AMD Ryzen Threadripper Unboxing - Hilarity Ensues

I sense a great AMD marketing opportunity here.

"Introducing AMD BoxRipper! The only approved AMD tool to remove your ThreadRipper from its AMD box. Coming soon to a store near you!"
 
looks like they repurposed ramen noodle bowls for packaging. heh

I was going to say they got a deal on a bunch of potted plants for the office and recycled em... but perhaps your right and they did their recycling out of the break room.
 
Did you get a numbered CPU encased paperweight with HardOCP on it?

4_-_paperweight_575px.png
 
did they spell kyle with a 6

I noticed in the video there looks like a clear plastic shield on the bottom of the processor...is that just a camera thing or is that something that has to be removed.


at least they should have the moron that came up with this try it out in the breakroom with the other morons working there
 
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Ouch, spotted the pins bent as soon as the socket was opened :(
 
Man, when Microcenter stocks these chips... it will be interesting to see the price wars between Intel and AMD at the upper end. I might double down for two 8 core threadrippers at that point with some MC discounts.
 
Yea, those cases are money!

I love Pelican cases. Have you seen the Plasticase Nanuk series though? Absolute plastic insanity (in the best possible way). I occasionally build synthesizers into them. I'll dig up a pic if I have one.
 
As 'the guy' who inserted a 486DX 90 degrees rotated I am confident I will NEVER assemble a Threadripper based computer.

My little brother and I did that once back in the day. Shot flames out of the socket when we powered it on.

We pried the CPU out, put it in the correct way and it still worked.
 
My little brother and I did that once back in the day. Shot flames out of the socket when we powered it on.

We pried the CPU out, put it in the correct way and it still worked.

Good old .5 micron process. :D
 
UPDATE: After spending some time with this damaged TR4 socket underneath my lighted 4X magnifying glass, I am not confident that I can repair the bent pins to my satisfaction. I am using a set of tweezers comparable to a fine dental pick. I have always been able to fix bent pins on damaged Intel LGA sockets. That is not the case here. With 4,096 pins in this TR4 socket, these pins are incredibly close to each other, and while I have gotten those "unbent," I am far from being sure that those pins are aligned correctly. The pins are of course compressed when you put the processor in the socket, and I have to feel that they might move differently than originally intended to under that pressure. I simply do not feel as though I would want to risk putting my brand new Threadripper into this socket and turning the power on.
 
Just need a hacksaw to get it out of those, friggin blister packs :p

That was the processor I used in my second computer (first build). I remember I used scissors to cut around the edges, leaving those sharp plastic shards. I kept that box until I sold all of it years later along with the MSI K8T NEO FS2R mobo, ATI 9600XT, with Arctic Cooling aftermarket cooler and voltage mod, and a couple of GBs of RAM. Good times.
 
What you did there...I see it. Maybe this will help.

After multiple failed attempts to open it with the ClawHammer, I'd say smash it with a SledgeHammer and then send it around the world (NewCastle, San Diego, Paris, Venice, Brisbane, Manchester...) to be seen as an example of what would happen when a manufacturer decide to use "frustration-full" packaging :p.
 
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Should have given the package to an airline luggage handler, they would have had that packaging demolished instantly.
 
I know people used to fix the pins with an old mechanical pencil but if that is too big you maybe could use a syringe
The problem is not getting the pins back "straight" it is the fact that those now have creases in them and when they flex they do not bend exactly straight up and down anymore. This is not exactly my first pin-fixing rodeo. With the contact points so incredibly close together on the CPU, I am not confident that the pins will not contact adjacent contact points or other pins. And of course that would not be good.

Edit: And just to add, I got the needle tweezers when I need better control than something like a mechanical pencil. You have better control with the tweezers.
 
I personally have used an X-acto knife handle and blade to straighten out socket 1366 pins, but these guys seem extra tiny and closer together.

Damn shame to see new hardware get broken before you can burn it up proper!!
 
I personally have used an X-acto knife handle and blade to straighten out socket 1366 pins, but these guys seem extra tiny and closer together.

Damn shame to see new hardware get broken before you can burn it up proper!!
Yeah, there is only about 3,000 more pins stuffed down in this socket. These pins are in no way comparable to Intel LGA pins of the past. Angel hair....
 
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Well, if I get the chance to get a Threadripper setup, I am pretty sure I will get one pre-mounted from the local Altex so they can worry about the mis-braiding the angel hair.
 
So amd is new at the socket design intel has been using for years now, so anyone buying a thread ripper is a beta tester now for the socket?
 
So amd is new at the socket design intel has been using for years now, so anyone buying a thread ripper is a beta tester now for the socket?

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a much better way to do it, unless maybe they go back to slotted CPUs or something. (and that wouldn't be a BETTER way, just ANOTHER way really) Not a lot of ways to get that much IO into such a relatively small space. Actually, I'm not sure that a slotted design would even be possible at these speeds. Trace lengths need to be dealt with carefully on the board the higher the speed goes.
 
