AMD Ryzen

[Zoraptor]

 

 

Going for a R1700 myself, but the scaling with superfast memories isn't worth the crazy price hike unless you're running a monster GPU. You get a small bump from going from 2133 to 2400 though for a handfull of dollars more so I'm probably getting 2x8 Kingston 2400's, a Gigabyte GA AB350 gaming.

 

I'm almost certainly not going for the Samsung B die (3200Mhz CL14 or 3600Mhz CL16) due to its cost and the slight feeling of being gouged for it- but I will almost certainly be going 3200MHz as there's a very small relative premium for that over 2400Mhz. With any luck the BIOS/ AGESA revisions due next month will remove the need for Samsung B die chips to function at full speed anyway.

 

Got the Obsidian case on clearance as they're releasing a new model, it was actually cheaper than a 200 series Carbide. My old case was cheap generic trash and starting to rust, so not an option.

 

XFX 580s

 

I'd really like an XFX myself but in NZ we only get ASUS/ GB/ Sapphire for AMD cards- an xfx or msi (bit surprising since their MBs and nVidia cards have good/ better availability) or powercolor would have to bought via a remailer or imported directly. That's a bit risky when it comes to RMAs, and when you can buy a decent enough Nitro+ for pretty much the same price.

 

It's certainly a shame we don't get more options though, since for the 480s at least the XFX, MSI and Powercolor options were probably the best regarded overall.

[Bartimaeus]

XFX has kinda not great customer service anyways. It took them about a month and a half to check my video card for basic artifacting problems...and they no longer do the lifetime/double lifetime warranties anyways, so what's the point?

[Azdeus]

Had an xfx 5850 before this one that started artifacting two months after the warranty experied, I was a bit miffed to say the least.
 

I'm almost certainly not going for the Samsung B die (3200Mhz CL14 or 3600Mhz CL16) due to its cost and the slight feeling of being gouged for it- but I will almost certainly be going 3200MHz as there's a very small relative premium for that over 2400Mhz. With any luck the BIOS/ AGESA revisions due next month will remove the need for Samsung B die chips to function at full speed anyway.
 
Got the Obsidian case on clearance as they're releasing a new model, it was actually cheaper than a 200 series Carbide. My old case was cheap generic trash and starting to rust, so not an option.

3200's here are about 30$ more than 2400's, and the MB's that support 3200 ddrs cost about 20$ much more. And there is only an MSI b350 mb I can get with that support, and I don't like the MSI board I have at the moment. (It doesn't turn off power to the USB ports when I turn off my computer)

That's likely not going to give me a decent boost to FPS that is worth that extra expense, I think I'll get more performance from spending that extra money on a gpu when the time comes.

[Ganrich]

My new PC's parts are in, and I'm building it after work in about 13 hours. I was hoping to get started and do a post test before work, but I ran out of time. I have it ready to rumble the moment I hit the house. I have the mobo mounted to the mobo tray, ram installed, but I have to mount my heatsink and connect the psu up and run a test. Then it is time to put it all in the case. I am excite. Ryzen here I come.

 

Oh I need to remove the RX 580 from my old rig too.

 

Also, Asrock just dropped a new bios today. So, kind of perfect timing.

[Ganrich]

Computer is built. 

 

My ram (Gskill Trident Z 3200 CL14) OCed to 3200 (with advertised timings) by a click of the XMP profile.  No fuss.  I got lucky to be sure.  Still getting things settled, and haven't tried OCing the CPU, yet.  Boot times are very quick, and I noticed a solid reduction in load times on games and a few other applications seem much zippier.  I was coming from a 2500k, though.  It (the 2500k) is still a good processor, but it is a very noticeable difference. 

 

Anyway, I was in a rush building it.  So, the wire management hasn't been looked at much past getting them out of the way for airflow.  It looks ragged, but runs really well.   I'll clean it up in the next few days, and eventually get my old PC up and running again with a fresh install for a home media server (music, dvds, blurays, etc) so I can rip my media on it and stream it to anything with wifi. That way I can box up all my physical media besides my Vinyl.  I still need a Bluray burner for that, though.  I also may need more storage.  I may get a smaller case for the old PC, too.  The CoolerMaster HAFX is a bit too big for my tastes these days.  We will  see.

