Loading...
> >

AMD's ThreadRipper and Intels Core X announced!

13»

Comments

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,020
    edited June 2017

    ...as to naming conventions, I have to agree on "Threadripper". It sounds more appropriate for a gaming rig than a professional workstation. Kind of like memory names such as "Ripjaws" (wasn't that the name of a cartoon shark character?) or "Dominator".

    I do like "Zen" as well though.

    Post edited by kyoto kid on
  • AlienRendersAlienRenders Posts: 793
    edited June 2017
    tj_1ca9500b said:
    ghosty12 said:

     

    Actually, to me it feels like AMD is 'out of position' at the moment.  Vega and Threadripper weren't ready for a Computex release, which I think they would have preferred, but due to various issues it wasn't meant to be.

    We've known about Naples since at least March if not before, and Threadripper is for all intents and purposes a lower core count Naples, with half of it's total modules not installed/activated.  I think AMD would have been happier if Threadripper/Naples had been far enough along that they could have had review copies ready for the press, or at least a whole bunch of demos at the various product booths with Threadripper and Vega, so that the tech journalists could have played with them a bit and shared their impressions, and that Threadripper had been ready for a June launch.  Sure late July-August isn't that far away, but if Intel had been able to execute better, yeah AMD would have been at a significant disadvantage right now.  And, in fact, we may see sone of the new Skylake-X's in mid to late June, so Intel isn't in that bad of a position at the moment.

     

    AMD's hardware takes a year between the final design and a shipped product. So Threadripper is not an afterthought. AMD decided well over a year ago and is progressing exactly as intended. High end Ryzen R7 is shipped first to get ethusiasts a hold of it who tend to be more knowledgable and motherboard manufacturers to work out any memory and bios issues. Then R5. Then would come the HEDT platfrom (High End DeskTop) which is two Ryzens on the same chip with Threadripper (from 10 to 16 cores/32 threads). R3's should be coming out soon as well. And finally, Epyc for the server market (32 cores/64 threads). They need to make sure everything is stable before they release the server CPU's.

    As for Vega, they got hit with HBM2 shortages. So that product did get delayed.

    However, note that Zen 2 and Vega 2's (Navi) designs have already been finalized and have entered the hardware testing phase. AMD is now working on Zen 3 and Vega 3 for 2019-2020.

    https://hothardware.com/news/amd-confirms-7nm-tape-out-2h-2017-navi-zen-2

    Oh, and Threadripper is one of the best names ever for a CPU. :)

    Post edited by AlienRenders on
  • BobvanBobvan Posts: 2,652
    kyoto kid said:
    linvanchene said:

    @ OT "memory usage issue".

    Edited: replaced longer explanation

    -> Please check this guide to find out how much of your installed VRAM is available on your system directly with DAZ Studio and NVidia Iray:

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/172866/quick-guide-finding-information-about-vram-directly-in-daz-studio

    - - -

    - - -

    @ "wait and see" approach:

    Thank you for sharing the video.

    It feels like there is a risk of a growing gap between available features on chips and mother boards:

     consumer vs high end

    This raises concerns for the future ability to build affordable systems with enough PCI lanes for multiple GPU.

    - - -

    @ 9:08

     If you only take one thing away from this in simplified form:

    "Build the best thing you can for the best price you can deliver it". yes

    - - -

     

    ...according to the log file, the rendering GPUs lose 1.9 GB. That is fairly significant particularly if you create large scenes. @ JamesJAB: As to the Quadro K4000M maybe it is due to other factors such as drivers (which are different from the GTX series ones) or differences in architecture. A 1080 Ti is expensive enough, for most of us a Quadro is out of the question.

    Considering the quatro is price of my new rig which was more then I was planning on. I would say so..

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,020
    edited June 2017

    ...for the price of a Quadro P6000 (5,000$) I could build a pretty shredding system. particularly with the forthcoming 16 core AMD CPU with dual 1080 TI's and a boatload of memory. 

    Post edited by kyoto kid on
  • BobvanBobvan Posts: 2,652
    edited June 2017
    kyoto kid said:

    ...for the price of a Quadro P6000 (5,000$) I could build a pretty shredding system. particularly with the forthcoming 16 core AMD CPU with dual 1080 TI's and a boatload of memory. 