So amd is new at the socket design intel has been using for years now, so anyone buying a thread ripper is a beta tester now for the socket?

Wrong. They've both been using LGA. This is just the first AMD has used it for desktops. The TR4 is just very dense so everything is even smaller meaning one has to be extra careful.
 
So amd is new at the socket design intel has been using for years now, so anyone buying a thread ripper is a beta tester now for the socket?

Not at all. You are dealing with a chip that has 4 WHOLE CPUs ON IT! That is, by necessity, a flaming fuck-ton of pins. They had 2 choices - make the socket bigger OR make the pins/pads smaller. People are already whining about the size of the CPU.

It seems to me that AMD has done the best they could in this circumstance and engineered this thing so that you don't have contact with the actual socket at all as opposed to the the Intel Plop & Pray. It seems to me the most dangerous part of the operation is the removal of the socket shroud, and that in itself isn't too terrible. Kyle himself stated that he accidentally messed up those pins trying to put the socket shroud back into place. This is not an unusual thing for a video reviewer, such as Kyle, to be doing. He understandably wanted a practice run before filming to make the best quality video demonstration of how to get this thing together from start to finish. Typical consumers aren't very likely to be doing this.

The lesson to be gained here is really this: Don't remove the shroud until you are ready to populate the socket. Unless you have a really bad case of the clumsies and drop something in the actual socket before you get the chip seated, you should be fine.
 
Wrong. They've both been using LGA. This is just the first AMD has used it for desktops. The TR4 is just very dense so everything is even smaller meaning one has to be extra careful.
That is correct. AMD used LGA sockets with Socket F, Socket G34 and Socket C32 for the older Opteron series. The problem as you said is density. IIRC, Socket G34 had 1944 pins. The most pins any Intel Socket has is 3647 for the top level Xeon processors.

The AMD ThreadRipper (socket TR4) and AMD Epyc (socket SP3) both use 4096 pins, albeit arranged differently. That dramatic increase in pin count can be attributed to the 8 channel memory (2 more than Intel Xeon) as each 288 pins on the DIMM slots connects directly to the CPU socket.
 
Kyle, whatcha going to do with the bent pin board? You can happily mail it my way if you can't find another use for it. :whistle:
 
Ouch. Back when we put together socket 2011 boxes for us developers, I bent the pins on one. At least the mounting system looks fool proof enough. Looking forward to the benchmarks to know if I'm going AMD or Intel this next time around.
 
"That's all there is to it."

That's the first time I'll need to use tools to open a CPU case.

Kyle, can you tell us when the benchmark NDA is up? I'm getting bluer balls than a high school boy at prom night waiting for you and your crew's review. Especially for that 1950x.

According to Hardware Unboxed, he said one week from today. As in today's timestamp.
 
I would imagine sellers want smaller boxes for shelf/Inventory space and not large containers. I thought for second there Kyle would cut his hand on edge of plastic when he tried to rip the packaging out with hand. The packaging definitely would fail Amazon's "frustration-free packaging".
 
Heh, giggled like a little boy, "maybe a hammer."

Perhaps some leftover fireworks from the 4th?
 
Hard to believe they actually paid some engineer to come up with that.
ummm no. I'd say it was marketing that come up with that. No engineeris involved there (well, aside from the brilliantly designed inner tray / mechanism.. aka real engineering).
 
Not sure about that. I've used .7 mechanical pencils for bent LGA pins and I've found that it's perfect for catching the pin and then bending it or aligning it back because it hooks/lock it in. Of course though the lead has to be removed. I think tweezers or anything else wouldn't be as easy as a mechanical pencil. I've had some luck with a thumbtack as well.

Kyle what happens when you remove the processor from the LGA socket after you repaired it? Do the pins sit well or align well once the processor has been clamped and locked in after you repaired/realigned the pins.
OK. Noted. Board is gone back to Gigabyte.
 
What shocked me about this video is how you touch the processors contacts with your bare fingers repeatedly before installing it in the socket!

In most cases that will really make no difference at all. If you or your space is prone to static buildup, then maybe some precaution is recommended. If you have really oily skin, then that may also be a concern. If you build a hundred systems/test setups a week, you'll have a pretty good idea of whether any of this is a concern or not. (At least in my opinion.) I've worked in hardware compatibility labs before (several actually) and routinely swapped hardware in and out of testbeds with pretty much zero precaution.

I'll build systems right on the living room floor sometimes, or even in one of the rooms that has carpet. I'm taking a superstitious risk :D saying this, but I've never had a problem. hehehe I haven't zapped any sensitive discrete components either when building any of the circuits that I design. (FETs, logic ICs, etc.)

I've heard plenty of horror-stories though, and they must come from somewhere. I just haven't experienced any of it myself.
 
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