 

NVME and booting off a M.2 Samsung EVO 960 500gb worked immediately.  All Mobo features were working immediately without a driver update (I of course went ahead and updated them anyway).  It almost felt like a Linux install in how everything just worked out of box with little fuss.  Even wifi and the on board sound card (even though I use a USB DAC most of the time anyway) worked immediately. 

 

I am not using the Ultrafast boot feature as of now, but Asrock (I got the Taichi x370) has a solid in Windows App that will restart from Windows directly into UEFI.  This is because the ultrafast boot bypasses the bios splash on boot up.  So, I might reinstall Windows with that in mind now that the Bios is updated, and I have all the current drivers/software on a USB stick.  I didn't want to mess with it right off the bat.  I just wanted to make sure everything worked without error.  So, I will likely wait a week or two before I do a Windows reinstall, and make sure everything remains on the up and up.

 

It wasn't all painless.  I had some issues with my case fans running @ full RPM (Noctua 3000rpm fans), and they sounded like it was a Nasa launch.  However, this can be chalked up to me building it after being awake for 16 hours and doing a 12 hour shift at work in the middle of that 16 hours.  I was too tired for my own good.   Got the fans under control and started updating/downloading stuff and got some sleep when I started nearing the 24 hours without sleep mark.  It is still a bit louder than my previous PC, but it is much more normal now.  My old PC was a handful of larger fans (140mm +).  This one is all 120mm.  So, a little more noise isn't out of the ordinary.  Now it'll be minor tweaks from here on out. 

 

I am really happy with the new build, and have zero regrets moving to Ryzen.  Take that for what it is worth.  Just my 2 cents.

[Bartimaeus]

Nice job, .

[Zoraptor]

Yeah, congrats on the build. Bit jealous on the Taichi and TridentZ certainly, don't think I can really justify the cost of either personally but they are both meant to be quality.

 

Looks like the AGESA update may drop next week which will hopefully improve the general RAM compatibility situation.

[Ganrich]

Yeah, congrats on the build. Bit jealous on the Taichi and TridentZ certainly, don't think I can really justify the cost of either personally but they are both meant to be quality.

 

Looks like the AGESA update may drop next week which will hopefully improve the general RAM compatibility situation.

 

I had money saved in general, and my tax returns had gone unspent.  I went full tilt to be sure.   The Taichi and the Trident Zs are a matching white/black combo, and they also go with the XFX RX 580.  It is a nice white/black build for the moment.  I normally go Corsair or Geil for RAM, but it was a cost difference of too great a sum to justify.  Also, all the equivalent corsair stuff had a ram fan with the package, and that is something I have never had much use for.  When I found the White/black/silver Trident Z's I just spent the money.   I wanted the higher ram speed with lower timings anyway.  Gotta make use of that Infinity Fabric lol. 

 

Normally I am pretty frugal, but this is my last expenditure for a long while outside of maybe Vega.  So, I wanted to get a new rig before I start stock piling money from home improvement projects. 

[Valsuelm]

My ram (Gskill Trident Z 3200 CL14) OCed to 3200 (with advertised timings)

 

I'm curious which model Trident Z 3200 you picked up.

 

The only 3200 speed Gskill ram currently on the official QVL for the Taichi is not a Trident Z, so unless you've seen a QVL I have not, you went outside the QVL and got lucky (good for you, considering how many other people out there have said they've had bad experiences outside the QVL for Ryzen).

 

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X370%20Taichi/index.us.asp#Memory

http://gskill.com/en/configurator?manu=52&chip=2952&model=2985

 

I've been toying with the idea of upgrading my MB/Proc/RAM, and have settled on the Taichi if I do. I generally would prefer some good TridentZ ram in my build. If you've gotten some 3200 to work without any issues I'd love to know which sticks exactly.

