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Here is my submission.
 
 
 

I used the official price. the concept is more important. for example in december I paid it € 837, now is € 780 the lowest price in my country.


 

the question we have to ask to ourselves is: if I finish my tasks in a 3% time less... can this yield $300? If the answer is no, there is no reason to buy a 7940x.
If you have now the 6700k... and you are about 3.5 times slower than 1950x, I suppose, can an icrease of 3.5 of speed be translated in a $999 + $500 (mobo) of earn? If the answer is no, 6700k it's good for your tasks, even if could seems slow compared to 1950x. No other words should be spent for this theme, now talk about motheboards.
I believe all X399 ASUS boards are good, simply ZENITH is awesome, I would go for asrock x399 professional gaming simply because a good AC card cannot costs the price difference, anything other is the same of zenith except VRM cooling, ZENITH is made for heavy overclockers. If you don't want 10GbE, asrock X399 taichi has the same specs of professional gaming except the $100 10Gbe card. In my country costs only €320, even €200 less than ZENITH.
 
 

agree with this
 
3% faster adds up fast 3% sooner on another job also
time is money either way

If you OC both I believe that the 7940x should be ahead nearly all of the time. However, if you don't want to OC, perhaps consider something along the lines of @Herman Mcpootis's build. The mobo VRM is weaker, as is the CPU cooler, but the CPU has 16 cores which will be more beneficial if you don't want to OC. 

That ASUS board is probably always worth it for that overkill VRM and VRM Heatsink, plus the 2 CPU 8 pin connections.

Gigabyte is one of the top brands next to ASrock, their X470 motherboard looks to be the only one with real VRM heatsinks. Aparently they have some of the better memory overclocking on AM4 as well.
 
 

I love the 1950x power, with the € 500 difference I bought a 2TB SATA SSD. I would buy it again.
 
I have the asus zenith, bad experience due to the faulty foxconn socket, they replaced it and is perfect, it's a little bit expensive. I will never buy gigabyte (may be a suicide), if you don't use wi-fi go for the asrock x399 professional gaming. the asrock wi-fi card is AC 433mbps, the baseline of 802.11 ac, bad choice for asrock. asus has a fantastic wi-fi card, even the useless 802.11ad card. I prefer the 10GbE card, that is awesome.

This is great, I would love to see the same from something like the 10 core i9 as a point of difference

I avoid front mounted rads to keep my two 980ti under 60 degree C and fans off; I am working off the theory that using the GPU fans less will make them last longer.
 
 
USD 1200 in India? Tax problems? Anyways, if not in a hurry, try to wait for a sale. He is somewhat correct about the initial problems being over part. Make sure (if possible) that they ship you a board with the latest BIOS if you are sporting NVMEs or planning a new RAID install on NVMEs or any RAID drives. See if they offer a CPU+mobo+memory bundle as a bundled offer is likely safest in terms of out of the box compatibility. I am personally using the Asrock X399 Fatality, and can vouch for the reliability of the board due to personal experience. I have yet to find good memory for it though as I am basically borrowing a pair of sticks from friends who help out with testing to try to find the right RAM. AMD Ryzen branded RAM is hard to find here.

Good luck!!

Not sure about your workloads, but are you certain you won't benefit from faster storage?

Also, not sure if it will be an issue, but the Aurous Gaming 7 has only one LAN port built in. The third slot looks like a cool PCIe 3.0 x16, but should be only a PCIe 2.0 x4 at best; don't be fooled! Make sure to turn off all RGB if you want to maximize power savings over long periods of usage.

Also, the Coolermaster 240L doesn't seem to come with the TR bracket out of the box (see here). May want to double check if the unit you are ordering comes with the bracket for free. See this compatibility list; note that the black tick marks denote coolers that need the bracket to be acquired separately.
 
The PSU should be sufficient, but may want to double check the CPU cables that come with the PSU and the CPU cables needed for your motherboard.

TR 1950x is 1200 USD inclusive of taxes and 7900x is 1150 USD, 7940x is 1538 usd
 
Here is the breakup usd (converted from INR)
1950x 1200 Aurous gaming 7 458 HDD 2tb x 2 140 Coolermaster 750w V750 144 Fractal design r6 TG 196 1070 GT Ti 669 Ram 64gb 873 Coolermaster 240L 111   3791

Rad placement: This guy have some numbers 
 
Though realistic scenarios have to be tested with each case I guess.
 
Raid: I choose R6 TG because of number of HDD it can keep. Didn't thought of a raid yet but a point that I will have to think. I was planning to keep a disk just to backup projects in case of a disk failure. TR options are actually lucrative, objectively. 

For the case the Mastercase MC500 is the way to go most likely.

It's just a rebranced mastercase pro 5 as far as I can tell. It's $80-90 on newegg, supports E-ATX and the 360 AIO in the front. at least it should support that X399 board above*
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119340&cm_re=MC500-_-11-119-340-_-Product
 

I have the Cryorig A80 which has two 140 fans (280 rad) on top (exhaust). The Fractal R6 TG should be able to handle a 240/280/360 on top, but I am confused by what they mean by 'standard' and 'open' layout for the top (see their product page). I vote for above the CPU/top of the case, as you have indicated long hours of usage at 100% which will heat up the air to air cooler levels and that hot air will pass over all the components inside if coming from the front. Heat reduces lifespan of components so my vote goes with putting the rad at the top or anywhere except exhausting hot air into the inside of your case. My 2 cents.
 