     

    I built mine for approx that (keep in mind that's CAD). Like I mentioned I only spent 1200 out of pocket. It will be less since not only did I get speed advantage. I just posted my new renders on my sites and receiving alot of feedback how my work has improved in turn brigning in more commish work im actually backed up.. I noticed that toggling cpu & gpu will help with heavier scenes that take longer..

    Post edited by Bobvan on
  • tj_1ca9500btj_1ca9500b Posts: 2,057
    AlienRenders said:
    tj_1ca9500b said:
    ghosty12 said:

     

    Actually, to me it feels like AMD is 'out of position' at the moment.  Vega and Threadripper weren't ready for a Computex release, which I think they would have preferred, but due to various issues it wasn't meant to be.

    We've known about Naples since at least March if not before, and Threadripper is for all intents and purposes a lower core count Naples, with half of it's total modules not installed/activated.  I think AMD would have been happier if Threadripper/Naples had been far enough along that they could have had review copies ready for the press, or at least a whole bunch of demos at the various product booths with Threadripper and Vega, so that the tech journalists could have played with them a bit and shared their impressions, and that Threadripper had been ready for a June launch.  Sure late July-August isn't that far away, but if Intel had been able to execute better, yeah AMD would have been at a significant disadvantage right now.  And, in fact, we may see sone of the new Skylake-X's in mid to late June, so Intel isn't in that bad of a position at the moment.

     

    AMD's hardware takes a year between the final design and a shipped product. So Threadripper is not an afterthought. AMD decided well over a year ago and is progressing exactly as intended. High end Ryzen R7 is shipped first to get ethusiasts a hold of it who tend to be more knowledgable and motherboard manufacturers to work out any memory and bios issues. Then R5. Then would come the HEDT platfrom (High End DeskTop) which is two Ryzens on the same chip with Threadripper (from 10 to 16 cores/32 threads). R3's should be coming out soon as well. And finally, Epyc for the server market (32 cores/64 threads). They need to make sure everything is stable before they release the server CPU's.

    As for Vega, they got hit with HBM2 shortages. So that product did get delayed.

    However, note that Zen 2 and Vega 2's (Navi) designs have already been finalized and have entered the hardware testing phase. AMD is now working on Zen 3 and Vega 3 for 2019-2020.

    https://hothardware.com/news/amd-confirms-7nm-tape-out-2h-2017-navi-zen-2

    Oh, and Threadripper is one of the best names ever for a CPU. :)

    I never said that Threadripper was an afterthought, just pointing out that it's a Naples CPU, just like EPYC.  Hence why Threadripper and EPYC share the same size CPU package and reportedly the same 4094 pin count.  AMD's gamble here is that enthusiasts are ready for a server class CPU.  Until this year, a 16 core anything CPU was pretty much limited to a server class CPU, or dual/multi socket machines.

    I remember drooling over a 4 socket motherboard once, and pondering it's potential performance as a workstation/gaming rig...

    Mind you, I think that some enthusiasts have been waiting for 'affordable' server class, gamer friendly CPUs for a while for their gaming rigs, as well as visualization professionals/professional 3d artists, and if the reported $849 pricing for Threadripper 16 is accurate, yeah that's in Enthusiast territory.  So it's not a bad thing.  But my point r.e. AMD seeming to be 'out of position' for Computex still holds true, as I'm sure they would have liked to have had live Threadripper product demonstrations at the various Computex booths if they could have, instead of just showing off a demo or two during press conferences. 

    Let's just hope that those server sized Threadripper CPU coolers are quiet... there's always water cooling to help keep things nice and quiet...

    It looks like the 10 core Intel Skylake-X's and accompanying motherboards will be available shortly, and I would not be surprised to see them launch before Threadripper.  I'm curious as to how fast Intel can get the 12 core variant to market though, I"m guesstimating maybe a couple of weeks behind the 10 cores at the earliest?  We'll see.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,020

    I remember drooling over a 4 socket motherboard once, and pondering it's potential performance as a workstation/gaming rig...