[Zoraptor]

Any F4-3200C14D-16GTZ_ TridentZ models should work. GSkill themselves have recommended the F4-3200C14D-16GTZR model specifically, but that's just an RGB version of the base model.

 

I'd presume that Ganrich specifically got F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW since it's the black and white model and would match the Taichi colour scheme best, but I'd stand to be corrected on that.

[Keyrock]

 

Well, damn.  16 cores.  That's basically a server chip that's being sold for desktops.  I guess this is AMD's answer to Skylake-X.  Exciting times for the (loaded) enthusiast market.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Keyrock

[Sarex]

The Epic server processor is also huge. As for the R9 series I'm gonna wait for the next line of processors as mine is still good and I want to see what Intel will show.

[Keyrock]

As for the R9 series I'm gonna wait for the next line of processors as mine is still good and I want to see what Intel will show.

Same.  My Haswell CPU is still plenty good enough for now.  I'll take a look at the market around the time Zen 2 and whatever comes out after Coffee Lake are out, which is scheduled for late 2018, but will probably be sometime in 2019, given the standard production delays.

[Bartimaeus]

...realistically speaking, I'm not gonna upgrade from my 4770k until I actually need to, which is probably going to be in like 3-5 years...

[Zoraptor]

Threadripper and Epyc? OK, you need names you can trademark but...

 

The products themselves look great and threadripper looks better than Intel's enthusiast offerings on nearly every level, shame there was no real info on consumer level Vega though.

[Zoraptor]

Ordered, finally. Some slight differences from what I planned due to still poor availability and fluctuating prices, but I'm pretty happy with it.

 

R7/1700

Gigabyte Gaming 5 MB

16GB Corsair LPX 3200CL16

Asus 580RX (not the premium one)

Crucial MX 500gig SSD

Plus EVGA G2 550W and case which I already had.

 

Decided on the Gaming 5 as it dropped hugely in price (actually cheaper than in the US, amazingly) and it has the far cheaper than 3200CL14 RAMs Corsair LPX on its QVL. Plus Taichi went up in price again, and I do want something that will last. ASUS 580 as it's just about the only one available, and I got a discount for it, Crucial MX because the 300p price went up 25% and the big speed difference has marginal practical effect. End cost was about the 1200USD (2000NZD, inc GST) equivalent I planned on and not bad value I think, given that most components are simply more expensive here. I'll probably do the assembly next weekend.

[Sarex]

What made you go for radeon instead of nvidia?

[Zoraptor]

Better longevity/ future proofing, I don't need a 1070+ since my monitor is only 1920x1200 60hz, the like-for-like cost was similar enough and to be honest I plain dislike nVidia. Plus if I do want to upgrade my monitor a freesync one is cheaper.

 

I don't really have brand loyalty- apart from the 5770 I currently have I've never bought an AMD product- but I do sometimes develop the reverse.

[Azdeus]

I'm a bit torn as to wether I should pick up an Ryzen 7 1700 or an 1800X while I'm at it, and wether I should/could go for an Fractal Design Celsius S36 or S24 cooler. I'll pick up a new graphics card when AMD releases their new ones. My HD7970 is still quite capable.

https://www.inet.se/kundvagn/bild/10428302/

 

The X370 motherboard is by necessity since the store doesn't have any 350 motherboards that are worth it.

[Sarex]

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/computex-2017-intel-to-release-18-core-core-i9-7980xe-skylake-x-cpu.html

 

Hold on to your panties folks. Although this would still mean that Intel is playing catch up.

[Zoraptor]

I wonder what the TDP would be on a 18 Core Skylake-E, you could probably heat a swimming pool with one.

 

I suspect that Intel's reliance on a ringbus system rather than clusters will start to catch up to them with those sort of core numbers as well. AMD's ccx system does have some drawbacks with low cluster numbers, but their advantages get more and their disadvantages less as cores increase, while it's the reverse for Intel. That's why graphics cards all shifted to clusters rather than ringbus.
 