Another thing I forgot to mention, if you RAID your drives, getting Intel will require you to ensure that the board you are getting comes with the VROC key embedded or otherwise to enable you to use RAID. Older batch of boards and those who bought them can't get them as Intel is not selling VROC to the public afaik.

If Ryzen 2 isn't a major improvement I'll likely be buying Threadripper on April 19th instead of waiting for Threadripper 2 way later in the year.

Every TR build needs to start with these components unless you're doing a custom loop.
 
PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zt7mM8
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zt7mM8/by_merchant/
CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor  ($879.49 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Enermax - LiqTech TR4 360 102.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($132.79 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG ZENITH EXTREME EATX TR4 Motherboard  ($414.71 @ Amazon)
Total: $1426.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-04-09 04:59 EDT-0400
 
 

This is essentially the question I want answered, I would love to see a head to head against the TR and i9 10 core, but with TR core limited to 10 cores for rendering, and trying to do something else, like watch youtube or something, and do the same thing on the i9, without disabling any cores, but see what real world feel is like, and the performance delta of the renders between the two.
 
I would guess the i9 would win the render times, but I wonder by how much, and if it's enough to warrant the loss in multi tasking performance.

AFAIK @done12many2 has both platforms (X299 and X399) and tested both of them in various scenarios, so he might be able to shed some light on your situation. 

People have done some of those EXTREME MEGA TASKING tests

But simply put just think of it like having 2 R7 1800Xs in the same system, pretty much just throw 4 cores/8 threads to whatever program you want and it'll run fine.
 
 
 

If I understood well we discuss about "3%"?
$ 354 (2000 -1646) for 3% can be a little too much. 
the choice I made for my system in late 2017 was: 7960x at € 1,450 ($1,779) or a 1950x for € 837 (1,227 $) for only a 10%. I choosed 1950x.
unfortunately I've to confirm the poor memory support, I still run at 2666, not 3000. 

You are entirely correct about long hours of full throttle usage bringing the performance difference between air and AIOs on par (watch this if you haven't already). The problem with air coolers is clearance with RAM, clearance with the top PCIe x16 socket on 7 slot ATX/E-ATX motherboards, and the height of the cooler blocking the side panel on some cases from closing. Plus on some motherboard models you will see extra height on the VRM heatsink which may interfere as well. I am also ignoring the fact that most air coolers are a REAL PAIN to install. An AIO helps with all of that. The risk of leak is rare but real and one I choose to take given the compatibility constraints I faced and the coolers available here.

Thanks, mate for the info.
1. Regarding air coolers, I believe none of the youtube testers uses an overnight (12hr) burn in to measure or test AIO's results. So, i was a bit sceptic about the results. As I will render overnight an air cooler seems good as of now. Air coolers have proven over the years.
 
But people are recommending AIOs nowadays. Hopefully will get one this time. Maybe a thick 240 rad AIO. Enermax and Cryorig are not available in India. Corsair, Noctua, Coolermaster and Nzxt models only. So I am trying to get a Corsair Hydro 115i maybe. Let's see. After the processor selection, I will nail an AIO. 
 
Thanks for stopping by.

Not sure if this will be helpful to you or not, but I have an acquaintance (photographer whose home I went to to buy used HDDs) who bought a TR system for work. His main complaints:
1) His 1950x was slower than his i7 5960x for Adobe; he was really frustrated with optimization.
2) He had to overclock to reach 2900 speed on memory and was frustrated at the lack of support for 128GB at 3200 speeds.
Sorry I cannot provide numbers and that this is merely anecdotal. :-(
As a fellow 1950x owner I could relate somewhat, but for my needs and the sale I got mine on, it was worth it (plus I don't Adobe).

I see you have a preference for air coolers; Noctua has a bunch that may suit your needs. I would recommend a water cooler though for TR4, given the long render times you specified; I use the Cryorig A80 on my 1950x and it provides almost the same performance as that of the photographers's Enermax TR4 AIO with the added benefit of cooling surrounding parts.

All said and done, if your work is heavily Adobe dependent, get Intel imho. People kept talking about optimization coming soon for AMD's last generation and the one before... never happened afaik. :-(

Hello, folks n Linus (if you ever read),
Let me start by saying that the build I am making is completely for professional bread and butter purpose. Thus it's not a fanboy or fangirl topic. Back 2017 we had 2 new HEDTs platforms.
Price: intel wise was on the roof but now things have calmed down a bit. AMD too have some discounts going on right now. I am switching to a newer build from i7 6700k to either 7940x or 1950x, though this topic has been discussed lots of times, Thanks if you put your views again for me.
 