    ...yeah but a four socket board required Windows Server edition which is not only very expensive but has some shortcomings when it comes to more general computing use compared to mainstream versions of the Windows OS. 

  • tj_1ca9500btj_1ca9500b Posts: 2,057
    edited June 2017

    @ kyoto kid

    Still, it looked cool at the time, hence my drooling over it.  It was well outside of my budget at the time anyways...

    @ everyone

    OK, I saw this mention of when the NDA on the first batch of Skylake X reviews will supposedly be lifted.  12 June...

    The article I saw this in also mentions a 26 May launch/available for retail date (as I type this), I presume they meant 26 June... It also has some extreme LN2 overclocking results for you to drool over, so don't get TOO excited about the leaked benchmarks unless you happen to have a liquid nitrogen cooling system at your disposal...

    http://wccftech.com/intel-core-i7-7800x-7900x-i9-7900x-cpu-benchmarks-leaked/

    Post edited by tj_1ca9500b on
  • AJ2112AJ2112 Posts: 1,416

    8 core cpu has been blazing fast for me !  Can't wait for release of Ryzen 16 core. 

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,020
    tj_1ca9500b said:

    @ kyoto kid

    Still, it looked cool at the time, hence my drooling over it.  It was well outside of my budget at the time anyways...

    @ everyone

    OK, I saw this mention of when the NDA on the first batch of Skylake X reviews will supposedly be lifted.  12 June...

    The article I saw this in also mentions a 26 May launch/available for retail date (as I type this), I presume they meant 26 June... It also has some extreme LN2 overclocking results for you to drool over, so don't get TOO excited about the leaked benchmarks unless you happen to have a liquid nitrogen cooling system at your disposal...

    http://wccftech.com/intel-core-i7-7800x-7900x-i9-7900x-cpu-benchmarks-leaked/

    ...think I might have picked one those cooling units up at a NASA garage sale a while back, have to check the storage locker.

  • JamesJABJamesJAB Posts: 1,760
    edited June 2017
    kyoto kid said:
    linvanchene said:

    @ OT "memory usage issue".

    Edited: replaced longer explanation

    -> Please check this guide to find out how much of your installed VRAM is available on your system directly with DAZ Studio and NVidia Iray:

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/172866/quick-guide-finding-information-about-vram-directly-in-daz-studio

    - - -

    - - -

    @ "wait and see" approach:

    Thank you for sharing the video.

    It feels like there is a risk of a growing gap between available features on chips and mother boards:

     consumer vs high end

    This raises concerns for the future ability to build affordable systems with enough PCI lanes for multiple GPU.

    - - -

    @ 9:08

     If you only take one thing away from this in simplified form:

    "Build the best thing you can for the best price you can deliver it". yes

    - - -

     

    ...according to the log file, the rendering GPUs lose 1.9 GB. That is fairly significant particularly if you create large scenes. @ JamesJAB: As to the Quadro K4000M maybe it is due to other factors such as drivers (which are different from the GTX series ones) or differences in architecture. A 1080 Ti is expensive enough, for most of us a Quadro is out of the question.

    After looking into my Studio Log file...   4GB - Actively used memory (300MB because of open things) - 3.35428 (available for Iray) = 350MB Reserved by Windows 10 Pro.
    Though I know I've seen my Vram usage on my task bar sit at just over 4000MB while running an Iray render.  I'll need to see if I can recreate that scenario.

    ***Edit***
    Currently running an Iray render and MSI Afterburner is reporting 3984MB Vram usage.

    Post edited by JamesJAB on
  • tj_1ca9500btj_1ca9500b Posts: 2,057
    edited June 2017

    Sooo, Threadripper in August according to the rumors.  And Dell is apparently the only OEM that will be releasing Threadripper systems this year (buotique builders and DIY enthusiasts will have Threadripper too, assuming supply is there).

    Between now and then, we have EPYC.  Videocardz has posted some info on the EPYC product line, on which the NDA is supposed to be lifted on June 20th (5 days form now).

    https://videocardz.com/70266/amd-epyc-7000-series-specs-and-performance-leaked

    The 'low end' offerings look intriguing from a pricing standpoint, as (according to the info contained in the article) they will ALL have 8 memory channels and 128 PCIe lanes available...

