Is the 3990x the multiboxer's dream cpu?

[Altsink]

Just curious of opinions if this cpu is the dream cpu for those that wanna multibox 20-30-40 accounts, or is it worse than running multiple computer setup?

[WOWBOX40]

Your best bet is to use several computers that has headroom for future use aswell.

If you can afford this kind of hardware to begin with, we are talking per 8 accounts ("per battlenet account"): if it was me: 64gb ram, amd 3950x, radeon vii 16gb vram gpu, 1-2gb m.2 ssd 2000gb/s+, two monitors. Etc.

[Altsink]

Yeah I was leaning towards wanting everything on one computer, instead of dealing with a multi computer setup, but I'm also unsure of how hot the 3990x would get if I used up all its cores and overclocked a bit or not.

[WOWBOX40]

Well if you absolutely want to:


You have 64 cores / 128 threads.

Main game: 4 cores / 4 threads.

That leaves 60 cores / 124 threads.


Each slave: 2 cores / 2 threads

60 / 30 games = 2 cores / 2 threads each.

You can multibox 31 accounts alrighty.

(ideally 30 though: leave the first 2 cores / 2 threads unassigned, for the OS).


For gpu you then want a nvidia Titan rtx with 24 gb vram.

And 128 gb RAM (it might be too close though.. depending, with 10 games and craptons of addons i use around 45 gb ram +). So... why not get those 256 gb ram just in case.



I dunno where you live... but the cpu alone (!), costs the sames as 3 computers able to 10 box each.

If you plan to run it hard on all cores, id suggest getting atleast the cpu properly watercooled. It will be a pretty small part of the budget afterall, considering. If it was me, and had money to waste, a dream scenario would be a external system with quick disconnects, like a https://koolance.com/image/cache/data/products/alr-4500_p2-700x700.jpg

Edit: ofc also watercool the gpu, if you did choose that radiator.



Where i live, this pc would cost 13k usd, excluding the monitors and watercooling, and misc items.
I would buy it, if i had surplus money burning a giant hole in my pocket.

Then you want fiber internet and a good router with, possibly, custom air cooling.

You might also need to upgrade the power wireing in the house, to support the 1600w psu.

Also dont forget to get 1 (possibly 2) quality air conditions (add 1 more, possibly 2, more power wireings.. as these can consume 2000 watts each..)

And there are probably more items, that i forgot to mention.....


Do note that if you want to use the "FTL" multiboxing feature, you are "limited to 24 accounts", as you run out of key modifiers at that stage. So for any bigger teams, its time to use the good old trusty /focus main /follow focus /assist focus

[WOWBOX40]

I should mention that, yes, in short, if you plan to stick playing 24 accounts + be able to use the ftl system + you want to play on 1 pc = this cpu meet those requirements.

You are going to have to pay a premium though... the cost is no joke.

[Purpleflavor]

Selling my kidney for one.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

There is a clock speed curve that hits the sweet spot for all-core overclocks at the 3900X/3950X @4.2GHz and tails off the more cores you add. If you want absolute per-client performance, jamming that much thermal load into a single PC might not be the greatest option. That said, as noted above, having all of them on one PC means you can take advantage of things like VideoFX that do not work on multi-PC setups.

I would hesitate to bother with non-EK water blocks on it based on my reading a few months ago, and based on my experience with a 3900X I doubt a 360mm radiator is gonna be enough if you actually load the CPU down to 90%+. That said, I highly doubt you will be CPU-bound as it's more likely the GPU will become the bottleneck pretty quickly.

I highly recommend doing some research on coolers including VRM water block support for the motherboard(s) as a 280W TDP CPU is going to stress the power components pretty hard. Hell, the chipset on my measly X570 has its own heat pipe + fan setup (and yeah, it can get pretty hot if you don't factor that in). Thermals are going to be the hardest thing to elegantly control on that system, IMO.

[jak3676]

Win10 Home maxes at 128GB of RAM while Pro goes up to 512GB, Home is also limited to 1CPU socket, but Pro and Enterprise will do 2 CPUs. Win10 Pro and Enterprise essentially cap at 64 threads. MS will say they support up to 256 threads on Pro/Enterprise/Server, but not optimally - Its so bad that performance is often better with 64 than it is with 128 or 256 threads. You can actually disable cores on high end servers and watch performance go up. Such that at work we're sticking with twin Xeon 8280's (HT disabled) as opposed to swapping in Epyc 7742 if its on a Windows server (don't have this problem if you're on RHEL or ESXi.)

