AMD Threadripper 2950X

[Markfw]

Question: Does buying 4 stick of memory put an X399 motherboard in 4-channel mode or are 8 sticks required? I believe with two sticks you are in 2 channel mode? Is my understanding correct?

Yes, you need 4 sticks for 4 channel mode. 8 sticks just gets you more memory, and a little less speed.

 

[Joseph Combs]

NewEgg has 1950x for $699
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113447&cm_re=1950x-_-19-113-447-_-Product

 

[Joseph Combs]

I ended up buying the 2950x and the Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme X399 Motherboard. Absolutely no regrets. The entire setup is a dream.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I ended up buying the 2950x and the Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme X399 Motherboard. Absolutely no regrets. The entire setup is a dream.

Tell us more about your system. What kind of RAM did you use? What kind of overclocks are you getting? What cooling, etc?

 

[Markfw]

Question: Does buying 4 stick of memory put an X399 motherboard in 4-channel mode or are 8 sticks required? I believe with two sticks you are in 2 channel mode? Is my understanding correct?

TR is quad channel. You really need 4 sticks.

 

[Joseph Combs]

Tell us more about your system. What kind of RAM did you use? What kind of overclocks are you getting? What cooling, etc?

System Specs:
GIGABYTE X399 AORUS XTREME sTR4 AMD X399 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 Extended ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD 2nd Gen Ryzen Threadripper 2950X, 16-Core, 32-Thread, 4.4 GHz Max Boost (3.5 GHz Base), Socket sTR4 180W
G.SKILL TridentZ Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel Z370 Platform Desktop F4-3200C14Q-32GTZ
Seasonic PRIME Ultra 850W 80+ Titanium Power Supply
SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 1TB PCIe Gen3. X4, NVMe 1.3 64L V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Arctic Freezer 33TR - Tower CPU Cooler for AMD Ryzen Threadripper sTR4 -WHITE
No Overclocking yet .....

 

[DrMrLordX]

Not bad. Was kinda hoping you'd use faster RAM but that's okay. Not everyone wants to buy DDR4-4266 or whatever (heh).

Really I just wanted to see how fast that IMC could go. You have the DIMM config I would want for such a system otherwise.

I am still interested in how that HSF is going to do on your 2950x.

 

[Joseph Combs]

Not bad. Was kinda hoping you'd use faster RAM but that's okay. Not everyone wants to buy DDR4-4266 or whatever (heh).

Really I just wanted to see how fast that IMC could go. You have the DIMM config I would want for such a system otherwise.

I am still interested in how that HSF is going to do on your 2950x.

I chose to go with lower latency rather than higher mhz. More bang for the buck I believe.

 

[lopri]

Want to know how it overclocks. Is bus overclocking still a thing these days?

 

[DrMrLordX]

I chose to go with lower latency rather than higher mhz. More bang for the buck I believe.

Higher MHz = lower latency, often times. What you are thinking about is lower timings. But on a 2950x, higher Mhz also = higher IF speeds. Hitting DDR4-4000 reliably is sort of a "holy grail" for Ryzen and Threadripper users, at least for now. Not sure if Zen2 will change that any.

 

[Topweasel]

Higher MHz = lower latency, often times. What you are thinking about is lower timings. But on a 2950x, higher Mhz also = higher IF speeds. Hitting DDR4-4000 reliably is sort of a "holy grail" for Ryzen and Threadripper users, at least for now. Not sure if Zen2 will change that any.

It's usually a Wash. CL latency and clock speed determine actual latency. The advantage of a higher clock speed on Ryzen usually wins out do to it beefing up IF performance and latency.

 

[Joseph Combs]

Not bad. Was kinda hoping you'd use faster RAM but that's okay. Not everyone wants to buy DDR4-4266 or whatever (heh).

Really I just wanted to see how fast that IMC could go. You have the DIMM config I would want for such a system otherwise.

I am still interested in how that HSF is going to do on your 2950x.

Here are the Passmark results, no overclocking.