    The lowest end 2P processor (8c/16t) is listed at >400 on price (so 2 processors, >800), and the lowest 1P processor (16c/32t) is listed at >700 on price.  My only questions now are how much are the mobos, and  how well will these play with (multiple) Nvidia GPUs... I haven't seen anything that specifically says that NVidia GPUs can't be used....  I guess we'll find out in 5 days or so!

    The >700 for the 16c/32 part lends credence to the rumored pricing of Threadripper at $849.  The EPYC part apparently has a lower clock speed than the Threadrippper part, so the lower pricing makes sense to me.  We'll learn more in the coming weeks as the products are officially launched, so it'll be interesting to see how accurate the leaks have been,

    Post edited by tj_1ca9500b on
  • tj_1ca9500btj_1ca9500b Posts: 2,057
    edited June 2017

    Here's a i9-7900x 10 core review, courtesy of Hexus.net.  They aren't under NDA apparently, having acquired their CPU via other means, so they were able to publish their results before the official NDA is lifted (which will be Monday apparently).

    http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/107017-intel-core-i9-7900x-14nm-skylake-x/

     

    Post edited by tj_1ca9500b on
  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,020
    tj_1ca9500b said:

    Sooo, Threadripper in August according to the rumors.  And Dell is apparently the only OEM that will be releasing Threadripper systems this year (buotique builders and DIY enthusiasts will have Threadripper too, assuming supply is there).

    Between now and then, we have EPYC.  Videocardz has posted some info on the EPYC product line, on which the NDA is supposed to be lifted on June 20th (5 days form now).

    https://videocardz.com/70266/amd-epyc-7000-series-specs-and-performance-leaked

    The 'low end' offerings look intriguing from a pricing standpoint, as (according to the info contained in the article) they will ALL have 8 memory channels and 128 PCIe lanes available...

    The lowest end 2P processor (8c/16t) is listed at >400 on price (so 2 processors, >800), and the lowest 1P processor (16c/32t) is listed at >700 on price.  My only questions now are how much are the mobos, and  how well will these play with (multiple) Nvidia GPUs... I haven't seen anything that specifically says that NVidia GPUs can't be used....  I guess we'll find out in 5 days or so!

    The >700 for the 16c/32 part lends credence to the rumored pricing of Threadripper at $849.  The EPYC part apparently has a lower clock speed than the Threadrippper part, so the lower pricing makes sense to me.  We'll learn more in the coming weeks as the products are officially launched, so it'll be interesting to see how accurate the leaks have been,

    ...hmmm 32 cores 64 threads for the single socket 7551 with 21% better performance than dual 10 core Broadwell E5-2640 v4s (total of 40 threads) at about the same price.  Interesting.

  • tj_1ca9500btj_1ca9500b Posts: 2,057
    edited June 2017

    Monday looks to be a very busy days for reviewers Kyoto Kid!  Both Skylake-X and EPYC review NDA's get lifted on Monday apparently.  I'm sure I'll be reading a bunch of reviews...

    What did you think of the Hexus review of the i9-7900x?  Not looking too shabby/pretty good so far...

    Also, here's an interesting article about Intel's mesh architecture (their answer/take r.e. AMD's Infinity Fabric ):

    http://wccftech.com/intel-skylake-x-skylake-sp-mesh-architecture-interconnect/

    Post edited by tj_1ca9500b on
  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,020
    edited June 2017

    ..fascinating.

    Comparing the Ryzen to the 7900x, no contest as Ryzen only supports dual channel memory. (and a limited amount at that) and has only 24 PCI lanes whereas the 7900x supports 4 channels, has 44 PCI lanes and a higher Turbo boost. The other drift I am getting is the X299 boards may undercut the price of the X399 boards for Threadripper.

    Yeah Monday looks to be an exciting day indeed. Can't wait.

    Post edited by kyoto kid on
  • cridgitcridgit Posts: 1,757
    edited May 2022

    Redacted

    Post edited by cridgit on
  • JamesJABJamesJAB Posts: 1,760
    kyoto kid said:

    ..fascinating.