Anyone here tried a 3990x with different workloads in any version of Windows?

[Altsink]

There is a clock speed curve that hits the sweet spot for all-core overclocks at the 3900X/3950X @4.2GHz and tails off the more cores you add. If you want absolute per-client performance, jamming that much thermal load into a single PC might not be the greatest option. That said, as noted above, having all of them on one PC means you can take advantage of things like VideoFX that do not work on multi-PC setups.

I would hesitate to bother with non-EK water blocks on it based on my reading a few months ago, and based on my experience with a 3900X I doubt a 360mm radiator is gonna be enough if you actually load the CPU down to 90%+. That said, I highly doubt you will be CPU-bound as it's more likely the GPU will become the bottleneck pretty quickly.

I highly recommend doing some research on coolers including VRM water block support for the motherboard(s) as a 280W TDP CPU is going to stress the power components pretty hard. Hell, the chipset on my measly X570 has its own heat pipe + fan setup (and yeah, it can get pretty hot if you don't factor that in). Thermals are going to be the hardest thing to elegantly control on that system, IMO.

Which x570 do you use?

Yeah the thermals got me scared to buy this chip honestly.

[Altsink]

Win10 Home maxes at 128GB of RAM while Pro goes up to 512GB, Home is also limited to 1CPU socket, but Pro and Enterprise will do 2 CPUs. Win10 Pro and Enterprise essentially cap at 64 threads. MS will say they support up to 256 threads on Pro/Enterprise/Server, but not optimally - Its so bad that performance is often better with 64 than it is with 128 or 256 threads. You can actually disable cores on high end servers and watch performance go up. Such that at work we're sticking with twin Xeon 8280's (HT disabled) as opposed to swapping in Epyc 7742 if its on a Windows server (don't have this problem if you're on RHEL or ESXi.)

Anyone here tried a 3990x with different workloads in any version of Windows?

I knew MS announced support for 64+ threads since the release of the 3990x but I wasn't aware that it still isn't optimal. So performance is still better on a 3970x then?

[WOWBOX40]

The maximum memory on TRX40 motherboards is 256GB (32GB x 8).

And cpu speed will be like 3,6 to 3,8ish. Not 4.ish or more like on other "gaming cpu's". Its not the end of the world. Having 2 cores and 2 threads per slave game on 3.8 works fine enough.


Also:

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/amd_ryzen_threadripper_3990x_64_core_monster_revie w/2

It also mentions that some motherboards cant overclock and the vrm temps. Active cooling with fans at the vrms = good thing. Or ofc use motherboard watercooling.

[Altsink]

@wowbox40, whats your setup with your 3960x? How is the cooling on that since it's also a 280w but with less cores?

[Purpleflavor]

make it go faster

fixed

[WOWBOX40]

@wowbox40, whats your setup with your 3960x? How is the cooling on that since it's also a 280w but with less cores?

1. Fractal Design Celsius S36 CPU cooler.

2. ASUS PRIME TRX40-PRO, Socket-sTRX4.

3. Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200MHz 32GB.

2x16GB DDR4 3200MHz (PC4-25600) CL16, XMP 2.0. Productnr.: CMK32GX4M2B3200C16. 2 sets = 64 gb.

4. Radeon vii gpu, 16gb vram.

5. Corsair HX850i, 850W PSU. 80 PLUS Platinum

6. Intel 660p 1TB M.2 SSD nvme. Around 2 gb/s

7. 2 x 24 inch monitors. Main game on bottom, 9 slaves on above monitor. I use a 2 monitor vertical stand for each of my computers.

I use it to run 10 accounts. 1.3 volt. All cores at 4.0ghz. Cpu temps are around 66 celcius. Nothing out of the ordinary on other parts, like vrm etc. I run hwmonitor 64bit while i play.

[Altsink]

Thanks for the response. The temps are better than I thought, especially since you OC'd it. So that S36 cooler doesn't cover the whole cpu and you still get those temps? Or does it come with a larger plate that covers the whole surface of the 3960x?

