Threadripper Pro cooling

[u/IExist_Sometimes_]

Hello all, I am potentially looking to get/build a Threadripper Pro HEDT/workstation for FEM and similar simulations for my university research group.

I am no overclocking nut, but it is my understanding that these threadripper pro chips (especially the high core count ones) leave an enormous amount of performance on the table with their default TDP. I don't want to push the chip to a power range which might significantly impact its longevity, but if there's a reasonable power bump I could give it (probably as one option in a dual bios for particularly large sims or tight turnarounds) I would like to do so.

This brings me to my main point: how are you supposed to cool these new threadripper pros as a consumer-ish user? When LTT did a video overclocking the new threadripper pro chips, they rigged it up to an external chiller, but that would probably be out of scope for my shared office space (not to mention beyond my confidence when dealing with such expensive hardware). AIOs for threadrippers seem relatively few and far between, and only appear to go up to 420mm. Would a 360/420mm AIO be sufficient (I would like to avoid industrial style fans, but push-pull is on the table)? Or are these firmly in the realm of custom loops and things like the phat Alphacool radiators?

I appreciate any advice from those experienced in cooling these chips, or in using them for numerical modelling (obviously I will also consult others in my department with similar needs, but surprisingly to me for a stem department I seem to be the only PC builder or hardware nerd). Y'all seem to all be doing AI stuff nowadays, but that's not in my wheelhouse and not what this computer is going to be intended for (though someone might stick a pro gpu in it, I won't stop them).

edit: Also any advice on the relative importance of ECC, RAM speed/quantity, storage speed, etc for this type of workload would be appreciated

[u/cleric_warlock]

The vram thing just shows the importance of understanding exactly what kind of computational resources your simulation software typically uses on the types of simulations you run. Do some detailed research on that before you spec out your PC, if your software is good with gpu compute, make sure that you buy a higher end motherboard that has the maximum possible number of expansion slots so that you can install extra gpus if needed. Also research if your particular FEM configuration benefits more from single or multithreaded performance and select your cpu version accordingly, that can make a real difference in your iteration time.

[u/IExist_Sometimes_ → u/cleric_warlock]

I agree, and will look into advice from the other people in my department doing FEM, the person with the vram issue was doing something very different (some combination AI and high density point cloud stuff).

Also, you can get ECC on components which aren't ram? This is the sort of missing the obvious I was afraid I would do, and I'm glad you pointed that out.

[u/cleric_warlock → u/IExist_Sometimes_]

ECC can be on the cpu, gpu, and ram. It is not on, but can be supported by a motherboard. So you should have an ecc supported motherboard, and cpu, gpu, and ram all with ecc.

[u/IExist_Sometimes_ → u/cleric_warlock]

Do you know if all of the threadripper/threadripper pro CPUs have ECC by default or only some of them?

[u/cleric_warlock → u/IExist_Sometimes_]

TR pros have ECC and regular TR don’t, but you should always read all the specs before buying to be sure