    Comparing the Ryzen to the 7900x, no contest as Ryzen only supports dual channel memory. (and a limited amount at that) and has only 24 PCI lanes whereas the 7900x supports 4 channel;s, has 44 PCI lanes and a higher Turbo boost. The other drift I am getting is the X299 boards may undercut the price of the X399 boards for Threadripper.

    Yeah Monday looks to be an exciting day indeed. Can't wait.

    Hmmm, looking at Intel's spec sheet...
    140W for a 10 core processor?  That's quite high compared to what's being listed for Threadripper 125W for the 10 cores and all but the fastest 12 core.

    And.... lol.... what kind of braindead reviewer would try puting a $1000 10 core 140W CPU head to head with a $450 8 core 95W CPU. and then go on to talk like AMD is behind in the CPU arms race.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,463
    JamesJAB said:
    kyoto kid said:

    ..fascinating.

    Comparing the Ryzen to the 7900x, no contest as Ryzen only supports dual channel memory. (and a limited amount at that) and has only 24 PCI lanes whereas the 7900x supports 4 channel;s, has 44 PCI lanes and a higher Turbo boost. The other drift I am getting is the X299 boards may undercut the price of the X399 boards for Threadripper.

    Yeah Monday looks to be an exciting day indeed. Can't wait.

    Hmmm, looking at Intel's spec sheet...
    140W for a 10 core processor?  That's quite high compared to what's being listed for Threadripper 125W for the 10 cores and all but the fastest 12 core.

    And.... lol.... what kind of braindead reviewer would try puting a $1000 10 core 140W CPU head to head with a $450 8 core 95W CPU. and then go on to talk like AMD is behind in the CPU arms race.

    I have seen comments that the figures cannot be taken at face value, however.

  • tj_1ca9500btj_1ca9500b Posts: 2,057
    edited June 2017
    JamesJAB said:
    kyoto kid said:

    ..fascinating.

    Comparing the Ryzen to the 7900x, no contest as Ryzen only supports dual channel memory. (and a limited amount at that) and has only 24 PCI lanes whereas the 7900x supports 4 channel;s, has 44 PCI lanes and a higher Turbo boost. The other drift I am getting is the X299 boards may undercut the price of the X399 boards for Threadripper.

    Yeah Monday looks to be an exciting day indeed. Can't wait.

    Hmmm, looking at Intel's spec sheet...
    140W for a 10 core processor?  That's quite high compared to what's being listed for Threadripper 125W for the 10 cores and all but the fastest 12 core.

    And.... lol.... what kind of braindead reviewer would try puting a $1000 10 core 140W CPU head to head with a $450 8 core 95W CPU. and then go on to talk like AMD is behind in the CPU arms race.

    Hexus apparently wasn't able to source an EPYC processor and mobo.  But until Threadripper actually hits the market in August, yeah the 7900x will have the high end enthusiast market all to itself.  Unless  of course if AMD's EPYC processors are: 1) competitively priced with 7900x and 2) usable by performance enthusiasts with few or no issues.  My guess though is that the server community will vacuum up EPYC in the short term, hence not making it a viable option for most enthusiasts between now and August.

    But yeah, the price/performance thing is a big deal.  Which is why the 6 core Ryzens are so attractive at the moment to so many midrange enthusiasts. 12 threads is more than sufficient these days for many midrange enthusiasts, and leaves the door open for 8 cores later (possibly even more if AMD adds more cores to the Zen+ die), if they feel the need to upgrade.

    I have to say, having 128 PCi E lanes available seems pretty forward thinking to me from an enthusiast standpoint.  For those of us looking at feature sets with an eye on the future, IF I can put EPYC to use, yeah I may decide to go full EPYC rather than just Threadripper (I'm greedy that way).  Sure, I may not be able to afford the 32 core right  now (>$4000 is a bit rich), but as 7 nm Zen comes online in the coming years, the 14nm versions may drop significantly in price.  And the 16 core version is reportedly listed at >$700, albiet at lower clocks than Threadripper.  IF the server version has some overclocking capability/headroom, and can hit similar clocks to Threadripper... Well this is why the Monday reviews will be of great interest to me.

