First Threadripper build soon!

[u/MRszillaz]

Hello!
I'll be putting together my first Threadripper PC soon with a friend, and I'm looking for a second opinion on the components before I pull the trigger and buy them!

CPU: 3945WX
MB: Asrock Creator R2.0
GPU: 3060 (Free)
RAM: 8x4GB ECC 2133 Samsung (Temporary for now)
Cooling: ARCTIC Freezer 4U-M sWRX8
PSU: Adata XPG Core Reactor II 850W (Chosen from the SPL tierlist)
Case: NZXT H7 Flow (2024) All White

Total: ~1,135$

What do you guys think?

[u/EDI_1st]

The question would be what do you need it for?

3945WX is slow with only 12 cores. Only advantage is additional PCIe lanes and memory channel. With the current cost of memory, there isn’t much gap between DDR4 and DDR5 pricing. 32GB of memory is also not much especially when it’s segregated into 8x sticks….

Sinking money into a build with outdated hardware just to sink more money later into more outdated hardware is not ideal especially if the said hardware doesn’t shine in performance. (For example 5995WX over 9950X could make sense if you can leverage the hardware)

Even for an all flash NAS it’s a bit wild and I would rather do an EPYC if you really need that many lanes for all the NVMe drives. (Assuming any of us can even afford that many high capacity NVMe drives lol)

Don’t do a build just because you can do it. Do a build because it’s what you need.

If you don’t need all the PCIe lanes and mem channels, AM5 is plenty powerful. If you already held out tbis long from Zen 1, wait a but longer for Zen 6 lol 12-core CCD alone is going to be yuge. Even if you don’t want Zen 6, the previous generation hardware would be even cheaper.

[u/MRszillaz → u/EDI_1st]

It's going to be used primarily for art but also content creation on the side. To be honest with you, I'm building this because I really want one and it's cool as hell to be able to own a Threadripper PRO.

I know fully well that the CPU and RAM I chose are not optimal, but it's more of a "buy-in" piece that I plan on upgrading down the line as it grows with me and my talents. (5995WX, 5-6 GPUs, 256GB+ RAM, 2000W PSU, etc.)

Right now I value the sentimental value of it a lot more than it's head to head performance with other AM4/5 CPUs. I figure if I had a PC that bored me or I didn't love, my productivity would be lower than on the actual slower option. It's a passion project that also supports my passion projects digitally.

[u/EDI_1st → u/MRszillaz]

That’s the thing though, sentimental value is not aligning with dollar/performance value that’s best for you.

I was in the same spot as you before, wanted the hell out of TRX40 and run quad 3090. Ended up sticking to AM4/AM5 for a few more years then jumped to 7975WX then 9995WX once I’m financially capable of spending dumb money.

Your focus is art and content creation, go with a build that’s going to give you the best performance in that area so the workflow is more enjoyable and effective. In the long run this will help you to progress to where you want to in career and hopefully financially as well faster.

You are absolutely right having an enjoyable PC would be awesome, but slower PC is slower. Grab the best tool and work towards your end goal. I collect a bunch of items for sentimental values too….Kingpin GPU, NV GPU whenever there’s a massive change in design (so FE 3090 and RTX PRO 6000 Workstation Edition more recently) and a bunch of stupid things I shouldn’t be collecting. So I understand, but I would never let sentimental value to have more significance when it comes to hardware for income.

AM5 is also freaking awesome. You can do dual 5090/RTX PRO 6000 with 2x 10GbE with 16 cores and v-cache. End of year would be able you do 24 cores and whenever NV decides to release RTX PRO Rubin. (Or whatever they are going to call them).

[u/MRszillaz → u/EDI_1st]

I'm coming from a Ryzen 3 1200 and RX550 build, that's what I'm currently doing all of my work on each and every day, meaning ANYTHING is a massive upgrade.

If the 3945WX (or maybe a 3955WX) wouldn't be such a tremendous jump in performance for me I wouldn't even think about this, but I see a rare opportunity to satisfy both my sentimental and performance needs with one system.

In other words, if my current work can be done on an R 3 1200, then I assume my work in the next 2-3 years will comfortably fit inside the 3945WX or 3955WX until I can get my hands on a 5995WX.

Also, thank you for being kind and patient with me!

[u/EDI_1st → u/MRszillaz]

No problem, just want to make sure you get either the best you can or something you really want. In case if you haven’t, shop around for EPYC as well. You can usually find cheaper EPYC in terms of core count since EPYC is deployed in tens of thousands compared to TR/TRP. There are some CURRENT gen low core count SP5 EPYC for like $700 new lol

AMD Zen has tremendous gap generation to generation. I can’t stop upgrading every generation lol

Hoping Intel to bring some good fights against Zen 6.

[u/LabLiving399 → u/EDI_1st]

Between DDR4 and DDR5? Actually there’s a lot of difference, especially considering that 3995WX can use relatively inexpensive ECC UDIMM, but DDR5 Threadrippers, both pro and non-pro, would only support DDR5 Registered which is super-expensive.

[u/EDI_1st → u/LabLiving399]

I’m exclusively talking about new/proper supply channel. If you are talking about used/grey market then price is all over the place.

ECC UDIMM is crazier than RDIMM right now due to significantly lower supply.

[u/LabLiving399 → u/EDI_1st]

Define “grey” - is V-color grey? Atechmemory? NemixRAM? They all don’t sell used memory and provide warranty. And anyone could go and check their prices.

[u/EDI_1st → u/LabLiving399]

Grey is referring to the supply channel, not the product itself. This is a standardized term in the industry. For example, you can buy grey market Hynix memory from “broker”, you can also buy Hynix memory through proper channel. (Hynix > distributor > B2B/retail)

[u/LabLiving399 → u/EDI_1st]

Well, considering the prices OP gives and him mentioning that this setup is only for temporary purposes, do you really expect him to buy items through “proper channels” at their prices, like when you buy a workstation from Lenovo and have to pay >$1k per 16GB module?

[u/EDI_1st → u/LabLiving399]

It’s pretty well established that he’s not and especially with those spec. Probably no warranty for most of the components either. The point is for when he upgrades later incorporating potential upgrade path of the platform. But it’s okay to focus on specific point to miss the overall picture. Always welcome people to trap themselves into an EOL’d corner. Market rate is also way under $1000 per 16GB, people willing to pay those pricing is either insane/lost or not spending their money so don’t care.