New build, new concerns (can't test for 2 weeks) -

[Kayley]

I've not really multiboxed or played any games in about 7ish months, so I'm pretty lost (tech). Hit up my bff google and mostly just found people raging about their favourite brand of 'XyZ' like always ;)

I should have asked before purchasing, but if I need to buy different components-- no dramas.

Motherboard: Asus X99-A LGA2011-3 ATX Motherboard (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=616047)
Processor: Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 3.5GHz 15MB (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=616106)
System Storage: Intel 730 Series 2.5" 7mm 240GB SSD (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=614640)
Mass Storage: WD Black WD1003FZEX 3.5" 1TB 64MB 7200RPM (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=613771)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB Kit (4x8GB) DDR4 CL16 2400MHz (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=616134)
Graphics: MSI Radeon R9 Fury X 4GB HBM 3x DisplayPort HDMI (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=619878) x2
Power Supply: Dont have one yet.
Monitor: BenQ XL2730Z 27" WQHD WS 1MS 144Hz FreeSync LED Monitor (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=617352)

I need some advice on decent PSU brands and what would be required to power this machine, I overclock.
Don't have a case yet, since the GPU has that AIO cooling setup, I am still looking for something with enough fan slots to swap around (any ideas?).

The real concern, that I didn't pay much attention to in my haste was the VRAM. I'm going to only play 10 accounts, will the Fury X be ok? I've tried searching but i'm not getting the best results (or my google skills are weak).

I should buy another monitor too right? I have my old S27A950D which is only 1080p, mixing resolutions doesn't work so well with mouse repeater... oor does it? :P
Finally loading times! Should I buy another SSD and RAID 0?

I'm at work, the stuff listed above is what I have already. I'm not home for another two weeks so i'm just twiddling my thumbs and only NOW wondering if I bought the correct PC to play 10 WoW accounts. I'm pretty greedy too, I like the main on Ultra etc

Thanks


NEW SETUP HERE (https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/52258-New-build-new-concerns-(can-t-test-for-2-weeks)?p=416446&viewfull=1#post416446)


I'm not too savvy when it comes to forum links. =[

[MiRai]

I need some advice on decent PSU brands and what would be required to power this machine, I overclock.
Anything with something like 850W. Corsair, Seasonic, and EVGA seem to all make/sell some pretty decent PSUs.


Don't have a case yet, since the GPU has that AIO cooling setup, I am still looking for something with enough fan slots to swap around (any ideas?).
I didn't want to ignore the question, but I don't have an answer. This is generally something you're going to need to look for yourself since cases are pretty much personal preference.


The real concern, that I didn't pay much attention to in my haste was the VRAM. I'm going to only play 10 accounts, will the Fury X be ok? I've tried searching but i'm not getting the best results (or my google skills are weak).
This album (http://imgur.com/a/7XuEj) shows some single player VRAM usage numbers at the Alliance garrison in Shadowmoon Valley. You can subtract ~430MB off of those numbers since my idle desktop eats up that much before loading up the game client.

They're all 2560x1440 (based off of the monitor you've purchased) and they're without any anti-aliasing. From the looks of it, and assuming you want to run a resolution somewhere in the ballpark of 2560x1440, you may have to mix and match your APIs since DX11 on 10 clients is likely going to use over 4GB of VRAM.

And yes, in that album, DX9 on Ultra was running terrible. I do suggest using DX11 these days whenever possible since you're bound to get better framerates, and you may have to end up disabling SSAO altogether since it tends to eat a lot of VRAM and GPU.


I should buy another monitor too right? I have my old S27A950D which is only 1080p, mixing resolutions doesn't work so well with mouse repeater... oor does it? :P
Mixing resolutions doesn't always work out depending on the layout you want to use, but you can generally make it work.


Finally loading times! Should I buy another SSD and RAID 0?
Probably not worth it since SSDs are fast enough on their own, but if you were going to buy another SSD then it'd be useful as a drive just for the OS or just for games (however you want to look at it).

[mbox_bob]

This album (http://imgur.com/a/7XuEj) shows some single player VRAM usage numbers at the Alliance garrison in Shadowmoon Valley. You can subtract ~430MB off of those numbers since my idle desktop eats up that much before loading up the game client.

They're all 2560x1440 (based off of the monitor you've purchased) and they're without any anti-aliasing. From the looks of it, and assuming you want to run a resolution somewhere in the ballpark of 2560x1440, you may have to mix and match your APIs since DX11 on 10 clients is likely going to use over 4GB of VRAM.

