Threadripper 3970x | Multicore processing | Nvidia 3080 Ti

[wendeldr]

Budget (including currency): ~5000$ (usd)

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 

Primarily used for school/research. Currently a Computer Science PHD focused on AI/Machine learning. Doing a lot of multi-core python applications at the moment. Eventually probably some tensorflow/gpu stuff. Also do some light gaming (Apex legends/indie games). 

 

I'm probably going to dual boot Windows 10/ Ubuntu 20 on one M.2 and use another for research data/a few games.  I don't really have a storage problem between the computer I'm replacing and a NAS.

 

Other details:

Currently run 4 1080p screens.  I may eventually upgrade one of them to a 1440p 144hz but its not super necessary. I have a few 4k monitors at work and I actually find the 1080p to be more comfortable on my eyes.

 

Replacing:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($325.00 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 64.95 CFM CPU Cooler 
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard 
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3-1600 CL9 Memory  ($84.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3-1600 CL9 Memory  ($84.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive 
Storage: Seagate Constellation CS ISE 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($489.89 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB KO ULTRA GAMING Video Card  ($333.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 ATX Full Tower Case  ($151.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 850 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply 
Total: $1470.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-27 15:38 EDT-0400

 

New List

The video card is just a cheap placeholder. Plan is to take the 2060 from the older pc and swap with this card (2060 is currently being RMA'd something happened after only 2 months of owning it). When new Nvidia 3000 series comes out will upgrade to 3080 TI most likely.  Old pc will primarily be used as a nosql database/offload some long running, slow code for some of the research I'm working on.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Threadripper 3970X 3.7 GHz 32-Core Processor  ($1853.37 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler  ($132.31 @ MemoryC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte TRX40 AORUS MASTER EATX sTRX4 Motherboard  ($494.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 128 GB (4 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($499.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($194.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($194.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.00 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GT 710 2 GB Video Card  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro Tempered Glass ATX Full Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: be quiet! Straight Power 11 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($219.00 @ B&H) 
Case Fan: be quiet! Pure Wings 2 120 51.4 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($16.22 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: be quiet! Pure Wings 2 120 51.4 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($16.22 @ Amazon) 
Total: $3846.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-27 15:29 EDT-0400

 

My only two debates are:

• If I may do better with a different storage setup (ie some raid configuration or something).  Loading the data I use for research is a bit slow at times so something faster could be tempting.
• If the CPU would throttle from temps if its running a large multi-core app for extended periods of time (upwards of a week).
  • When the Nvidia 3000 series comes out that will increase the case temp a bit as well. But I don't think its going to be a problem

I'm pretty happy with the list but open to any suggestions/glaring errors I missed.  I'm willing to spend some money to "future proof" anything if necessary but I seem to have gotten most stuff (wifi 6/ pci-e 4 etc.) with the Aorus Master. I'm estimating the 3080 TI will be around 1200-1500 so that will bring the total to be ~5000

[SupaKomputa]

If you already have NVME, raid is not recommended.

Just get the highest performing drive, get 2TB drive instead of 2x1.

Compare to your samsung 860, it will be a huge jump.

 

If you have a decent cooling, the cpu will not throttle, under 80c it would perform just the same as long as possible.

Get ECC memories.

[Zando_]

19 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

If you already have NVME, raid is not recommended.

Just get the highest performing drive, get 2TB drive instead of 2x1.

Compare to your samsung 860, it will be a huge jump.

^^^ Yes. RAID 0 isn't worth it if you have any data you actually care about on the drives. 

20 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

If you have a decent cooling, the cpu will not throttle, under 80c it would perform just the same as long as possible.

^^^ Also yes, and IIRC that cooler can keep these chips below throttle at stock, but full PBO (where they much 500-600W) would be an issue). 

21 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Get ECC memories.

Why? No real reason to get slower, more expensive RAM, unless you actually do a workload where ECC RAM is necessary. 

[SupaKomputa]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Why? No real reason to get slower, more expensive RAM, unless you actually do a workload where ECC RAM is necessary. 

For running the thing continuously for a week, yeah.

You never know if shits happen.

ECC problems are super rare, but it happens.