New chess rig

[brianr]

If you are at all interested in NN engines near term (other than SF-NNUE which is CPU) before getting a better one, that graphics card is quite low-end. EVGA b-stock Nvidia RTX GPUs are on sale most Wednesdays. An RTX 2060 is typically $300 and the best price/performance at the moment. Leela now supports AMD GPUs quite well with the DX12 backend. Intel just announced delays; perhaps other vendors will be pushing back new products too.

Hehe, runs quite well is quite an overstatement. Could you give us typical benchmark number of T60 net on RX 5700 XT for example? Should be comparable to similarly priced RTX 2070S, except it's nowhere near .

Yes, it was an overstatement.

I should have said very poor AMD Leela performance has improved with the DX12 backend and RTX is still by far the best.
The performance of the GPU mentioned is just so low relative to the rest of the rig, hence the 2060 suggestion.
If you don't care about Leela, not sure it matters all that much.
What will happen with 30x0 Ampere series and future high-end AMD I don't know.

[cma6]

I'm considering building a new chess rig built around either the AMD Threadripper 3960X 3.7 GHz 24-Core Processor or
AMD Threadripper 3970X 3.7 GHz 32-Core Processor. Here is a first cut at other components and would appreciate advice from the expert builders.

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3

Mobo: ASUS AMD AM4 ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) ATX

Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 128 GB (8 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16

2 X Intel 660p Series 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB Phoenix OC

Since I am expecting game changing GPUs from AMD in the near future, there is no high end GPU in the system.

Can I do with slower RAM than the very expensive G.Skill 128 GB kit?

What about the mobo for high end TR chip?

Thanks in advance, CMA

AMD ZEN CPU's benefit from faster memory upto about 3600Mhz or so. If you are going to use Noctua's NH-U14S make sure you get low profile ram that will actually fit under the 140mm fan. If the memory is too tall it will require the fan to be mounted much higher on the cooler, so it will be less effective. In addition, if you have a "normal" case you may not be able to put the side on with the fan in this position. There are cases that are wide enough to allow this to work, but mounting the fan that high isn't good for keeping the CPU cool. You could reduce the fan to 120mm but these aren't nearly as good with this cooler because of the heat-pipe locations. I would also buy a second 140mm fan for a push-pull configuration. Noctua includes a second mounting clip for another fan.

If you plan on upgrading to 256Gb in the future (I always plan on maxing the ram at some point) it's better to get 4x32GB sticks and NOT 8x16Gb sticks.

You don't need a high end MB. For most people there is little to no advantage. Unless the high end board has a feature you can't do without and no other board has this feature it's a waste of money IMHO. Just make sure it has a "good" VRM and several M.2 PCIe slots and you're good to go.

Make sure you spec the power supply with enough power for the CPU and any future GPU's you plan to install. Warning: the new Nvidia GPU's are real power hogs. So if there are multiple GPU's in your future buy a PS with enough to handle the expected requirements.

A very useful reply from ZenMastur:

Now I know to go with 3200 MHz RAM, which would not be a waste of money.
In terms of low profile 3200 MHz RAM, do you have any recommendations?
Also, any recommendations for a wide case?
And how about a cheaper mobo than ASUS AMD AM4 ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) ATX.
All my picks were from Tom's Hardware reviews as a first look.

Thanks, cma

[cma6]

Mobo: ASUS AMD AM4 ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) ATX
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 128 GB (8 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16

That won't work because the mobo has only four RAM slots, like every mobo that isn't a server one designed for server (registered) RAM.

RAS:
Thanks for the valuable heads-up on incompatibility between my choices for RAM and mobo.

What would your recommendations be for mobo and for 128 GB of 3200 MHz RAM, following ZenMastur's principles:
1) Make sure you get low profile ram that will actually fit under the 140mm fan;
2) You don't need a high end MB. Make sure it has a "good" VRM and several M.2 PCIe slots and you're good to go.

[Ras]

TWhat would your recommendations be for mobo and for 128 GB of 3200 MHz RAM

Oh, 128GB as 4x32GB will work with the mobo ASUS AMD AM4 ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) ATX. It's 8x32GB (as in the original posting) that won't work, but that would actually be 256GB. So one of the numbers had a typo, and I now guess you meant 4x32GB.

It's just that the intended Threadripper CPU won't fit that mobo. You'd rather need some TRX40 mobo, which usually can take 8 RAM bars and go up to 256GB.

[Dann Corbit]

Here is a video on tr motherboards:

[cma6]

Thanks to Ras and Dan for the useful ideas.

[Milos]

Mobo: ASUS AMD AM4 ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) ATX
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 128 GB (8 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16

That won't work because the mobo has only four RAM slots, like every mobo that isn't a server one designed for server (registered) RAM.

RAS:
Thanks for the valuable heads-up on incompatibility between my choices for RAM and mobo.

What would your recommendations be for mobo and for 128 GB of 3200 MHz RAM, following ZenMastur's principles:
1) Make sure you get low profile ram that will actually fit under the 140mm fan;
2) You don't need a high end MB. Make sure it has a "good" VRM and several M.2 PCIe slots and you're good to go.

Just take something cheap like GIGABYTE TRX40 AORUS PRO WIFI. It has everything you need. No point giving more than 400 bucks for the mobo.
And since you are already going for an expansive build no point saving with 3960X, just take 3970X.

[Milos]

Mobo: ASUS AMD AM4 ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) ATX
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 128 GB (8 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16

That won't work because the mobo has only four RAM slots, like every mobo that isn't a server one designed for server (registered) RAM.

Threadripper is by definition a server-config CPU. Therefore, virtually all TRX40 boards do have at least 8 memory slots.

[cma6]

Does anyone actually own a TRX40 mobo? How does it O/C? Any issues?
Thanks, CMA

[Dann Corbit]

I have this one:
ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme E-ATX w/ WiFi 6, RGB, Dual LAN, 4 PCIe x16, 8 SATA3, 5 M.2 SATA/PCIe
Very expensive but it does just what I wanted.
The video link I posted goes over the pros and cons for the expensive and inexpensive (relatively) boards.