And yes, in that album, DX9 on Ultra was running terrible. I do suggest using DX11 these days whenever possible since you're bound to get better framerates, and you may have to end up disabling SSAO altogether since it tends to eat a lot of VRAM and GPU.
Probably worth noting that as you load more clients they can reuse the loaded textures, so you don't necessarily need 10x the vram indicated. Not to say that you'll be sweet running Ultra settings on 10 clients, but you may be able to play comfortably with the backgrounders on lower details. This is definitely one of those, try it out, and see what gives. I haven't seen any reports back on the Fury/HBM and multiboxing settings (not that I've been looking hard though). Think of yourself as the guinea pig, and we will await your report :).

Also the AMD Fury does gain some advantage in the HBM, purely because it can shift data faster, so when it offloads to the system ram buffer, it moves more data, so can still perform even with less. Of course moving data from vram to system ram then means the bus is moving data in the wrong direction, but it at least means the perf drop isn't quite as hard hitting while it does it.




Probably not worth it since SSDs are fast enough on their own, but if you were going to buy another SSD then it'd be useful as a drive just for the OS or just for games (however you want to look at it). Too true. If you really want "faster daddy, faster" SSD, then you are better off getting an M.2, like the Samsung SM951 (or the SM951nvm, if it happens to be out). M.2's are generally in the region of 2 - 3x faster than a SATA SSD, although you need to make sure they are the new gen (those Gen2 on PLE) and not the crossovers to get the big perf increase.

[Bollwerk]

One suggestion for your large storage needs - http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/desktop-solid-state-hybrid-drive/
I have a couple and I love them.
Great mix of space and speed, for good prices.

[MiRai]

Probably worth noting that as you load more clients they can reuse the loaded textures, so you don't necessarily need 10x the vram indicated.
As much as I wanted to believe that back over a year ago, it just doesn't seem to be true with World of Warcraft. I ran another quick test just now because Blizzard did update their rendering engine with the last expansion and I wanted to see if something had changed, so here are my results.


1.4 GB Idle Desktop (Lots of things running in the background)
2.2 GB 1 Client
3.0 GB 2 Clients
3.8 GB 3 Clients
4.7 GB 4 Clients
5.5 GB 5 Clients

So, each client at the location I was at, which differs from my location in my prior post, eats up about 825MB, and the math works out almost perfectly.

5 Clients x ~825MB = 4.125 GB + 1.4 GB (Idle Desktop) = ~5.5 GB Total VRAM

Other games may handle the textures they store in VRAM a bit differently, but WoW definitely seems to end up being a simple addition problem (or multiplication if you want to get fancy) when trying to figure out total VRAM usage.



Also the AMD Fury does gain some advantage in the HBM, purely because it can shift data faster, so when it offloads to the system ram buffer, it moves more data, so can still perform even with less. Of course moving data from vram to system ram then means the bus is moving data in the wrong direction, but it at least means the perf drop isn't quite as hard hitting while it does it.
I agree. The Fury X was able to keep up with both the 980 Ti and Titan X in games where it should have been losing due to having its VRAM overloaded (e.g. Shadows of Mordor, GTA V), but I certainly don't know how it's going to handle multiple game clients pushing it beyond its limit, if it comes to that (but I'm also looking forward to feedback from people).



Too true. If you really want "faster daddy, faster" SSD, then you are better off getting an M.2, like the Samsung SM951 (or the SM951nvm, if it happens to be out). M.2's are generally in the region of 2 - 3x faster than a SATA SSD, although you need to make sure they are the new gen (those Gen2 on PLE) and not the crossovers to get the big perf increase.
I definitely want to try out an M.2 for my next build, but it's difficult to justify the price. Yeah, it's faster than a standard SSD, but I have SSDs hooked up to both SATAIII and SATAII ports (as well as the RAMDrive I had used before), and the only difference I notice between them is on CrystalDiskMark. :)

[Kayley]

Thank you all for the advice. I really did go over it a few times! :cool:

I ordered;
Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe 240GB Gen2 x4 (M.2 with HHHL adapter) (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=619408)
eVGA GeForce TitanX 12GB GDDR5 DVI 3xDisplayPort HDMI (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=618050)
eVGA SuperNOVA G2 1000W 80PLUS Gold Power Supply (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=617694)

The nVidia card is just an alternate. Hopefully in a few weeks (closer to the 24th) I'll be home and can give some info on the Fury X in regards to multiboxing in WoW. Assuming nobody else does it before hand, which I hope they do.. since I wanna know now xD

If there is anything else, please let me know. If not, thanks again for the advice.
(and the album!)

