Is a 900 kr (~$90 USD) Threadripper Pro 3945WX a steal or a trap for gaming/work?

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LimesFruit@reddit

that is basically a 3900X but HEDT, so a solid CPU. Only issue is that you're not getting any newer than Zen 2 on that platform.

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-Crash_Override-@reddit

that is basically a 3900X but HEDT,

No its not. Like, not at all.

Other than the C/T count and Zen 2, they are completely different. If you heard a TR Pro you would realize that very quickly given the sheer size of them.

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Agabeckov@reddit

Idk, I checked benchmarks, seems to be approximately the same (well, considering turbo frequency difference).
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3845vs3493/AMD-Ryzen-Threadripper-PRO-3945WX-vs-AMD-Ryzen-9-3900X
https://openbenchmarking.org/vs/Processor/AMD+Ryzen+Threadripper+PRO+3955WX+16-Cores,AMD+Ryzen+9+3950X+16-Core
also GeekBench. One might think, 8-channel memory should make a difference? Unlikely, the bandwidth is limited by only 2 CCDs in case of TR Pro.

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-Crash_Override-@reddit

Benchmarks are irrelevant when comparing things like pci lanes and memory channels.

The 3945wx gets you 128 pci lanes and 8 memory channels. The 3900x gets you 24 and 2. You can run 2tb of ecc memory on a 3945 vs 128gb of non ecc on a 3900. You can run multiple gpus at full x16 + nvme drives at full bandwidth on the 3945, the 3900 can run one gpu at full 16x, subsequent ones at 8x, and youll be strapped for nvme space.

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Agabeckov@reddit

> 128gb of non ecc on a 3900

Or ECC. It has to be UDIMM, but ECC would work on x570 chipset mobos with 3900x.

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-Crash_Override-@reddit

Even then its iffy. Its motherboard dependent, not just chipset. I have a server with a asus pro x570-ACE and a 5950 and it works great with ECC. I was running a 5900XT on a MSI x570 and it never played right with the ECC.

Regardless, for most ECC applications I run xeon scalable or threadrippers and, in addition to the PCI lanes, I have no ecc weirdness.

I do not recommend running ryzen with ECC, its pretty pointless.

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Agabeckov@reddit

Zen 3, up to 5995WX Pro.

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RumbleTheCassette@reddit

Other issue is that it's a way more expensive motherboard/platform/cooling needs.

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nuked24@reddit

Okay, you have a CPU. Now you need to find a board to put it in.

With threadripper, the boards are the expensive part.

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hufler-amigo@reddit (OP)

Well what i had in mind was to buy this cpu first since it was on clearance sale, then be on the look out for a clearance sale on the motherboard but i don't know if this is feasible.

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IrrelevantTale@reddit

Yeah a cheaper Am4 CPU is a better idea ussually than a threadripper. Only super specific games can actual utilize its power.

Most games care about clock speed and instructions per clock and if there hyper threading.

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rasvoja@reddit

Td thicks all of above

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IrrelevantTale@reddit

Threadripper prioritize core count over clock speed and L3 cache. I mean its technically feasible but any gamer cant really utilize and would give worse performance than a 9800x3d or 7600x3d

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quantgorithm@reddit

He already said gaming is not the only factor.

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rasvoja@reddit

Coupled with nice card, 64gb and fast nvme ssd, I dont see gaming am5 systems significanty faster while boards are way less expandable.

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rasvoja@reddit

Never had any troube. Use it for steam gaming daily

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nuked24@reddit

The only game that ever had outright issues when I ran a 5950x was multiplayer in mass effect 3- if I had both chiplets enabled it would lock up and crash after a maximum of 20 minutes. A lot of games (read: all of them) had microstuttering though, didn't notice until I got a 9800x3d and suddenly everything was silky smooth.

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rasvoja@reddit

I mean no issues on td

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evofromk0@reddit

Motherboard expensive, than goes ram compatibility. So for these 2 things you will have to put at least 1000-1200 bucks a side, depends on the region and amount of ram you need.

So it more of a trap in my opinion.

I would go for AM4 as you dont need ECC ram if you go AMD

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reto-wyss@reddit

WRX80 actually has the best RAM compatibility of any socket, it can accepted ECC Udimm and Rdimm as well as non-ecc udimm.

Boards may be harder to get - we are about out of last new-stock.

This particular CPU is only good to get the 128 PCIe 4 lanes on the cheap.

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evofromk0@reddit

Oh, i thought TR Pro does not accepts non ecc , my bad, need to do some re-search than.

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reto-wyss@reddit

WRX90 only takes DDR5 RDIMM - there's the odd LGA-2011 that can also take RDIMM and UDIMM

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evofromk0@reddit

LGA-2011 -3 i know, im running Xeon E5-2690 v4 with lrdimm`s

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MSpeed5@reddit

You're better off with a consumer desktop Zen 5 CPU if under 16 cores and 256gb of ram. The Threadripper 3000 series is Zen 2 (Castle Peak) architecture which is multiple gens. behind. The biggest cost is going to be the ram. So secure it first and work your way backward.

