I can get some good quality sticks (a set of 2x 8GB sticks) that's B-die for about $100 per set. These are a higher binned set related to PC rating so the timings won't be that tight but would still work - Biggest thing I'd have to check is compatability before buying. Already have a set of them BTW and they do work just fine in my Intel stuff.

 

[xtreemchaos]

im using 32gb Corsair Vengeance RGB CMR16GX4M2C3000C15 @ 3400 on this Aorus board im using, its not the fastest but gets the job done, i think i could get 3600 if i lose the timing a bit.

 

[Bones]

The sticks I'm referring to are made by Adata and the set of them I have already has been good.
I do however plan on grabbing a set or two of the PC3200 sticks anyway for my other DDR4 systems.

Right now the Zenith Extreme Alpha X399 is the leading consideration, the MEG Creation being second and after checking out some reviews done on each that's what I came up with. Of course the Alpha IS the most expensive one but I'd rather spend a little more once than have to buy twice over the next 5 years which is the planned time I want to run it as a minimum, perhaps longer if it's still viable by then. That's why I'm looking to over-spec it to an extent.

EDIT:
May also just wait until the new 3000 series chips comes out and go from there. If I see what I have to spend on it disappearing I'll go ahead and pull the trigger, if not I can keep that option open. July 7th is a ways off so in truth I don't have to be in a rush except for the reason about the funds for it hanging around that long.

 

[phill]

I'm thinking about doing a build based on TR, probrably the low to mid-tier version of TR.
Ryzen is also a possibility.

As for expected useage, there isn't any real concern for gaming performance because I don't game, instead I do things like video rendering, file related stuff and the like and a TR should serve that purpose well with Ryzen being capable too.
Some overclocking is an eventuality but nothing of immediate concern with this.

My real question(s) are what board(s) should I consider?

Understand I'm not talking about anything sub-par or even mid-tier so much, I usually go for the good stuff when doing a build but there are some blankspots with the boards TR/Ryzen would use related to quality of these boards.

ATM I'm thinking either an Asus Crosshair Hero or perhaps an ASRock Tachi based setup for TR, I've heard alot of good things about the Tachi boards but don't know if the latest TR versions are up to this rep or not. I've already heard that the Extreme version of the Crosshair is buggy/crap so I'm looking the other way unless someone can disprove it.

The ones for Ryzen I'm less clear on related to all this.

I'll go ahead and say anything MSI is all but out on this due to what I've experienced with the brand before (Very prone to VRM failures and extreme VDroop issues due to subpar quality components like Nikos MOSFETS being used for such) BUT if there is something they make that's isn't comprised of "El-Cheapo" components (Like Nikos or something just as bad - Inferior quality components) I'll at least take a look at it.

Not looking to go with a monster amount of cores because that would be a bit overkill for my needs, that's why I'm along the lines of the low to mid-tier TR chips with Ryzen as a possibility here.

I'll definitely be looking at some B-die sticks, that's one area I don't know much about (Brandname and compatability-wise with DDR4) but do know to look for something with the lower CAS 14 or 15 timings and not 100% sure how much I'd really need, ATM I"m thinking 32GB's total but can go for more if it's best to if doing a TR build.
Just want to know what would be good for anything suggested and of course, clock up if I really want them to at some point.

May also grab a a new GPU too, my current card (GTX 970) is doing fine but looking for down the road viability too.

And please - No Pro-Intel suggestions, that's not what I'm asking for and frankly I'm running one of those right now anyway.

Suggestions?
I'll go ahead and say thanks in advance guys.

A man after my own heart

Never see the point in skimping on things, it'll just cost you more in the long term

I've grabbed a few Ryzen setups recently, so very impressed with them. I'm only on the AM4 CPUs, so 1700X's, I understand that you'd want more cores for work so I can't really comment too much on that but very impressed with them as already mentioned..
I'm using the Crosshair Hero 6's (both with and without Wi-Fi) and very impressed, temps, power draw, the lot is amazing.
I was toying with the idea of a Asrock Tachi as well, I've read nothing but great things but my mate was using a Crosshair board and well, as I had the first 5 boards, I decided to give the later ones a try.

I'm yet to start tweaking anything in the system yet, I'm just settling it in with a load of Crunching at the moment and then I'll go from there.

What sort of programs do you use (for work I guess?) as I have a mate I talk to who does 3D rendering and animation for work (own business) so I can always find out from him about his Threadripper setup if that might help?

Was interested in the post so I hope I've answered some questions and helped!

 

[Bones]

Thanks Phil - Sometimes I do video rendering (Youtube stuff) and working with large/larger files, some of this being said video files.
I also fold (Didn't think to mention that before - My fault) so a TR might be useful for that too folding alongside my GPU.

Although I won't be using it for such all the time I would like the capability to be there, that's why I'm looking at a TR, plus for the long term reasons in my last.

As said Ryzen hasn't been ruled out and if it looks that a Ryzen could do it, that would be great because it's cheaper to get but at the same time I don't want to get caught short later on.

 

[phill]

I like to try and help wherever I can

Folding with FAH or WCG? I don't think either make masses of difference but WCG works better in Linux than Windows, but every little helps

I know this might be a bit of a mad thing to say, but if you went to Ryzen, what about getting two systems? I just wondered if it was something that might have been a possibility If there's anything that you'd like me to test out on my setups let me know, I'll do my best to help were possible
Have you got any sort of price in mind for what you'd like to do?

 

[Bones]

I do FAH for folding.
I really don't have a use for two systems, the wife will be getting this one. Obviously the new is for me with the old FM2+ setup currently in hers being retired from DD duty.
I don't really have a target price in mind right now, it's gonna cost what it's gonna cost to make it like I want and I'm OK with that.

Helps that all I really need are the core components, don't have to buy another case, any drives, PSU, any optical/disk drives..... All that I'm set for.

The GTX 970 is doing fine, that is one area I'm looking at but it's not an actual requirement since I don't game.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

don't have to buy another case, any drives

Not even a NVME drive for that video data? (a quick trip to PCPartpicker puts you in the $2500 range for TR)

2x 8GB sticks

IMHO, move to 16 GB sticks for this system.