I'm a bit torn as to wether I should pick up an Ryzen 7 1700 or an 1800X while I'm at it, and wether I should/could go for an Fractal Design Celsius S36 or S24 cooler. I'll pick up a new graphics card when AMD releases their new ones. My HD7970 is still quite capable.
https://www.inet.se/.../bild/10428302/
 
The X370 motherboard is by necessity since the store doesn't have any 350 motherboards that are worth it.

 
To me, 1800x is far too much premium cash wise for too little benefit unless there's no plan to overclock or for workstation situations where the competition is Broadwell-E. The overclock ceiling on it vs the 1700 is only 200Mhz difference, and you pay nearly 1USD/ hz for that.
 
That's also why I personally wouldn't consider watercooling either, unless sound is an issue. You might eke an extra 100Mhz or two on top of Wraith Spire but again that's at a hefty cost relative to benefit.
 
I am very much concerned with getting the best longevity/ cost/ performance balance though, so I tend to see everything through that lens.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Zoraptor

[Azdeus]

I'm a bit torn as to wether I should pick up an Ryzen 7 1700 or an 1800X while I'm at it, and wether I should/could go for an Fractal Design Celsius S36 or S24 cooler. I'll pick up a new graphics card when AMD releases their new ones. My HD7970 is still quite capable.

https://www.inet.se/.../bild/10428302/

 

The X370 motherboard is by necessity since the store doesn't have any 350 motherboards that are worth it.

 

To me, 1800x is far too much premium cash wise for too little benefit unless there's no plan to overclock or for workstation situations where the competition is Broadwell-E. The overclock ceiling on it vs the 1700 is only 200Mhz difference, and you pay nearly 1USD/ hz for that.

 

That's also why I personally wouldn't consider watercooling either, unless sound is an issue. You might eke an extra 100Mhz or two on top of Wraith Spire but again that's at a hefty cost relative to benefit.

 

I am very much concerned with getting the best longevity/ cost/ performance balance though, so I tend to see everything through that lens.

 

Yeah, the price hike is pretty damn big, but it would save me the headache of silicone lottery. I've got both a processor and GPU that won't accept even the smallest of overclocks. I've always had bad luck.

 

The water cooling is 99% because I don't want any extra weight hanging on the motherboard. I live in an old house and the floor sways when you do something like close a door, so if I can get something that doesn't have an high offset that leverages the weight I'll go for it. I'm considering getting a waterblock for the gpu aswell but I don't think that I would save as much weight on that and that I have ALOT of lego.

 

I usually try to balance a build aswell, I just wish inet could get a decent b350 motherboard in stock with 3200 support.

[Sarex]

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/computex-2017-intel-launches-x299kabylake-xand-skylake-x.html

 

2k for the 18 core variant from intel... Here's to hoping AMD rips them a new one and prices their 16core variant closer to 1k.

[Zoraptor]

Got my computer assembled and all working well. Had to set the RAM up manually as XMP caused a boot loop but otherwise no problems. Have to say that for a purely cosmetic feature I did rather like the LEDs when I had the side off as well.

[teknoman2]

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/computex-2017-intel-launches-x299kabylake-xand-skylake-x.html

 

2k for the 18 core variant from intel... Here's to hoping AMD rips them a new one and prices their 16core variant closer to 1k.

the trick to the 16 core threadripper is the infinity fabric that offers near 100% scalability in performance based on how many smaller chips you put together. what they made from the start are 4c/8t chips. stick 2 of them together through the infinity fabric and you get the 8c/16t 1800X. join 2 with a faulty core each together and you get the 6c/12t 1600. put 4 on the same piece of IF and you get the 16c/32t threadripper. and by adding more 4c pieces to the IF you can just go up to as many cores as it is physically possible to put in a CPU and still be able to fit it into the socket of the board.

saves time, saves money and by using a network of smaller chips they get to keep the yield of each wafer up, meaning that they can have more pieces available in the stores and at a lower price