First Threadripper Build - some questions

[David Petrofsky]

Hello,

 

I am doing my first Threadripper build and I had a couple of questions.  This is for a 3970x w/ Rog Zenith II Extreme Alpha board.

 

1. What's the best way to test it to make sure all the pins are in?  I'm not 100% confident I got everything lined up perfectly.  Is the only way to connect every pcie lane to some kind of device and check the throughput?  Or does the POST send signals through the lanes to check them?  I'm guessing it doesn't do that since people talk about RAM mysteriously not working if a pin is bent.

2. Is it possible to overtighten with the included torx screwdriver.  I just kept tightening until it wouldn't tighten anymore, but then I read online that there are supposed to be "clicks" which I didn't hear.  I did follow the 1-2-3 pattern.  Actually I did a little 1, then a little 2, then a little 3, and kept going like that to try to get it as even as possible.

[Haro]

1 hour ago, David Petrofsky said:

RAM mysteriously not working if a pin is bent.

It's not mysterious 

It's known that if a pin gets bent it could have been something related to a memory channel or something 

And we do not know which pin is which ( unless you have a map of some sort )

1 hour ago, David Petrofsky said:

What's the best way to test it to make sure all the pins are in

Once you put the cpu on the socket 

Look at it from the side and check if it's sitting properly

1 hour ago, David Petrofsky said:

Is it possible to overtighten with the included torx screwdriver

Yes afaik 

Just 

1 hour ago, David Petrofsky said:

Actually I did a little 1, then a little 2, then a little 3, and kept going like that to try to get it as even as possible.

^ this would be the correct way to do it 

[mariushm]

You place the processor in that frame that comes with the socket, place the frame down onto the socket, then the metal cover, and use the supplied torx screw as indicated on the cpu socket to tighten everything.

You DO NOT place the cpu directly down onto the socket, you slide it inside that metal frame then lower the frame onto the socket.

 

When the screws are tight enough, the torx screwdriver will give, so you shouldn't be able to tighten harder.

 

Memory uses most pins in a socket, so you can easily test if everything's ok by using memtest and placing sticks in each memory channel , or repeating test with a stick placed sequentially in each memory channel.

 

 

[David Petrofsky]

Ah I see...based on Jay's video I probably overtightened.  I never saw the torx do that but maybe I somehow missed it.  The board I got is bad for other reasons anyway (see my other thread) and is being exchanged for another of the same model, so I'll never know if I did anything to it by overtightening, but what are the chances I killed my CPU, just from that?

 

And yes, I did put it in the frame and lower the frame.  I followed the instructions from the mobo and the cpu booklets and watched linus's video for the visual but I was just not 100% confident that everything would line up perfectly since some of the parts, especially the mounting plate, have some margin of motion.  Maybe they're not supposed to and the board is even worse than I thought.

 

[David Petrofsky]

Thanks for the responses, everyone!  I've been watching the channel for a little while but just joined the forum a few minutes ago and I'm super impressed by how fast the responses came

 

I'll feel so much better when I have this all built and stress-tested.  I'm a software and video guy...not a hardware guy.  I like to learn how the hardware works theoretically but I don't like to touch it...hahaha