    I'm looking for good options for Quad GPUs (as budget allows), don't really care so much about gaming these days (not a first person shooter fan), I'm looking at content production.  Having 4 unrestricted PCIe-16 lanes, with more channels for storage and other uses on top of that, AND maybe the possibility of a 5th, 6th, GPU on top of all that in addition (as budget allows)... not to mention 8 channel memory... well you can see the dream I think!  Thanks to the Daz/Iray partnership though, EPYC will need to play nice with Nvidia cards to make this a viable option for me, unless someone can come up with a decent Cuda emulator for Radeon cores that works in Daz.  I'd be all about the Vega Frontier with the 2 TB of onboard 'fast' storage if it wasn't for that...

    I might need a dedicated 30 amp circuit for all that though... ot two 15 amp circuits and two separate power supplies... 2400 watts is roughly 20 amps @ 120 volts as I remember.  The 1080 Ti has 250 max watts, and it's always a good idea to leave a little headroom on your circuits so that you aren't pushing your luck if say someone plugs in a vacuum cleaner while you are working... plus you don't want the wiring in your older home overheating from the load...

    But it's 6-7 high end GPUs, man.  AND a bunch of M2 storage in a fast raid configuration, with associated backup mirrors (potentially).  And maybe a high end sound card with some T3 ports in that last slot for audio recording/editing.  Think of the bling factor!  It'd take a bit to put THAT system together, but yeah I could definitely put it to good use in the coming years.  Every second matters when you are rendering, so the more seconds you can shave off of your render times, the more you can get done!  (Remembering that attributed Steve Jobs quote regarding lowering boot times, and how many lives could be saved...)

    Yeah x8 lanes aren't THAT much slower than x16 lanes for video cards, but it's the principle of the thing...

    Sorry, dreaming the dream there!  You can see why EPYC intrigues me.

    laugh

    Post edited by tj_1ca9500b on
  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,020
    JamesJAB said:
    kyoto kid said:

    ..fascinating.

    Comparing the Ryzen to the 7900x, no contest as Ryzen only supports dual channel memory. (and a limited amount at that) and has only 24 PCI lanes whereas the 7900x supports 4 channel;s, has 44 PCI lanes and a higher Turbo boost. The other drift I am getting is the X299 boards may undercut the price of the X399 boards for Threadripper.

    Yeah Monday looks to be an exciting day indeed. Can't wait.

    Hmmm, looking at Intel's spec sheet...
    140W for a 10 core processor?  That's quite high compared to what's being listed for Threadripper 125W for the 10 cores and all but the fastest 12 core.

    And.... lol.... what kind of braindead reviewer would try puting a $1000 10 core 140W CPU head to head with a $450 8 core 95W CPU. and then go on to talk like AMD is behind in the CPU arms race.

    ...True it is an unfair comparison.  if AMD also had a 10 core Ryzen (which they don't) the comparison would be more "resonable". Better to wait until Threadripper and the 7960x are out as both are 16 core/32 thread CPUs.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,020
    tj_1ca9500b said:
    JamesJAB said:
    kyoto kid said:

    ..fascinating.

    Comparing the Ryzen to the 7900x, no contest as Ryzen only supports dual channel memory. (and a limited amount at that) and has only 24 PCI lanes whereas the 7900x supports 4 channel;s, has 44 PCI lanes and a higher Turbo boost. The other drift I am getting is the X299 boards may undercut the price of the X399 boards for Threadripper.

    Yeah Monday looks to be an exciting day indeed. Can't wait.

    Hmmm, looking at Intel's spec sheet...
    140W for a 10 core processor?  That's quite high compared to what's being listed for Threadripper 125W for the 10 cores and all but the fastest 12 core.

    And.... lol.... what kind of braindead reviewer would try puting a $1000 10 core 140W CPU head to head with a $450 8 core 95W CPU. and then go on to talk like AMD is behind in the CPU arms race.