Price wise: Indian price converted to USD, price inclusive of taxes.
General Components:
Corsair V 3000 Mhz Ram 64gb: 872 USD
1070 ti : 670 usd
Fractal R6 TG: 197 usd
Total : 1739 USD
 
Intel Option:
Asus Prime x299a: 416 Usd
7940x: 1550 Usd
Total: 2000 Usd
 
AMD option:
Asus Prime x399 eatx: 416 usd
1950x: 1230 usd
Total: 1646 USD
Delta: ~19% Intel > AMD
 
Price to performance equation:
Vray: 7940x is 3% faster than 1950x (negligible, but for a 10-hour render it is almost 18 minutes. Food for thought? Single digit numbers are worthless for comparison bcoz it may differ system to system)
Source: https://benchmark.chaosgroup.com/cpu?search_string=1950
https://benchmark.chaosgroup.com/cpu?search_string=7940
 
Pugetsystems: As per pudget the difference is almost 32 %. 

 
Adobe Premiere: 
I am not sure which is better for me, stability will be the most important factor. Referring to pugetsystem recommendations. Also, read that TR has some issues with Adobe Products. Yes, architecture not optimised but how can I help? Freinds please put your views. Stability over performance. Price anyways its heading skywards.

 
Photoshop: Threadripper is definitely overall slower than Skylake-X for Photoshop. If at all it matters in 10 to 15%
 

 
Lumion: Needs a graphics card to render? I have selected a budget 1070 8gb. Best budget card price to performance.
 
Unreal:  Here is a para from pugetsystems. Never got the opportunity to try myself. Help anybody working in Unreal.
"For those that need the best possible performance for heavily threaded tasks like building lighting and compiling the engine from source, we offer a number of high core count CPUs depending on both your budget and the performance you need for these tasks. The Core i9 7900X is roughly 10% faster than the Core i7 7820X for tasks like light baking and compiling while the Core i9 7940X, Core i9 7960X, and Core i9 7980XE will be even faster. Note that these CPUs tend to be slightly slower for most other tasks, however, so we typically only recommend on of these high core count CPUs for users that spend a significant amount of time building lighting or compiling."
 

 
Corona: Again a single digit performance factor between 1950x and 7940x.
https://corona-renderer.com/benchmark/cpu/1950x/all
https://corona-renderer.com/benchmark/cpu/7940x/all
.
I started with Pentium 4 back in the year 2000. Used it quite a lot and for almost 6 years. It stood strong with me. It went some rough rides across the country, I took in younger years. Travelled almost 2.5k kms with a bulky CRT :). I feel sad don't have any pic of my P4. Then switched to AMD phenom 1090 black. wow, six cores in the year 2010. Here are some images if you care.(Attached)  
I sold my Phenom and Asus mobo to a fanboy. Happily took home with love and respect.
 
Coming to the today year 2018: I am confused with 7940x or 1950x.
Here are my observations:
1950x
1. Superb performance for Multithreaded programs.
2. Very fewer mobo options.(+- 6?)
3. Memory problems, Courtesy: forums
4. Ideal power draws more than Intel counterparts. Important because not all the time I will be rendering.
5. Lower Single thread performance. The feeling of having a fast computer. 
6. Future upgradeability options seem to be attractive. What TR 2 will bring is still a surprise. If it's just an incremental upgrade then 10 to 15% performance enhancement. Again AMD surprises all. 32 core 64 threads future, I don't believe that yet as ideal power draw will be massive and clock speed will go down to keep that in check, typical server chip.
 
7940x
1. Similar multi-threaded performance compared to 1950x but almost 22% more expensive. (Machine hours do counts, consists of 20 to 25% of my workload. Render and edit final presentation for the client)
2. No compromise on single thread performance. Very important as my 60 to 70% of work times (Man hours) programs need single thread performance. Read viewport navigation and modelling. I don't want to downgrade from an i7 6700k viewpoint on single thread performance. (The client pays for man hours)
3. Though my budget gets Asus Prime, but lots of options available. Inspires confidence.
4. Choosing memory options easy, your thought?
5. I can find a cooler made for i9. Peace of Mind. Does it effect anyways compared to 1950x CPU coolers? mental block. Noctua TR4 availability in India questionable.
6. VRM problems? I won't overclock neither I am going to install any overclocking utility. Anyways my computer runs more than 16 hours a day. Overclocking will underutilize the CPU power under light loads that 60% to 70% of my workload.
 
3rd Option:
I keep the i7 6700k with 32gigs ram for all the modelling and texturing and editing job. Make a 1950x rendering slave.
 
Challenges: (Mostly additional cost)
1. NAS drive required for file sharing.
2. Gigabit switch to facilitate the high-speed file transfer.
3. Power draw from the wall when both systems are on.
4. Will lose the interactive test renders of a high-end system as I have to send back and forth the file for render. or can use the slave workstation as distributed renderer but in that case, power draw from the wall will be higher. Both systems full on high on usage.
5. Space to accommodate the setup.
6. Power backup will have to be updated too.
 
Share your views on 7940x, 1950x or 3rd option of client-server sought of setup. The main point of your suggestion is that I don't want to go back in the memory lane after buying the CPU. It's like the girl you loved in college and never proposed. Now after marriage every now and then you think about her.