~~ Kayley.

[Bollwerk]

As for a power supply, I have a Corsair 1000w modular power supply and I think it's amazing.

Edit - nm, I just noticed you bought a PS already. =)

[Bollwerk]

FYI - regarding the Fury X
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9390/the-amd-radeon-r9-fury-x-review

Bottom line - good card, but not quite as good as the 980 ti.

Since you just bought a Titan X (which is better than the 980 ti), it seems that the Fury X would be a downgrade. Not just raw speed, but dropping from 12GB VRAM to 4GB VRAM might be an issue, depending on what resolution and DX version you use.

[Kayley]

Good news is I am home! My sister signed for all my stuff, placed it in my games room --(bad news!) turns out the neighbours had some kids over and a cricket ball went through my window. little stinkers didn't tell the adults, we've had some pretty heavy rain- games room was flooded, all my goods busted, carpets yadda yadda. Insurance takes a while, i'm giving it 3 months zzz.

I'm going to play 15 characters again. Revised specs below (advice from you guys has been taken on-board!)

Motherboard: N (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=616047)eed help ** see below.
Processor: Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 3.5GHz 15MB Retail Box - NO FAN (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=616106) (or should I get the 8 core CPU?)
System Storage: Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe 240GB Gen2 x4 (M.2) (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=619406)
Mass Storage: Samsung 850 EVO Series 2.5" 7mm 1TB SSD (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=617290)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB Kit (4x8GB) DDR4 CL16 2400MHz (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=616134)
Graphics: Palit GeForce GTX980Ti Super JetStream 6GB GDDR5 (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=619955) x2 (I'm leaning towards 3, can't decide)
Power Supply: eVGA SuperNOVA G2 1000W 80PLUS Gold Power Supply (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=617694)
Monitor: https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=619889 x3 (Gsync since i'm using nvidia now)

Nothing has been ordered yet, I will be doing it in a few days.
Since I have resubbed 15 accounts, I'm wondering if it would be better to go ahead and replace the 6-core with the 8 core intel cpu - thoughts?
I'm leaning towards 3 GPUs, only because it sounds fun and maybe later on with windows 10 it might scale better then it does now.
Motherboard.. yikes.. I have no damn clue now. Do they need to be watercooled for higher overclocks still? D;
Any recommendations on a MB that can take 3 gpus, 8 core cpu, m.2 SSD and a soundcard..while being decent with overclocking?
Do I need a dedicated NIC for when I max out my cpu (15 box, streaming etc) to offload some of the work? e.g Killer NIC

I'm asking here because those that replied seemed pretty knowledgeable on the subject haha ;)

Thank you!

[MiRai]

I'm wondering if it would be better to go ahead and replace the 6-core with the 8 core intel cpu - thoughts?
If you can afford the 5960X, then get the 5960X.


I'm leaning towards 3 GPUs, only because it sounds fun and maybe later on with windows 10 it might scale better then it does now.
Using three of those GPUs in SLI is going to run terribly hot since they don't pull the hot air out of your system, and they just dump it out onto the next GPU over.


Motherboard.. yikes.. I have no damn clue now. Do they need to be watercooled for higher overclocks still? D;
I don't know of any motherboard that has ever required water cooling to overclock the CPU. Water cooling is also unnecessary in order to overclock a CPU unless you're pumping a bunch of voltage into the chip, which then causes a lot of heat that needs to be dispersed.


Any recommendations on a MB that can take 3 gpus, 8 core cpu, m.2 SSD and a soundcard..while being decent with overclocking?
Most X99 motherboards are going to support everything you want, so pick one that has pretty colors and matches your build. :)


Do I need a dedicated NIC for when I max out my cpu (15 box, streaming etc) to offload some of the work? e.g Killer NIC
No, but a shitty modem/router can cause issues with lag and disconnects. However, I only know of people having issues with D3 and not WoW, but anything is possible.

[Kayley]

If you can afford the 5960X, then get the 5960X.


Yessir. :cool:



Using three of those GPUs in SLI is going to run terribly hot since they don't pull the hot air out of your system, and they just dump it out onto the next GPU over.


Oh, I forgot to mention (even in my first post) that I watercool my computers and since (as you mentioned) they have no AIO loop, I do my own custom setup. Was heat the only issue?



