I suppose getting a Threadripper is now a mute point for me. I have a brand spanking new Amd 3950x (16c/32t) which puts me back in the general ballpark of my original server class motherboards with the Intel E5-xxxx cpus (16c/32t) so enough is enough.....








(but I WANT 64 cores and 128 threads, Sniff)

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

I was at CDROMLAND yesterday, getting an anti-static wristband (just to be safe. I usually build my systems without one, but with a €3,000 system, perhaps wise to do so...), and another keyboard (Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 Brown) when I noticed they had one Threadripper 3970X in the store.

Just € 2139,00

Ouch.

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First and last time I bought a Corsair AIO water cooler (H100i RGB Platinum SE). The screws they supplied to fasten the radiator to the case are too thick, or the holes they drilled in the radiator are too small. Impossible to screw them in, not even with an electric screwdriver. I'll go to the DIY tomorrow to get smaller screws.

Other than that the build is going swell.

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The screws are standard 6-32 thread. But it looks like you are not the only one with screw issues with Corsair AIO.
https://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?p=1018111
Corsair AIO quality is really the bottom barrel. And the insulting thing is that they are not cheap. Plenty of other AIO vendors out there for alternative choices. And better prices to boot.
[Edit]If you are going to the DIY anyway, get yourself a 6-32 taper tap also. The holes in the radiator are just punched roughly, not properly threaded. Run the tap through the mounting holes and the proper 6-32 screws will install properly.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

I forced the screws in with a larger manual screwdriver. Arm force.

Not that it helps, this whole thing is one mess. I should not have to take over an hour to get the pump on and rad in the case. I give up for tonight, tomorrow the rad has to come out again as I have to turn the fans around so their wires are at the back, for better cable management. Got rid of the gloop they put under the pump, as most of it was on my fingers anyway. Will put Arctic 5 on tomorrow when I am assembling the final time. Just connecting the pump to the hinges is finicky at best, I don't have big fingers but heck is the room to work in small.

And yes, I'd seen that thread after having tried for half an hour to get the screws in. It's one of plenty more threads out there where people complain about this kind of thing, since early days. Apparently Corsair don't care.

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I suppose getting a Threadripper is now a mute point for me. I have a brand spanking new Amd 3950x (16c/32t) which puts me back in the general ballpark of my original server class motherboards with the Intel E5-xxxx cpus (16c/32t) so enough is enough.....
(but I WANT 64 cores and 128 threads, Sniff)

Tom

Yes that is the dilemma I face now with the existing Threadripper system. The 3900X and 3950X hosts beat it on cpu performance handily now. And since it does not support the new Threadripper 3000 parts I would need to upgrade whole parts of the host with new motherboard and a new 24 core cpu. The one salient point of the Threadripper platform is that it natively supports 4 double wide gpus if you select wisely. And I doubt that AMD will release a more affordable 16 core Threadripper 3 cpu since they already have the 3950X filling that niche.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

I suppose getting a Threadripper is now a mute point for me. I have a brand spanking new Amd 3950x (16c/32t) which puts me back in the general ballpark of my original server class motherboards with the Intel E5-xxxx cpus (16c/32t) so enough is enough.....
(but I WANT 64 cores and 128 threads, Sniff)

Tom

Yes that is the dilemma I face now with the existing Threadripper system. The 3900X and 3950X hosts beat it on cpu performance handily now. And since it does not support the new Threadripper 3000 parts I would need to upgrade whole parts of the host with new motherboard and a new 24 core cpu. The one salient point of the Threadripper platform is that it natively supports 4 double wide gpus if you select wisely. And I doubt that AMD will release a more affordable 16 core Threadripper 3 cpu since they already have the 3950X filling that niche.

I wonder if just upgrading to a Threadripper 2950wx (16c/32t) would be helpful? That is, as far as I know, the biggest of that TR2 that didn't have the memory/design issue.
It would get you more cores/threads but it wouldn't give you the IPC uplift. And it might be cheaper than a new MB/TR3.

