3960x build check

MattyS22

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I'm going for max performance in LightRoom / Photoshop and then some minor video rendering and gaming. When I do game on this I want near-max performance on the latest generation of games, although I don't game that often. Single monitor setup for now; 4k 27" IPS. I already have a monitor and bulk storage so that's not in the build.

I haven't built a machine in the past 5 years, so I'm a bit out of the loop on compatibility; I think what I have below in the list will work together though. Can anyone tell me if there's any issues with fitting the components in the case together? Or how I can find out if there is an issue?

For the memory I went 3600/16, although I think it's mismatched (timings are 16-19-19). That'd be the first upgrade, I'd go with Royal series or something 16-16-16. I also may go with a Meshify case, I haven't decided that yet.

I don't want to go with a custom loop for the water cooling at this time.

Any thoughts/critiques/suggestions?

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Threadripper 3960X 3.8 GHz 24-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 5.5 g Thermal Paste
Motherboard: Asus Prime TRX40-Pro ATX sTRX4 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory
Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB FTW3 HYBRID GAMING Video Card
Case: Corsair Crystal 570X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Custom: Corsair TR4 Mounting Bracket Kit

Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-08 11:46 EST-0500
 
I'm going for max performance in LightRoom / Photoshop and then some minor video rendering and gaming. When I do game on this I want near-max performance on the latest generation of games, although I don't game that often. Single monitor setup for now; 4k 27" IPS. I already have a monitor and bulk storage so that's not in the build.

I haven't built a machine in the past 5 years, so I'm a bit out of the loop on compatibility; I think what I have below in the list will work together though. Can anyone tell me if there's any issues with fitting the components in the case together? Or how I can find out if there is an issue?

For the memory I went 3600/16, although I think it's mismatched (timings are 16-19-19). That'd be the first upgrade, I'd go with Royal series or something 16-16-16. I also may go with a Meshify case, I haven't decided that yet.

I don't want to go with a custom loop for the water cooling at this time.

Any thoughts/critiques/suggestions?

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Threadripper 3960X 3.8 GHz 24-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 5.5 g Thermal Paste
Motherboard: Asus Prime TRX40-Pro ATX sTRX4 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory
Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB FTW3 HYBRID GAMING Video Card
Case: Corsair Crystal 570X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Custom: Corsair TR4 Mounting Bracket Kit

Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-08 11:46 EST-0500
no aio better going a tr air setup. or custom if you want to oc it at all.
 
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If you want to overclock the new threadrippers pretty much need a custom loop to manage the heat. I have the Noctua TR/SP3 cooler on my 3970x and it isn't enough so building a custom loop.
 
This build is just way too much money and hardware for photoshop and lightroom.

Just get a 9900k, which Adobe runs faster on for far less money, and be happy with that.


Here read this:
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...p-Intel-vs-AMD-vs-Mac-1295/#BenchmarkAnalysis

Even the latest benches show that the Threadrippers are not photoshop saavy!

Might want to look at the 9900k or even the 3950x. Photoshop likes frequency, not cores. THat has been and still remains a rule of thumb with them. The 9900k is 99% as fast as a 3960x in Photo work at 35% of the price. Use the money to get a 2080ti.

For minor video encoding a GPU is best, hands down. Even my 2080ti can run circles around my 3960x in Davinci Resolve 16 Studio, not free, but the full version. I find my self waiting quite a long time for jobs to complete in Resolve 16 using CPU only but when I switch to my GPU is 50 to 75% faster in all metrics of video encoding in that software.

I'd even say, unless your making a living through billable jobs with photoshop, I'd get the 3800x and spend even more money on storage throughout and ram departments as well as GPU.

Mismatched timings, 16-19-19 is not even a word that applies. Those are not mismatched timings and each one has a different function. Mismatched timings would be module 1 is a 16cas module, and module 2 is a cas 18 module, and module 3 and 4 are cas 15, and you try and make them all run at cas 16. Lke mixing 3 different brands or speeds of ram and expecting to extract maximum OC out of them all together.

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Thanks for the reply; I do most of my work in LR which is why I picked the 3960, since it crushes the intel offerings at this juncture.


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If you're on a pre-cloud version of lightroom and have a newer camera that needs adobe DNG converter on the raw files before you can import them, the new threadripper crushes the conversions and uses 100% of all cores.
 
Mismatched timings, 16-19-19 is not even a word that applies. Those are not mismatched timings and each one has a different function. Mismatched timings would be module 1 is a 16cas module, and module 2 is a cas 18 module, and module 3 and 4 are cas 15, and you try and make them all run at cas 16. Lke mixing 3 different brands or speeds of ram and expecting to extract maximum OC out of them all together.

That's not how it's used in the OP's case. For lack of a better descriptor, mismatched timings indicates lower ql ram. The modules are not fast enough to run straight 16-16-16 for example. There's a huge premium for dimms that can run 16-16-16 vs el cheapo 16-19-19, etc etc.