I don't know of any motherboard that has ever required water cooling to overclock the CPU. Water cooling is also unnecessary in order to overclock a CPU unless you're pumping a bunch of voltage into the chip, which then causes a lot of heat that needs to be dispersed.


Hrm, I am going way back to my Q6600 days (2007? jesus) and I had to cool the motherboard (northbridge specifically) as it got quite toasty and would crap out on me. I shall spend more time with my bff google and see if its even a factor these days. I do plan on a rather 'aggressive' overclock.



Most X99 motherboards are going to support everything you want, so pick one that has pretty colors and matches your build. :)


Even easier for me then. Thank you :)



No, but a shitty modem/router can cause issues with lag and disconnects. However, I only know of people having issues with D3 and not WoW, but anything is possible.

I had issues with D3 D; oh dear.

Thanks again.

p.s I didn't bother with a case, I have decided to try my hand at building a table to house my computer :P

[MiRai]

Yessir. :cool:Oh, I forgot to mention (even in my first post) that I watercool my computers and since (as you mentioned) they have no AIO loop, I do my own custom setup. Was heat the only issue?
Yes, heat was the only issue.

[Kayley]

Thanks. =]

Hi!

Prototype (http://imgur.com/a/J9rvL) is almost done, took all the tubing out as i'm about to finish cutting etc. I've been working too much! Have only just started assembling a week ago (tested all the parts as soon as they came in though). All being constructed at a friends warehouse.

Monitor (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=619889) x3, GPU x3 (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=619836), Larger SSD's for the 'game storage' and the m.2 SSD (https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemId=619407) that was recommended are the only changes made I think.
End result will look nicer, wood will be painted black, LED's in place, glass on top etc.

Let's hope I can get more time off work to finish it T___Tit has been 3? months already. Le sigh.

[Ualaa]

I had a Killer NIC, and didn't really notice any gains over a regular card.
On my next build, going back to an onboard NIC, there were no losses.

I'm not sure if they've improved since I had mine, but that was my experience.

[Kayley]

Windows 7 or Windows 10? :O

[jinkobi]

Windows 7 or Windows 10? :O

Win 10 for sure. Works fine for boxing and you want the latest Windows for your other PC needs. Win 10 will probably be around a while too.

[MiRai]

Windows 7 or Windows 10? :O
I'd say 10, but if you rely on software that doesn't work well on 10, then you can obviously hold off for now.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I'd say 10, but if you rely on software that doesn't work well on 10, then you can obviously hold off for now.

What he said.

[Kayley]

Thanks :)

Went with windows 10, everything is up and running now. This system is stupidly fast.
A BIG thank you to everyone involved who suggested part-swaps for the better ;)

Kind regards,
Kayley.

[mbox_bob]

I admire your builder/building.
I've been boxing up my setup (in wood too) in something similar, and I noticed your graphics card are facing into a cooling unit... How are you intending to run the cables?

I've moved from 3x 2560x1440 to a 4k + 2560x1440 myself. Approximately the same number of pixels, but boy it makes the options and the view great.

[Kayley]

3 display port cables run into the back of the gpus, the angle of the picture probably makes it seem a lot shorter (gap) than it is. Now if you meant how do the cables run out of the 'case'? Behind the PSU in the first picture, I have outlined a section to be cut out in order to run any cables outside -- also giving ventilation for the PSU to push out any heat it generates.

Everything else (usb, sound etc) is extended and runs to a faceplate on the front of the 'case' -- along with power, reset, temperature/fan controller display etc.

In a few months (waaaaaaaaay after Christmas) and I do the real thing, I can post better pictures and even the CAD drawings if you wanted.

*edit*
it's actually quite pretty with all the LED lights and the UV dye xD
*second edit*
The temperature of everything running, is awesome. I had the three GPUS being stress tested via furmark for 50 minutes and they didn't go above 39c lol
The CPU is a beast.. I'm playing 15 accounts (again) and the damn thing stays in low power mode (1200/2000mhz) -- I am still getting 60 fps (isboxer limit) on the main window in Ashran...

Ahh crap. You guys were right, 6GB isn't enough to run them all.

It's fine if they are all on Low settings, but if I bump the main one up, the other screens stutter like crazy haha.

[MiRai]

Ahh crap. You guys were right, 6GB isn't enough to run them all.

