New hyper-v host threadripper or ryzen

[m9x3mos]

Hello all, 

Looking to build a new virtualization server for hyper-v to replace my old t7500 Dell with two 6 core xeon processors. 

I found a deal for a 2950x, motherboard, and cooler for about 700$ usd.

Looking at performance though, it looks like that can be easily beaten by the 3950x. I can get that, a cooler, and the tuf x570 for about 1000.

I don't think I would benefit from the quad channel ram as it would be running at most 15 vms running web and sql servers. I also won't be needing a lot of pcie expansion. 

Would it be better looking to go ryzen or is there other benefits of threadripper I'm overlooking? In this case, it looks like the 3950x even has more cache. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

[Windows7ge]

Besides RAM, and number of PCI_e lanes both support hardware pass-though and have an equal number of cores. If you don't need quad channel memory I'd say there's not a significant reason to go Threadripper if you don't want to.

[Dutch_Master]

The Ryzen chips are optimised for desktop use, Threadripper is essentially an Epyc chip in a straightjacket, which are server chips. Having said that, the difference would only show up under high loads and as you've indicated your use case isn't that intense, the only reason to go Threadripper would be prestige. But have you factored in future unexpected expansion of the workload yet? If you haven't, going TR could prove a wise move.

[m9x3mos]

Thanks for the

@Windows7ge and both support 128gb ram. It might be more expensive but I like that the perfomance is faster and should be better future proof I think...

@Dutchmaster with my workload being hyper v and web services with connection to sql it is mainly cpu bound not memory intensive from what I can think. The new ryzen does even have more cache than the 2950x threadripper. Do you think that would be better?

[Windows7ge]

2 minutes ago, m9x3mos said:

and both support 128gb ram. It might be more expensive but I like that the perfomance is faster and should be better future proof I think...

The 2950X technically supports up to 2TB of RAM but AMD gave it a handicap by only allowing UDIMM module support. Currently I believe there are 32GB DIMMs so you can run up to 256GB on TR at least. Then Dutch_Master brings up a good point. If you ever think you may need more than 16 cores down the road then you can but at current that won't be an option on AM4.

[m9x3mos]

@Windows7ge I don't think id need more than 16. I'd probably be fine with even 12, but figure that was a nice boost to performance to look at. The deal I found for the used 2950x has a motherboard with it for the 700$ price but only supports a max of 128gb ram as well so the limit would be the same. And running a max of 15 virtual machines I doubt are that memory intensive either by itself. And the apps I'm working on aren't ram intensive.

[Scheer]

Another benefit for Ryzen (at least assuming so) is going to be power efficiency.

 

Either way they will likely be much better than your T7500, I had a dual CPU HP Z620 that sucked down 240 watts at idle... you notice that on the power bill.

[m9x3mos]

55 minutes ago, Scheer said:

Another benefit for Ryzen (at least assuming so) is going to be power efficiency.

 

Either way they will likely be much better than your T7500, I had a dual CPU HP Z620 that sucked down 240 watts at idle... you notice that on the power bill.

@Scheer yeah, that is one of the main reasons I'm looking to replace it. Starting to show some slowness, and I know it sucks more power. With 96 GB ram and 6 HD in it, was great for virtualization 4 years ago when I bought it. And at 500$ for the machine (without drives) was a good deal. 

[Windows7ge]

5 hours ago, m9x3mos said:

@Windows7ge I don't think id need more than 16. I'd probably be fine with even 12, but figure that was a nice boost to performance to look at. The deal I found for the used 2950x has a motherboard with it for the 700$ price but only supports a max of 128gb ram as well so the limit would be the same. And running a max of 15 virtual machines I doubt are that memory intensive either by itself. And the apps I'm working on aren't ram intensive.

If that's the case I'd go with whichever one is the better deal.

[m9x3mos]

13 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

If that's the case I'd go with whichever one is the better deal.

Thank you @Windows7ge, I'll see if I can get that deal on the 2950x, motherboard, and cooler deal. That is about 400 to 500 cheaper than the 3950x setup since that would be a new purchase. And while it's nice to have the higher performance, I don't think I'll need it for my use case. And in a few years, might be able to pick up the 2990wx used for less than 1000 and that can be nice future upgrades where there will be no path on the x570 for upgrades possibly. It might take more power with the 2950x but shouldn't be a lot and still probably less than the t7500 that I have now. 

[m9x3mos]

I wanted to follow up again and thank you all for your input. I was able to get the threadripper combo for 560.

Set everything up and this thing flies. Much faster than my old Dell. With this supporting 8 sata connections it is fantastic for storage and has the capability to add many hba cards if needed with full link speeds and additional network cards. With the setup I have now, I think this was probably a better choice than the ryzen option. Thank you all again for your input.