I'm going for max performance in LightRoom / Photoshop and then some minor video rendering and gaming. When I do game on this I want near-max performance on the latest generation of games, although I don't game that often.

As tango said, TR is wasted if all you do is Adobe. And I don't get the I don't game much but when I do I want it balls out. Seems like a lot of money wasted...
 
That's not how it's used in the OP's case. For lack of a better descriptor, mismatched timings indicates lower ql ram. The modules are not fast enough to run straight 16-16-16 for example. There's a huge premium for dimms that can run 16-16-16 vs el cheapo 16-19-19, etc etc.



As tango said, TR is wasted if all you do is Adobe. And I don't get the I don't game much but when I do I want it balls out. Seems like a lot of money wasted...
You missed the most important part though...3960x are fun chips to play with and TR as a platform is way ahead of am4 if you like a lot of m2 drives / pice things. Also it's only about $800 more then going with 3950 . If money is not tight no reason not to go 3960x
 
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If you're on a pre-cloud version of lightroom and have a newer camera that needs adobe DNG converter on the raw files before you can import them, the new threadripper crushes the conversions and uses 100% of all cores.

Yah, the Puget Systems report broke out tasks really well, if you look at the comments they posted a google sheet link, it's like the 3960x was made specifically for the tasks I use the most.

That's not how it's used in the OP's case. For lack of a better descriptor, mismatched timings indicates lower ql ram. The modules are not fast enough to run straight 16-16-16 for example. There's a huge premium for dimms that can run 16-16-16 vs el cheapo 16-19-19, etc etc.

As tango said, TR is wasted if all you do is Adobe. And I don't get the I don't game much but when I do I want it balls out. Seems like a lot of money wasted...

TR crushes any Intel offering for LR, hence the choice. I do a lot of heavy volume work in LR and a 3960 would cut time down significantly; the Puget testing showed TR vastly outperforming Intel (and even the 3950) in Lightroom performance.


You missed the most important part though...3960x are fun chips to play with and TR as a platform is way ahead of am4 if you like a lot of m2 drives / pice things. Also it's only about $800 more then going with 3950 . If money is not tight no reason not to go 3960x

Yeah, money's not tight at this point, I don't mind splurging. Seems like a fun chip and platform, and after upgrading the memory I may try playing around with some m2 drives and running an array of some sort, see how fast I can get performance.
 
TR crushes any Intel offering for LR, hence the choice. I do a lot of heavy volume work in LR and a 3960 would cut time down significantly; the Puget testing showed TR vastly outperforming Intel (and even the 3950) in Lightroom performance.

If that's the case then right tool for the job. Parts wise I would suggest a larger radiator.



You missed the most important part though...3960x are fun chips to play with and TR as a platform is way ahead of am4 if you like a lot of m2 drives / pice things. Also it's only about $800 more then going with 3950 . If money is not tight no reason not to go 3960x

:rolleyes:
 
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That rig is a bit overkill huh? It's actually a decent value as far as a pro workstation goes, cough...

That's part of the reason I want to spend extra on this rig. Money isn't tight for me, but it could legitimately help me get work done faster. No lie, when I saw what you put together I started measuring in my office to see if I could fit a case like that in there..
 
That's part of the reason I want to spend extra on this rig. Money isn't tight for me, but it could legitimately help me get work done faster. No lie, when I saw what you put together I started measuring in my office to see if I could fit a case like that in there..

The x9 case isn't as tall but it is wide. That said, you could always go external radiator too. I'd also look at a Gigabyte Designaire board as its the best value in trx40 boards for its true 4 pcie slots, titan-ridge tb3 card, and the 4x bifurication aic card. That and you get the overbuilt vrms. The Designaire doesn't get the dual 10gb nics though.
 
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Unless your workflow dives straight at thread intensive workflow after single threaded minority work I don't see why you wouldn't go 9700/9900 for PS + Minor rendering + gaming.

Bc 2 out of 3 a 9600k would cover fine in a burger build with same workflow order.
 
Unless your workflow dives straight at thread intensive workflow after single threaded minority work I don't see why you wouldn't go 9700/9900 for PS + Minor rendering + gaming.

Bc 2 out of 3 a 9600k would cover fine in a burger build with same workflow order.

Majority of work is in Lightroom, they've patched extensively past two years so it takes better advantage of multi-core.
 
Well if you get a 3960x youll love it!

But just make sure your not spending 700 or 1000 more or whatever the cost to shave off 5 seconds total on a batch job. Id make damn sure but its your money and the 24core is a monster.
 
Well if you get a 3960x youll love it!

But just make sure your not spending 700 or 1000 more or whatever the cost to shave off 5 seconds total on a batch job. Id make damn sure but its your money and the 24core is a monster.

Yeah, this thread has made me think about it a lot more....the quad channel memory capabilities of the 3960x really make it stand out to me. I get what you're saying about going with a 3950x (for example) and upgrading other specs though. It seems like as time goes on I'm doing more and more video editing, which also clouds things for me. I'm somewhat hamstrung.



whoah, thanks...I completely missed that, thank you very much!
 
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