Threadripper workstation

[just_bob]

1. Budget & Location

EU, Croatia, ~2400 euros

2. Aim

Houdini simulations and rendering

 

I'll be transfering my GTX 1070, HDDs and SSD from my current build. So I'm buying CPU, RAM, mobo, cooler, PSU and a new case. I don't intend on overclocking the cpu.

CPU:

2950X

 

RAM:

need 64GB for now, but will upgrade to 128GB at some point in future. Is B-die RAM still crucial for ryzen?

 

mobo:

I like MEG creation due to it's features, but damn that thing is hideous

 

cooler:

I would love to get one of those Wraith rippers, but can't seem to find them anywhere. I guess a Noctua would do. Are the black fans available yet? Also are Noctua's heatsink covers available for TR4 socket coolers?

 

PSU:

If my math is right - I'm looking at 600W consumption after taking future 128GB RAM, GPU, SSDs and HDDs into consideration, so I'm looking for a good 1200W PSU

 

case:

Airflow is priority, but looks matter. I kinda like H500P mesh, but can it fit wraith ripper if I opt for one?

 

Thanks

[TheGlenlivet]

Bdie is still best for TR4.  Buy from the QVL.  Some boards support ECC if that's important to you.

If you aren't OCing, a first get board might be a better buy for you.

Noctua does have black fans, though not the brand new ones yet.  Not sure about the covers for the TR4 socket coolers.

Corsait HX1200i is a good PSU at that rating.

H500P is GIANT.  A wraith ripper or noctua should fit.

 

[oriol]

Noctua chromax line fans are available, you want the NF-A15 for the U14 and the NF-F12 for the U12. There's no cover for the U14 yet but there is one for the U12 (NA-HC1 & NA-HC2).

[brob]

Memory is still an issue, especially when populating all eight slots. Once you have selected a motherboard, use its memory QVL to find modules that can fully populate the board. I expect such kits are not going to be rated any higher than DDR4-2666, so motherboards memory oc support is not hugely important.

 

If you put the build in a non-windowed case, looks don't matter. 

 

If you end up with an NH-U14S TR4-SP3 cpu cooler one could replace the fan and, as recommended by Noctua, add a second Noctua - NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap. Some X399 motherboards are not compatible with Noctua TR4 coolers, so check the appropriate Noctua QVL once you've decided on a motherboard.

 

Have you considered an aio cooler?

 

The Wraith Ripper only needs 161mm clearance. Not a problem for most mid-size and full tower cases. The H500P Mesh list cpu cooler clearance as 190mm.

 

I mocked up a maxed out build in pcpartpicker. It reported a max stock draw of just under 1000W. If the plan is to oc the cpu and gpu, you may want a little more than 1200W available.

 

[just_bob]

1 hour ago, TheGlenlivet said:

Bdie is still best for TR4.  Buy from the QVL.  Some boards support ECC if that's important to you.

If you aren't OCing, a first get board might be a better buy for you.

Noctua does have black fans, though not the brand new ones yet.  Not sure about the covers for the TR4 socket coolers.

Corsait HX1200i is a good PSU at that rating.

H500P is GIANT.  A wraith ripper or noctua should fit.

 

While I don't intend on OCing, I wouldn't want to close my options. At some point in distant future there is a chance this rig gets 2990WX and becomes a pure render slave aswell. Looking at the QVL (https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/MEG-X399-CREATION#support-mem-16), I'm having issues determining which of those sticks are actually B-die. Under chipset some just say Samsung while some have a code appended afterwards. I was hoping to find 4x16GB B-die kit from G.skill there but it's nowhere to be seen.

37 minutes ago, oriol said:

Noctua chromax line fans are available, you want the NF-A15 for the U14 and the NF-F12 for the U12. There's no cover for the U14 yet but there is one for the U12 (NA-HC1 & NA-HC2).

Thanks for clearing that up.

20 minutes ago, brob said:

Memory is still an issue, especially when populating all eight slots. Once you have selected a motherboard, use its memory QVL to find modules that can fully populate the board. I expect such kits are not going to be rated any higher than DDR4-2666, so motherboards memory oc support is not hugely important.

 

If you put the build in a non-windowed case, looks don't matter. 

 

If you end up with an NH-U14S TR4-SP3 cpu cooler one could replace the fan and, as recommended by Noctua, add a second Noctua - NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap. Some X399 motherboards are not compatible with Noctua TR4 coolers, so check the appropriate Noctua QVL once you've decided on a motherboard.

 

Have you considered an aio cooler?

 

The Wraith Ripper only needs 161mm clearance. Not a problem for most mid-size and full tower cases. The H500P Mesh list cpu cooler clearance as 190mm.

 

I mocked up a maxed out build in pcpartpicker. It reported a max stock draw of just under 1000W. If the plan is to oc the cpu and gpu, you may want a little more than 1200W available.

 

Thanks for the tip. I don't see a point in AIO as long as air does just fine. 

The pcpartpicker list I mocked up (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TrC4P3) reports way less than 1000W. Or am I not looking at max stock draw? It's not my intention to OC, but I'd like to stay at that 50% efficiency.

[brob]

1 minute ago, just_bob said:

While I don't intend on OCing, I wouldn't want to close my options. At some point in distant future there is a chance this rig gets 2990WX and becomes a pure render slave aswell. Looking at the QVL (https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/MEG-X399-CREATION#support-mem-16), I'm having issues determining which of those sticks are actually B-die. Under chipset some just say Samsung while some have a code appended afterwards. I was hoping to find 4x16GB B-die kit from G.skill there but it's nowhere to be seen.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Thanks for the tip. I don't see a point in AIO as long as air does just fine. 

The pcpartpicker list I mocked up (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TrC4P3) reports way less than 1000W. Or am I not looking at max stock draw? It's not my intention to OC, but I'd like to stay at that 50% efficiency.

The mockup I used included cpu, air cooler, motherboard, 128GB of memory, 2 NVMe M.2, 4 hdd, and 2 GTX 1080 Ti. If the second gpu is not included the estimate drops to !~750W. The number shown by pcpartpicker is the total of max power draw specified by the various component manufacturers or an industry standard (i.e. fans are calculated at 5W each). There is data to suggest that these numbers are significantly higher than that experienced in the real world.

 

If not overclocking a 1200W psu is going to be more than enough for a two gpu system. 1000W would be good for a single gpu system. Consider a Seasonic Prime Platinum, Corsair HX, or Evga P2 model.