[WOWBOX40]

Thanks for the response. The temps are better than I thought, especially since you OC'd it. So that S36 cooler doesn't cover the whole cpu and you still get those temps? Or does it come with a larger plate that covers the whole surface of the 3960x?

It was the best cooler i could find at the time i built the pc. Its not ideal, as the coldplate doesnt cover the entire cpu surface. It does touch within the 4 parts this cpu has though. But temps arent bad at all. But obviously try get a cooler thats properly suited for the threadripper, if you are planing to aio cool it.

The higher cores variants probably look different under the skin = you will then need a full cover cpu surface block.

I can take it for a torture raidtest later this saturday. I will then provide a better update, tempwise.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Which x570 do you use?

Yeah the thermals got me scared to buy this chip honestly.
I'm running the MSI MEG x570 ACE.

Honestly, the thermals wouldn't be such a concern if cooler manufacturers, BIOS designers, and etc. would all get together and do a less sucktacular job at designing pump/fan software. The NZXT software that came with my X72 was SO. DAMN. BAD. I ended up just leaving the BIOS fan curves at defaults and picking up a copy of Argus Monitor and setting all the dynamic curves in that app. The chipset temps were running around 67C+ all the time and the fan rarely came on. With it running at basically minimal speed via Argus Monitor, the temps rarely ever get over 60C now even under my heaviest loads. I poked around on mine with a thermal camera during stress testing and the VRM areas never got very hot. Granted, I'm only on a 3900X @ 4.2GHz. The default settings were MUCH worse as the voltage would ramp up to like 1.465v and then it wouldn't take too long before it appeared to start throttling (with Prime95 spiking things up to 97C). Setting it to a flat 4.2GHz and undervolting to 1.25v cured all its ills; Prime95 temps dropped to ~74C after the cooler heat soaks and it rarely gets above ~55C in any gaming I've done yet. It's been more stable under load than any system I've had before.

[WOWBOX40]

https://www.dual-boxing.com/images/tf_ideal/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Altsink https://www.dual-boxing.com/images/tf_ideal/buttons/viewpost-right.png
(https://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?p=430705#post430705)@wowbox40, whats your setup with your 3960x? How is the cooling on that since it's also a 280w but with less cores?.



So after some raidtesting:


Cpu max temps 72 degree celsius.
System RAM used: 65% (of 64 gb)
All cpu cores at 1,3 volt.
All cpu cores at 4.0 ghz.
Cpu max utilization: 79% (the individual cores varied from 73% to 92%, most were around the low 80s)
Gpu max utilization: 100%
Gpu memory vram utilization: 45% (of 16 gb)
Gpu temp, max: 74 degree celsius.
Total system watts: around 600 watt power draw.
Ssd M.2 temp, max: 39 degree celsius.
Corsair powersupply; max 41 and 54 degree celsius. I use "single rail mode": (option you can turn on in the corsair link software).


All games are set to 60 fps front, 30 fps background. 1080p.
Slaves games all set to grafics settings 1 (some slightly increased) and settings around 3 on the main (some slightly changed).


No other temps were out of the ordinary.

pc case:
Fractal design define 6. All fans used, intake fans speed set to 100%. Outtake fan speeds set to 50%. Positive pressure.
And yes, the AiO fans are going at 100% when the going gets tough. Aio pump always at 100%.

Headset: /always on

[WOWBOX40]

Just so you are aware.. there is a glitch in the "Ryzen master" utility.

I thought my main character felt like having around 20+ fps less that it should, and yes, low and behold, the utility had turned OFF half the cores, so my 24 core / 48 thread cpu ran with 12 cores / 24 threads instead.

I solved this by pressing "reset" in the lower left corner of the utility, then it restarted the pc.
Then overclocked it like normally, using the tool, but DID NOT enable "use compability for older programs" = it then worked.

Sidenote:
Its good practice to have open (just to doublecheck) the following programs, to make sure all cores etc actually are enabled / correct:
1. windows task manager.
2. CPUID HWmonitor 64 bit.
3. CPU-Z 64 bit.

The temps are around the same, 70 degrees (max when raiding (AKA hard raidtrash mobs packs, = intense action), but cpu utilization went down by a LOT, obviously by effectivly doubling my amount of cores/threads.

Happy days.