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MVmikehammer@reddit

Unless you have a need for more than 128GB of DDR4 RAM, it is a trap, unless you're building it for novelty purposes.

A Ryzen 9 5950x has 4 more cores, lower TDP, higher boot clock and can address up to 128GB on X470 or newer boards, And in gaming it beats 3945wx by 36%.

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rasvoja@reddit

Its not a trap, its 12 core 24 thread CPU that can do a lot, especially combined with mobo expandablity - 8 channel RAM, 4 PCI E card slots ... path to 64 core CPU open

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MVmikehammer@reddit

yeah, but he asked about a CPU, not a about a system, or even a motherboard. Buying a cheap workstation/server CPU and then spending tons on all the parts to get it to work, is mostly something you'd do for novelty purposes. Unless you have a very specific workload which can benefit from that. And in this case it would have to be something that require said extra ram slots and RAM, ECC RDIMMs at that. Considering what RAM costs right now.

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rasvoja@reddit

Cpu is part of package. Package is good. I took it instead of gaming sys and machine is future proof, never had such expandable pc

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jamvanderloeff@reddit

only "future proof" if your future use case actually needs more RAM and more cores, and most people's uses don't. You're still stuck with the relatively slow performance per-core compared to more modern mainstream things.

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rasvoja@reddit

Ram requirements increase by moores law. Thus wxr board is best investment I made

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jamvanderloeff@reddit

Ram requirements increase by moores law.

For normal people's use cases it certainly doesn't, growth has been much slower than that.

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rasvoja@reddit

Not really. Jump from 4 to 8gb was dictated by win10 and games. Then 16 for 11. Games go to 32gb ram and 12gb plus vram easily this days. In few years 32gb will be norm and 64gb recommended. Same goes for cores.

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jamvanderloeff@reddit

Yeah, which is much slower than moore's law, if it was going that fast your expectation of 8GB is good at start of win 10 era would be needing 128GB today.

Normal user core counts go up even slower again.

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rasvoja@reddit

Look, games in future, and apps will need more ram, cores etc. thus td board is long term way better choice Moore law was extremely faster from 48k in 1982 to 4gb in 2002 or to 16gb in 2020. Depends whom do you compare it too.

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coolboy856@reddit

You're just completely wrong about everything, cores and RAM are not what increase your performance, nor what games have ever relied on for performance.

Delusional, misinformed, wrong, incorrect

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rasvoja@reddit

Ok take it with bit of salt, both software and games are increasingly able to use multicores abd threads. Thus future belings to ripper :)

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jamvanderloeff@reddit

Increasing very slowly though

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Yommination@reddit

Its cores will be too slow to matter in the future. Any cpu from 10 years ago sucks in today's games regardless of core count

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verymoldybread@reddit

Link? If it’s local marketplace just go check it out

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hufler-amigo@reddit (OP)

https://www.proshop.dk/CPU/AMD-Ryzen-ThreadRipper-PRO-3945WX-4-GHz-processor-OEM-CPU-12-kerner-4-GHz-AMD-sWRX8-Bulk-ingen-koeler/3292513

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breakConcentration@reddit

I guess this would be a board for it: https://www.proshop.dk/Bundkort/ASUS-Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI-Bundkort-AMD-WRX80-AMD-sWRX8-socket-DDR4-RAM-Extended-ATX/2936399

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-Crash_Override-@reddit

Thats the board I run with my 3955wx. Great mobo especially if you need the pci lanes.

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barkingcat@reddit

Threadripper Pro of the 3xxx series has the vendor lock, and that's usually why it sells for so cheap. No way to use on 3rd party motherboards. Check before buying.

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Techwolf_Lupindo@reddit

Its is a trap. All Threadripper 12 core 3900 series are vender locked to DELL or Leveno as that chip was only sold to OEMs.

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rasvoja@reddit

I have OEM same cpu and doesn't have that lock

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dertechie@reddit

The workstation CPUs have a couple of big advantages - more memory channels and more PCIe lanes compared to client desktop platforms.

If you need either of those, it can make sense. If you don’t need massive amounts of memory capacity or bandwidth or lots of high speed IO, then it’s probably best to skip this platform.

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rasvoja@reddit

I ve got similar deal its OK. You need special cooler for it and quite expensive but very expandable board. I paid mine 700 USD.

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sob727@reddit

If you need lanes in a budget, consider it.

If not, no.

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dudreddit@reddit

OP, do you have any idea what you are getting into with that CPU? That is a HOT (280W) chip and is a workstation CPU that is used in conjunction with sWRX8 motherboards. Do you have one in-hand? If not, they run many hundreds of $$$.