AMD Threadripper 2950X versus i9 line?

[Kayley]

PBO is amazing. I've never been more happier about any feature EVER than I am with this.

I think the ISBoxer wizard doesn't see it because of how AMD register their CPU cores. An intel 8 core (with hyperthreading) CPU will display it as 0-15 cores/threads. AMD has it registered like THIS; as you can see it registers the cores 'Core #0 Thread #0 and Core #0 Thread #1' which probably confuses ISBoxer. I haven't really looked into it much if i'm honest.

Intel has been stagnant for quite some time. The refresh doesn't really bring anything new to the table barring the extra cores. Its good to wait and see how it all performs before committing to one thing or another; as always.. get the best deal for what you require
(and if you go the intel route.. PLEASE PLEASE do a custom WC loop for awesome OCing)

[Apatheist]

I can barely be bothered with AIO's. I don't plan on a custom loop. I just want something that performs solidly with a reasonable overclock and minimal fuss/maintenance, I don't need to squeeze every Hz out of it. If I can get a 12-16 core CPU to 4.5GHz+ without being able to bake cookies in my case I'm more than happy.

Not sure about the Intel refresh not offering anything new. Soldered CPU's have a significant thermal improvement over the lidded goop Intel used last generation. More cores, less heat, higher frequencies. There's no jaw dropping new tech or anything but it's a significant boost across the board for everything that matters.

I'm still not dead set against AMD, I just don't want to dump that much cash on a machine only to find out it performs poorly for one of my primary uses. The new Intel stuff isn't due until the 25th (probably even later where I am in Australia) so if you can be bothered I'd definitely be interested in more detail about how your threadripper system performs.

Out of curiosity, what is your CPU sitting at with PBO enabled? You said 4.5GHz all core manual. Is it hitting that with PBO on? Also, which RAM are you using?

-- Nevermind. Just saw your other thread. Have you overclocked your RAM? I'm told if you're benching that bumping your RAM to 3200 can have a more significant impact than increasing your CPU frequency.

[Kayley]

This is the RAM x2 and yes I was able to OC it to 3200ish. - it's expensive in AUS. Ram and Voltage is more important than frequency for sure. As I mentioned in the other thread some reviewers had 4.35ghz / 4.5ghz and their results were terrible. I do pass things on to some of the more well known people but they typically don't go back and change anything. Sometimes you get a shout out though which is fun

I also forgot about the soldered thermal interface.. mostly because I would delid if I was doing an extreme OC. Didn't have to with the 5960x as it was soldered anyway. A friend wanted to really push their 8700k, so I took it apart and we used Grizzly conductonaut then smooshed it back together. At stock and even a moderate OC there was only a 4c difference in thermals. It only makes an impact if you are going hard with it-- we pushed it to 5.1ghz and it was a temperature reduction of 10-16c (which stopped it from throttling). So while I think it's neat they are changing it up.. I don't see it being that amazing unless you really do go nuts. But hey, lower temps for no effort is still a win!

I have fixed the paging issue (for the most part). I also had a look into the CPU affinity when I manually set it in ISBoxer-- it doesn't set it up correctly in windows when you load the game. Turns out half the CPU is still idle. I mean look how it sees itself in windows lol

I don't think you'll be unhappy with whichever you end up buying. Just make sure it's a good deal for you haha. Both sides are performing well!
When the intel refresh is out i'll pick one up and do some fun comparisons.

[Kayley]

Update on the 2950x.
I was able to (with my stand-still farming, resolution talked about with Mirai before) run 86 accounts without an overclock.
When I tried to load up 87 that's when I started getting CPU hiccups (fps dips).

As I mentioned before I corrected a lot of the weird quirky behaviour I experienced-- however it turns out my motherboard was just faulty lol.
So who knows how much misbehaving is due to the new architecture vs just a POS motherboard.

When a working motherboard arrives i'm going to try out the 2990wx and see if I can push 150+ accounts at my farming spot.
Due to the low rendered resolution (573x240) the GPU hit is negligible however the CPU is thrashed when calculating all those numbers. For example, with 86 loaded and just standing around the 2950x idles at 30-33% CPU, the moment I start spamming my 1-2-3 it all jumps to 90-97% across the board.