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

I suppose getting a Threadripper is now a mute moot point for me. I have a brand spanking new Amd 3950x (16c/32t) which puts me back in the general ballpark of my original server class motherboards with the Intel E5-xxxx cpus (16c/32t) so enough is enough.....
(but I WANT 64 cores and 128 threads, Sniff)

Tom

Yes that is the dilemma I face now with the existing Threadripper system. The 3900X and 3950X hosts beat it on cpu performance handily now. And since it does not support the new Threadripper 3000 parts I would need to upgrade whole parts of the host with new motherboard and a new 24 core cpu. The one salient point of the Threadripper platform is that it natively supports 4 double wide gpus if you select wisely. And I doubt that AMD will release a more affordable 16 core Threadripper 3 cpu since they already have the 3950X filling that niche.

I wonder if just upgrading to a Threadripper 2950wx (16c/32t) would be helpful? That is, as far as I know, the biggest of that TR2 that didn't have the memory/design issue.
It would get you more cores/threads but it wouldn't give you the IPC uplift. And it might be cheaper than a new MB/TR3.

Tom

Still would be slower. Unless I have a particularly bad 2920X example from the silicon lottery, I wouldn't expect a 2950X to be any better, just more cores. The 2920X is within a 100-150Mhz of the clocks that the 3900X or 3950X runs but is still much slower on cpu tasks. It also can't run the memory any faster than 3400Mhz while the Ryzen 9's can run 3600Mhz.

Just a simple matter of better FPU performance in the Ryzen 3000 parts and better IMC for better and easier memory overclocking.

I am processing the same task species 15 minutes faster on the Ryzen 3000 hosts compared to the Threadripper 2920X host.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

But won't Madame Su be launching the 3990wx on Tuesday at CES. Preferably with an option of octo (or whatever) memory channel?
JSM

Other than we know that there are the TRX80 and WRX80 chipsets out there, we haven't heard any rumors yet of actual products employing 8 channels. All speculation so far.

As far as I can tell in the announcement last week there was no mention of an octal version. They can obviously do this as demonstrated in the EPYC line and we know the chipsets are available so perhaps marketing are reserving that facility for the 4000 range?
jsm

It's alive!
Had to put the GPU in the bottom slot as the USB-C connector on the motherboard was in the way. Also had to reseat one RAM DIMM. Two of the case fans don't run for some reason, have to figure that out. (Colourfull though)

But my question is, what's a normal in the BIOS idle temperature for the 3900X? As mine runs between 58 and 71C. I think I'll have to redo the Arctic Silver 5, or perhaps even get new as this looked very thick.

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It's alive!
Had to put the GPU in the bottom slot as the USB-C connector on the motherboard was in the way. Also had to reseat one RAM DIMM. Two of the case fans don't run for some reason, have to figure that out. (Colourfull though)

But my question is, what's a normal in the BIOS idle temperature for the 3900X? As mine runs between 58 and 71C. I think I'll have to redo the Arctic Silver 5, or perhaps even get new as this looked very thick.

+1
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My 3900x is running these numbers under load.  It has the largest Air Cooled Noctura I could fit on to it.
CPU Temperature:          +66.0°C  
CPU Socket Temperature:   +42.0°C  
Motherboard Temperature:  +27.0°C  
Chipset Temperature:      +45.0°C  

You also maybe may be able to lower the cpu voltage to get a lower temp too. My cpu is running about 1.14 volts.

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

Those temps are not normal at all for idle, beyond what would be caused by thermal paste. Those are what you should be seeing during full load.

Could be a bad mount of the AIO pump/block, or the pump isn’t running. Is the pump plugged in?

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Seti@Home classic workunits: 29,492 CPU time: 134,419 hours

It was cool paste, or lack thereof between the CPU and pump as it had all squeezed out.

Cleaned everything off with alcohol, put brand new AS5 on, reassembled. Temps are now 48.5-54C idle.

My two case fans are dead, will have to change those out.

Ps, can't put the system under load yet as it's only got one empty SSD in.

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Temps are now 48.5-54C idle.

That's still way too hot for idle. something is wrong.

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Seti@Home classic workunits: 29,492 CPU time: 134,419 hours

Perhaps, but that's for later. I can't do much with it with two of the three fans inoperable anyway. It's not the hub, as these fans don't do anything directly on the motherboard either. So off to Alternate to complain.