    Hexus apparently wasn't able to source an EPYC processor and mobo.  But until Threadripper actually hits the market in August, yeah the 7900x will have the high end enthusiast market all to itself.  Unless  of course if AMD's EPYC processors are: 1) competitively priced with 7900x and 2) usable by performance enthusiasts with few or no issues.  My guess though is that the server community will vacuum up EPYC in the short term, hence not making it a viable option for most enthusiasts between now and August.

    But yeah, the price/performance thing is a big deal.  Which is why the 6 core Ryzens are so attractive at the moment to so many midrange enthusiasts. 12 threads is more than sufficient these days for many midrange enthusiasts, and leaves the door open for 8 cores later (possibly even more if AMD adds more cores to the Zen+ die), if they feel the need to upgrade.

    I have to say, having 128 PCi E lanes available seems pretty forward thinking to me from an enthusiast standpoint.  For those of us looking at feature sets with an eye on the future, IF I can put EPYC to use, yeah I may decide to go full EPYC rather than just Threadripper (I'm greedy that way).  Sure, I may not be able to afford the 32 core right  now (>$4000 is a bit rich), but as 7 nm Zen comes online in the coming years, the 14nm versions may drop significantly in price.  And the 16 core version is reportedly listed at >$700, albiet at lower clocks than Threadripper.  IF the server version has some overclocking capability/headroom, and can hit similar clocks to Threadripper... Well this is why the Monday reviews will be of great interest to me.

    I'm looking for good options for Quad GPUs (as budget allows), don't really care so much about gaming these days (not a first person shooter fan), I'm looking at content production.  Having 4 unrestricted PCIe-16 lanes, with more channels for storage and other uses on top of that, AND maybe the possibility of a 5th, 6th, GPU on top of all that in addition (as budget allows)... not to mention 8 channel memory... well you can see the dream I think!  Thanks to the Daz/Iray partnership though, EPYC will need to play nice with Nvidia cards to make this a viable option for me, unless someone can come up with a decent Cuda emulator for Radeon cores that works in Daz.  I'd be all about the Vega Frontier with the 2 TB of onboard 'fast' storage if it wasn't for that...

    I might need a dedicated 30 amp circuit for all that though... ot two 15 amp circuits and two separate power supplies... 2400 watts is roughly 20 amps @ 120 volts as I remember.  The 1080 Ti has 250 max watts, and it's always a good idea to leave a little headroom on your circuits so that you aren't pushing your luck if say someone plugs in a vacuum cleaner while you are working... plus you don't want the wiring in your older home overheating from the load...

    But it's 6-7 high end GPUs, man.  AND a bunch of M2 storage in a fast raid configuration, with associated backup mirrors (potentially).  And maybe a high end sound card with some T3 ports in that last slot for audio recording/editing.  Think of the bling factor!  It'd take a bit to put THAT system together, but yeah I could definitely put it to good use in the coming years.  Every second matters when you are rendering, so the more seconds you can shave off of your render times, the more you can get done!  (Remembering that attributed Steve Jobs quote regarding lowering boot times, and how many lives could be saved...)

    Yeah x8 lanes aren't THAT much slower than x16 lanes for video cards, but it's the principle of the thing...

    Sorry, dreaming the dream there!  You can see why EPYC intrigues me.

    laugh

    ...that's no workstation, that's a mini Supercomputer....wink

  • tj_1ca9500btj_1ca9500b Posts: 2,057
    kyoto kid said:
    tj_1ca9500b said:
    JamesJAB said:
    kyoto kid said:

    ..fascinating.

    Comparing the Ryzen to the 7900x, no contest as Ryzen only supports dual channel memory. (and a limited amount at that) and has only 24 PCI lanes whereas the 7900x supports 4 channel;s, has 44 PCI lanes and a higher Turbo boost. The other drift I am getting is the X299 boards may undercut the price of the X399 boards for Threadripper.

    Yeah Monday looks to be an exciting day indeed. Can't wait.

    Hmmm, looking at Intel's spec sheet...
    140W for a 10 core processor?  That's quite high compared to what's being listed for Threadripper 125W for the 10 cores and all but the fastest 12 core.

    And.... lol.... what kind of braindead reviewer would try puting a $1000 10 core 140W CPU head to head with a $450 8 core 95W CPU. and then go on to talk like AMD is behind in the CPU arms race.