I remember struggling to run through Orgrimmar back in the day on my Q6600 with only 4gb RAM... stuttering through... taking 10 minutes just to reach the warlock NPC... with just 5 characters.. good times.

[Apatheist]

Update on the 2950x.

I can't see myself ever needing more than 25-40 concurrent clients open depending which server/expansion I'm playing on. Currently getting into TBC and I'd like to try to solo Kara but my current PC can handle that many clients. 40 For vanilla servers running MC, etc. but the vanilla client is much less demanding. I'd never need to run 80+.

One thing I'm curious about is do you notice stuttering while PBO is manipulating the frequency? For example, if you're at 4.4 and PBO drops you down to 3.9 during heavy load is that change is noticeable during gameplay? Seems like it'd be annoying if so.

Still waiting for the Intel refresh and some comparison reviews to make my purchase.

[Kayley]

The way PBO works (at least from what I can see on the surface) is it will internally bench a few cores, run them at 4.4ghz for example. But it will have an 'all core' speed ready which is on average 200mhz lower. So it fluctuates a little bit based on what you are doing but there is no noticeable performance 'stutters'. For a one button auto-OC it really decent.

It also turns out the CPU I had was faulty too. Hoorah for quality control gone bad.

[Apatheist]

Wonder what the odds are on getting a bad CPU and MoBo in one purchase? You should buy a lottery ticket with that kind of luck.

If you're getting a new CPU could you re-test and see if it works out of the box with ISBoxer? Would be good to know in case the Intel refresh reviews turn out not to compare favorably with Threadripper and I end up going with AMD.

[Kayley]

2 of the RAM kits were faulty (Memtest errors), CPU and Motherboard too. I swear they just grabbed my stuff out of their RMA pile

CPU wizard is still the same as before at the moment.
Some programs see the 2950x as a 16 core, 32t CPU and adjusts things accordingly.
However some other programs see the 2950x as CPU#1 and CPU#2 with 8 cores a piece.

Black Friday sales in AUS are decent.. too bad I didn't wait xD

[Apatheist]

Several vendors near me have added preorder links for the new Intel CPU's and the prices are still pretty steep.

i9-9920X. 12 cores, 24 threads. $1849. ~4.4 all core OC.
TR-2950X. 16 cores, 32 threads. $1415. ~4.1 all core OC.

No reviews available but the AMD system is starting to seem more appealing.

Have you managed to find a solution to get ISBoxer to correctly assign cores on the Threadripper yet? I imagine this would be a tough one to get fixed since Lax is unlikely to fork out a grand for a CPU to test on.

[Kayley]

Nah isboxer doesn't manage the affinity well and I don't expect it to now that I've had a pretty good look into it. You can google the AMD CCX and AMD windows scheduling conflicts and make your own opinion on whose fault is whose. I use a program that was recommended to me; 'Process Lasso'. It enables me to do BULK affinity swaps with a click of a couple of buttons-- very handy. It also balances the load a bit better than default windows and i'm able to specifically target a processor group quickly/easily.

The romance phase has ended-- while the 2950x is powerful as heck-- it has it's drawbacks.
So you can see the CCX (Die packages / processor groups) here. I'm using a 2950x as a demonstration, it has two CCX cores.
If I max out either CCX core it will lag the hell out of your windows OS-- the games run amazing, but doing anything from windows is sluggish. It's best shown with this. The little red dips are when the system is struggling to understand what is going on and the cursor (in windows) has micro-stuttering. All I did for this to happen was to put an unrealistic load on one die package. I left one die package, 8 cores FREE yet windows was still trying to move things around and involve the secondary processor group which was being stomped by my mboxing clients.

In order for this to happen you really do have to overwork the CPU. It took me 45 clients in a busy area smashing on a turnip (number calculations) to create this type of scenario-- but it exists. When I did my 85+ client test I didn't care that the OS was a bit sluggish as I expected that.

Linux doesn't suffer from these problems as the kernel handles the i/o operations better-- for whatever reason the Windows kernel doesn't.

So if you are going to 20-box, pvp, high traffic areas etc-- This CPU can handle that and it's better than anything intel has in the same price range.
However if you are gonna run 30+ accounts, have youtube up, stream, bitcoin mine, just thrash your CPU with monster computational demands... you wont like the OS experience.