Edit: changed the voltages as according to JayzTwoCents advice, that didn't do anything for the temps. So that's probably still either the pump not connecting correctly to the CPU, or too much. (Have I said already I hate Corsair?)

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Turned the screws on the pump a couple of turns tighter and temps are now down to 44C. Also have a fan blowing over the pump, one of teh fans that didn't work earlier decided to come back to life. They both work btw, I tried them on the fan splitter with Molex connector that I have lying cooling my Android farm. They had no trouble starting there.

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The temps in the BIOS at idle are high when the cpu is on Auto. The Auto voltage is much too high than needed. You also need to have all the power saving features like Cool n' Quiet and C-states enabled to get the cpu to drop voltage. When you actually boot into an OS, the idle temps will drop.

The proper solution is to take the cpu off Auto and put in a manual voltage with offset.

Just a FYI, since I don't know what OS you are going to run. Without any software controlling the AIO, the AIO defaults to a medium speed setting for both pump speed and fans. The pump controller is also the fan controller. That may be why your fans don't run, no software telling the controller to turn them on. Solution is to take the radiator fans off the pump controller and plug them directly into the motherboard fan headers for the BIOS to control. You will want to run the pump and fans at maximum speed for a 3900X.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

The proper solution is to take the cpu off Auto and put in a manual voltage with offset.

Yeah, I already did that. And changed the voltages on some of the settings. Others were all right (like VDDP and RAM). This motherboard has three different OC settings, one day I may just set everything up by hand in the ultimate OC settings menu. ;-)

Just a FYI, since I don't know what OS you are going to run. Without any software controlling the AIO, the AIO defaults to a medium speed setting for both pump speed and fans. The pump controller is also the fan controller. That may be why your fans don't run, no software telling the controller to turn them on. Solution is to take the radiator fans off the pump controller and plug them directly into the motherboard fan headers for the BIOS to control. You will want to run the pump and fans at maximum speed for a 3900X.

Ah, that explains things. I'll be installing Windows 10 on it... tomorrow.
Was just busy cleaning up my SSD and HDD in my old system, but for now decided I will only move the old SSD over, then I'll have 2 x 1TB SSDs in the new system, ought to be enough for now. I can always move the 6TB HDD over. Or else just share it via the network.

One thing I hope is that the GPU doesn't have problems as I won't be able to easily remove it again. I moved it over to the first PCIe slot, because the slot it sat in was in line with the CMOS reset switch, with the whole videocard blocking that switch. So I moved the USB-C connector cable to the next cable management hole, moved the GPU over... and found that the locking mechanism now can't be depressed as it rests on the M.2 cover plate/heat sink. Someone at Asrock didn't have a good design day when they put this together. :P

So in order for me to remove the videocard, I'll first have to remove the M.2 SSD cover plate/heat sink, only then can I depress the locking mechanism on the PCIe slot.

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Normally you would install the gpu in the PCIe slot closest to the cpu socket. Also, I don't know how your board configures the M.2 slots. but on the ASUS boards, the M.2 slot closest the cpu socket IS NOT the preferred slot. If you install the M.2 SSD in that position it knocks the GPU slot speed down to X8 instead of X16. The preferred slot for M.2 SSD on my C7H boards is the M.2 position down at the bottom of the board near the reset button and USB headers.

You might want to read your manual and see if you should have the M.2 in a different slot and that won't interfere with installing or removing the gpu.


You will either want to control your rad fans from the BIOS or via the Corsair software to run them full speed. The fact that the pump and fans default to medium speed is a problem when you use an AIO in Linux as there is no manufacturer software to control them. I found an independent developer that wrote some software than controls Asetek AIO's in Linux that works.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Normally you would install the gpu in the PCIe slot closest to the cpu socket. Also, I don't know how your board configures the M.2 slots. but on the ASUS boards, the M.2 slot closest the cpu socket IS NOT the preferred slot. If you install the M.2 SSD in that position it knocks the GPU slot speed down to X8 instead of X16.

It is the the Asrock own M.2 Ultra slot with 4GB/sec bandwidth.
As for x8 or x16, since my motherboard has the X470 chipset, and thus PCIe 3.0 slots, it doesn't really matter that much. What I will lose in bandwidth speed is negligible.

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