It's fine if they are all on Low settings, but if I bump the main one up, the other screens stutter like crazy haha.
1440p x 5 @ low settings eats up > 6GB? That doesn't seem right. When I gave an estimate on of VRAM back on the first page I was measuring VRAM when running on ultra settings, and here's an image (http://i.imgur.com/SC0BSEj.jpg) that I took a few months back with five game clients running 2560x1080 on ultra (no SSAO) with MSAA 4x and a 125% render scale, and I think a ton of browser tabs running in the background. You can see on the overlay I'm only eating up 7.2GB, but that's in Elwynn Forest, so I'm not entirely sure where you're hitting that number. However, I can try to do another test sometime later tonight to see.

Also, you're not running your monitors in Surround mode are you? Last time I used Surround mode while multiboxing (even in a partial windowed mode), the VRAM usage was so bloated it was unreal.

[Kayley]

1440p x 15 :)
I'm all over the place with posting sometimes, on a previous page I think we (whoever it was) discussed VRAM with 15 characters (more so in regards to the FURY X).
Not using SLI, not using Surround mode, just 'Activate All Displays' - with Gsync.

I can run them all on low np, if I bump the settings up on the main to even fair, gpu goes to 100% and the others stutter and lag out like crazy.
But i'm also having problems with W10 I think, Can't select DX11 in WoW, doesn't recognize my cards as being shader model 5+.

I have to wait a few days for the SLI bridge to come in, then I can try 'Tri-SLI' to see if that helps at all.

Process of elimination!

Turns out the GPU drivers were corrupted on install, simple reinstall has fixed everything. \o/
The end \o/

It started bothering me, performance wasn't as amazing as I wanted (using only one GPU). Everytime I tried SLI it would only let me use two monitors unless I used that SURROUND gaming config (all monitors combined to one resolution), which I didn't like. So I have been huffing and puffing until today in the shower I thought 'jesus, what if I plug the monitors into the first GPU and then run SLI?' ...... Obviously I am now running TRI-SLI with all my monitors acting independantly now. My GPU was the bottleneck, GPU memory was always 100% while idling, GPU core was usually 90+.. Now under a medium load it's 70% on both. Meaning I get my 60fps in all situations (minus the initial dips when a lot happens suddenly). Gsync seems to work properly too now, it's so gorgeous.

All I need to do now is set up a better CPU strategy to alleviate the sudden burst of information that occurs during a random 50 group jumping on me.

[Kayley]

Well I was wrong about something the other day so I started sulking-- decided to build a new PC case and spruce up my system. The new intel CPUs are a huge letdown so I'll still use most of my current hardware.

https://www.dual-boxing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2112&stc=1

The front is going to look like this. I'll have some really thick foam cut out into the square (well diamond with how it is orientated) shape and 'probably' attach it with magnets for easy removal/clean. The front 'panel' will have the fan attached to it, that too will be held in place with magnets or a basic hinge depending on how it works out.

https://www.dual-boxing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2113&stc=1

The back of the system. The red square outline is just a representation of the I/O shield and space being used up by the PC itself. I'm going to add a 120mm fan in the middle-back area sucking air out, along with two little 60mm fans on the left and right side respectively. Powersupply neatly stacked on top. I've also decided to add two small wheels at the back of the case; near the bottom. So I cart it around relatively easy. Sort of like a suitcase where you lean it back on the wheels and pull it along. I thought about trying to make it stable enough to have wheels on the actual bottom but it's not necessary and prone to tipping (boo).

https://www.dual-boxing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2114&stc=1

The radiators and reservoirs are located outside the case. Covered with some mesh like THIS (https://i.imgur.com/CCNydBL.jpg). I'm not concerned with aggressively overclocking so the fan-speed will be relatively low so as to keep noise to a minimum. As it stands right now with my current setup; I goofed hard and destroyed my current fans.. PC is being passively cooled with just the radiators 'fine'. Fine-being the GPUs under load stay around 48-52c and the cpu hangs around 72c under 100% sustained load. Not the best hence my choice to scrap the 'table build' I have now and make something better.

I need to add 2 of these (https://www.ple.com.au/Products/630794/XSPC-8-Way-PWM-Fan-Splitter-Hub-) and one of these (https://www.ple.com.au/Products/618705/Thermaltake-Commander-FT-Touch-Screen-LCD-525-Fan-Controller) not just for looks but I crammed 30+ fans onto one fan pwm originally which in hindsight was stupid. More to follow as I machine it all / assemble it all this weekend. I'm not sold on which vinyl wrap to use..

https://www.dual-boxing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2119&stc=1
Prototype up and running! Bit messy in my outside workshop but npnp.