    Hexus apparently wasn't able to source an EPYC processor and mobo.  But until Threadripper actually hits the market in August, yeah the 7900x will have the high end enthusiast market all to itself.  Unless  of course if AMD's EPYC processors are: 1) competitively priced with 7900x and 2) usable by performance enthusiasts with few or no issues.  My guess though is that the server community will vacuum up EPYC in the short term, hence not making it a viable option for most enthusiasts between now and August.

    But yeah, the price/performance thing is a big deal.  Which is why the 6 core Ryzens are so attractive at the moment to so many midrange enthusiasts. 12 threads is more than sufficient these days for many midrange enthusiasts, and leaves the door open for 8 cores later (possibly even more if AMD adds more cores to the Zen+ die), if they feel the need to upgrade.

    I have to say, having 128 PCi E lanes available seems pretty forward thinking to me from an enthusiast standpoint.  For those of us looking at feature sets with an eye on the future, IF I can put EPYC to use, yeah I may decide to go full EPYC rather than just Threadripper (I'm greedy that way).  Sure, I may not be able to afford the 32 core right  now (>$4000 is a bit rich), but as 7 nm Zen comes online in the coming years, the 14nm versions may drop significantly in price.  And the 16 core version is reportedly listed at >$700, albiet at lower clocks than Threadripper.  IF the server version has some overclocking capability/headroom, and can hit similar clocks to Threadripper... Well this is why the Monday reviews will be of great interest to me.

    I'm looking for good options for Quad GPUs (as budget allows), don't really care so much about gaming these days (not a first person shooter fan), I'm looking at content production.  Having 4 unrestricted PCIe-16 lanes, with more channels for storage and other uses on top of that, AND maybe the possibility of a 5th, 6th, GPU on top of all that in addition (as budget allows)... not to mention 8 channel memory... well you can see the dream I think!  Thanks to the Daz/Iray partnership though, EPYC will need to play nice with Nvidia cards to make this a viable option for me, unless someone can come up with a decent Cuda emulator for Radeon cores that works in Daz.  I'd be all about the Vega Frontier with the 2 TB of onboard 'fast' storage if it wasn't for that...

    I might need a dedicated 30 amp circuit for all that though... ot two 15 amp circuits and two separate power supplies... 2400 watts is roughly 20 amps @ 120 volts as I remember.  The 1080 Ti has 250 max watts, and it's always a good idea to leave a little headroom on your circuits so that you aren't pushing your luck if say someone plugs in a vacuum cleaner while you are working... plus you don't want the wiring in your older home overheating from the load...

    But it's 6-7 high end GPUs, man.  AND a bunch of M2 storage in a fast raid configuration, with associated backup mirrors (potentially).  And maybe a high end sound card with some T3 ports in that last slot for audio recording/editing.  Think of the bling factor!  It'd take a bit to put THAT system together, but yeah I could definitely put it to good use in the coming years.  Every second matters when you are rendering, so the more seconds you can shave off of your render times, the more you can get done!  (Remembering that attributed Steve Jobs quote regarding lowering boot times, and how many lives could be saved...)

    Yeah x8 lanes aren't THAT much slower than x16 lanes for video cards, but it's the principle of the thing...

    Sorry, dreaming the dream there!  You can see why EPYC intrigues me.

    laugh

    ...that's no workstation, that's a mini Supercomputer....wink

    Maybe I could lease out computing time to NASA or something...

    On the multi-GPU thing, I'm thinking that after 4 the diminishing returns would not make it worth it, unless you could split up the GPUs between two tasks.  While not fully linear, 3 GPU's should have a bit over 1/3'd on the render times, 4 GPU's 1/4+, but after 4, gaining that extra 5%-ish reduction in render times for that 5th GPU may be overkill, and kind of impractical. Six would only reduce your times by maybe another 3-4%...

    BUT, if you could have two separate renders running simultaneously, with your GPU's split between the two render engines, and alternating between the projects as you work... now there's a thought!

    Even if you only had 4 GPU's, you'd still have the extra PCIe slots for other things...

    Monday will be a good day for reading!

Sign In or Register to comment.