[Kayley]

So.

I lost my temper and was a little bit rough.. pulled the pcie connector (gpu-top slot) off the motherboard and uhhhh... the pins remained on the board. DID NOT REALISE. Pushed the cards back down (they are connected to each other via sli bridge/WC loop) and felt the familiar click.. turned the PC and it shut-off; smelled that lovely smokey flavour and.. dead. I have a replacement board here on Friday (hopefully) to check to see if I have blown up the CPU/RAM/Video cards. I de-soldered the pins to remove any short, still a no-go. Siiiiiiiiigh.

if it's all dead I'll buy the current overpriced stuff. 7980xe/9980xe, 2080tis and 128gbRAM just to box a dumb amount of characters.

Such a shame. First time I've goofed with physical hardware like this.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I'd be somewhat surprised if it killed anything other than the MB and maybe PSU. That said, I've had...spotty success with Asus PC components so I don't use them anymore. Not sure how well protected their circuitry is against this sort of thing.

I can remember the days when you could accidentally unplug a running system's PCI audio card, plug in a replacement, and have the system actually recognize it, enumerate it, and run like nothing happened. /nostalgia

[Kayley]

Well. The RAM survived. Two of the Three GPU's survived (RIP).

I purchased a 2950x as a replacement CPU. Which has been pretty impressive so far for multiboxing.

The motherboard (https://www.ple.com.au/Products/628890/Gigabyte-X399-AORUS-Gaming-7-TR4-ATX-Gaming-Motherboard) and CPU (https://www.ple.com.au/Products/633100/AMD-Ryzen-Threadripper-2950X-35GHz-16-Core-32-Thread-sTR4---No-HSF-Retail-Box) came in Apple-esque packaging. Nicely presented, plenty of extra goodies to make you feel like you are opening something amazing. Impressed with the build quality of the motherboard to be honest. Really impressed.

This whole rebuild took a stupidly long time (17 working hours) due to the weird way it detects/populates the sockets.
The official documentation on how to use the 'Bios' USB slot quotes from the x99 series which is completely different. For example in the past you couldn't have the CPU/RAM installed in order for the 'BIOS' USB slot to work. With the x399 you NEED it all populated for it to work.
Also requires a USB 2.0 drive which I didn't see... had to go through about 30 USB drives before I found an old one hah.
Only had to mess around with it as the Threadripper 2s aren't detected on older bios-- at least they have this autoflash feature. Would suck to have to buy an older CPU in order to get it to post, flashing the old way.

Had all the RAM slots filled... aaaannnnddd it kept throwing error codes at me. I would take the RAM out, re-seat it, it would work, then stop working. By working I mean it wouldn't be detected in the BIOS. I then found out about the weird quirks.. on the first post it would notice 2 sticks, next post it would notice 4.. until it was all detected. Weird AF.

Motherboard kept giving GPU error codes. I had to drain the loop and install the cards ONE AT A TIME for it to post. Install one card, boot it up, let the bios see ONE CARD.. save and exit. Install a second, into bios, rinse repeat until all Three were seen by the motherboard. However when I got into Windows only two are recognised (siigh).

All in all not so bad.

--overclocking tomorrow! I'm hoping for at least 4.4ghz on all cores.

Ok so overclocking on this chipset is a little different. Here are some results with Cinebench (https://imgur.com/GKK4vk8) to show what I mean.
I metered the mboard tracks and my PSU output.. it was able to push through a stupid amount of power to the CPU. The Ryzen Master program tells me the chip can take 700w... How batshit crazy is that.

So far I have found that I can OC to 4.5ghz and it's benchmark stable.. however the results are terrible. I then noticed when leaving it at stock and having the Auto-boost (Precision Boost Overdrive) manage everything, it was able to beat my Manual OC (4ghz) with it's boosted frequency of 3.85ghz (Cinebench shows it at 3.50). Poked around to find out why and it turns out this particular chip wants LESS voltage. So dialed back up the 4.1ghz and lowered the Vcore/Vcore SOC and it benched a lot higher. I did think it wasn't getting enough voltage and it was throttling originally-- which is why I metered the connections to double check.

It continues!

Another example of the weird Voltage thing with the CPU. (https://i.imgur.com/1SSIGr7.jpg)
Someone else who OC'd to 4.1ghz was achieving 3628 cinebench scores consistently. Trying to find out what his voltages were like.