AMD 2990WX Question?

[RS7KBeats]

I am considering upgrading to the AMD Threadripper 2990WX CPU, does anyone have any experience with it? Looking to cut my rendering time down, would you recommend it or another processor? Thanks!

[zoomer]

The 2990WX is very good for CPU Rendering,

unfortunately only for CPU Rendering. It is a very niche processor.

For any other tasks it seems to be much slower.

That is more valid for Windows, less for Linux.

 

One problem of the 2990WX is that 16 of 32 cores don't have now direct memory access

and have to go over slower infinite fiber. But neither that nor Windows Scheduler seem to

be the real reason for that slowdown in standard tasks.

AMD said to be working with Microsoft on a solution.

 

If you priority is on CPU Rendering in Modo, C4D, VW RW, .... it is fine and the fastest

you can get.

But if you are afraid that your $1800 CPU will be slower for your Modeling, Office; Gaming, ...

tasks, you better choose the 2950X and give up from Cinebench Multi 5000 to 3300 points,

which doesn't show such problems.

 

If you go for the 2990WX and maybe even overclock it,

take a good and capable Power Supply and TR4 Mainboard.

For OC there are only 2 recommended boards,

the old expensive Asus and the new MSI Gaming with updated VRMs.

Edited December 3, 2018 by zoomer

[RS7KBeats]

Great info zoomer, thank you for the detailed response! This would be primarily used as my render machine but I would be using it for the drafting process as well.
As a follow up question, I currently am running everything on an iMac...have you ever run into any issues going between PC and Mac platforms? Would it be best to stick to one OS or is it pretty easy to kick between the two?

[zoomer]

1st,

Hardware :

I had exactly the same idea as you - I will get a 2990WX PC Render and 3D Machine.

When I realized the problems with 2990WX I was not able to make that decission.

Going the safer way with less culprits by a 2950X but miss the fastest Render CPU ?

But as I wanted urgently

a) "real" Hardware for my Linux experiments

b) something Windows and PC, because recent Bricscad for Windows is out now,

while OSX and Linux Versions mean to wait for another few months.

 

So I went with my "cheap" Ryzen experiment for testing, for now.

The reason is that there are coming some meaningful changes for PC in the near future

but to far away that I could wait :

- PCI 4

- AMD's CPU s with 7 nanometer "Chiplets" with 14 nanometer I/O

- 7 nanometer GPUs

I was not willing to spend 1800 € for a CPU and expensive Board when it will be obsolete

for me soon.

(just for me (!) because I'm so curious and stoked about the mentioned changes)

 

The side effect is that my Ryzen PC is nearly double as fast/good as my Trash Can, looks

pretty nice and so all signs look like that I will use that Machine much longer as it was

thought to be used and before I will build my "final" ultimate" Threadripper PC.

I may be lucky and the next 7 nm Ryzens will be noticeably faster but still fit on my board

or allow another "cheap" upgrade in another form.

[zoomer]

3 hours ago, RS7KBeats said:

As a follow up question, I currently am running everything on an iMac...have you ever run into any issues going between PC and Mac platforms? Would it be best to stick to one OS or is it pretty easy to kick between the two?

 

That is a difficult Question.

I currently also still run everything in production Mac-only !

 

I switched from PC to Mac in 2006-2007 and was 100% convinced of my switch.

I had 6 wonderful years.

But I started to get disappointed with some Apple moves already in 2012 when

they degraded the Mac Mini. And beside hardware disappointment (Mac Pro 2013)

it got worse and worse over the years with diminishing Pro Software's Feature Support

for macOS by 3D Pro Apps and iOS-ification and degrading of macOS until today.

But I thought about the serious need to escape at one day, with PC hardware,

for at least 3 years.

 

a) Yes !

it would be definitely best to stick to one OS only !

 

b) No !

There aren't any serious Problems when having Windows + Mac and data Exchange.

(Beside that I don't like to need to maintain 2 "main" Machines)

 

 

Caution !

following my highly subjective personal opinion rant !

(and my personal requirements may be reasonably exaggerated in general ....)

 

For Windows from a Mac perspective itself,

if you were a convinced Mac User who valued its values,

stay with macOS as long as you can.

Period.

 

Maybe spend some extra grands on an iMac Pro,

which isn't exactly what you are looking for and not as reliable and capable of what you can get

on the PC side. Wait and hope for a potential new modular Mac Pro and that you can afford it.

Just ignore Hardware, go on with your existing stuff for another while or find other ways like

GPU Renderers with expensive eGPUs or Cloud Render Services and what not.

After extensively dealing with Windows 10 for the last 2 weeks,

Behind it's pretty surface, Windows 10 is still the same ugly Windows as it it was pre 2007.

For me it is still the same attention and maintenance grabbing, inflexible, tedious, prohibiting,

ugly, obtrusive and counter acting proprietary crap, in parts worse than it always was.

 

Without going too much into details why I come to that special conclusion,

a few examples of what may be painful in general usage :

 

In OS X you could concentrate on (and maintain only) your 3D Pro Apps.

80% of all peripheral needs you could sort out with macOS add ons like iLive and iWorks.

For the 20 % rest there were beautiful 3rd party App solutions available.

Windows 10 Edge and Mail also look nice and non disturbing as Safari and Mail, but are much more

feature limited than on Mac. So you may need to go with Firefox and Thunderbird - which needs again

some extra attention and maintenance.

You may heavily miss very peripheral things you were used to as god given, like Spacebar Preview.

Or, I mostly communicate on Forums in English - but I can't speak english !

So there is macOS Dictionary which after a RMB option click - without the need to select a word first,

translates - in both directions !

For me, those missing 20% of peripheral Software, like App+Time tracking for Freelancers,

Online Banking, .... you name it - are either not the same quality as you are used to or not existing at all.

And you might miss some reliably Backup Solutions like Time Machine and Carbon CopyCloner as

safety fallback or insurance. 

(Or I was not able to find them, I am happy for any proposals)

 

Windows 10 Pros :

3D Pro Software and Pro Input Devices generally run better on Windows.

Period.

(Vectorworks, and maybe C4D, are a rare exceptions)

It is often about Feature Parity, Stability, Lags in Availability and that here is much more Choice

in general. That's why I I build a Windows PC and ... that's it.

 

 

BTW,

if you lost your complete first installation of Windows by an Windows update,

losing days of configuration, just because it won't tolerate - and a Windows DVD will refuse any

repair options - or even will prevent from any form of Windows Installation,

just because and as long as there are any traces or EFI partitions of any other competing

Operating System anywhere on any disk on your machine - and you are forced to throw them

away also,

and after entering that inhuman 1.5 mm light Font Serial Number for a 2 digit number of times,

which you can't see at a certain age without glasses that prevent from reading your monitor on

the other hand ...

you may partly agree with my rant and maybe party understand that so far, I am still not sure if I

will be even willing to feature a WindowsOS for 3D Pro Apps only, beside a macOS.

And if so,

although all macOS degrading and problems, that Windows will never be more than a temporary

substitute for a final Future with an Open Source OS.

 

 

Beside, if "your milage will vary" and you have different needs - just go for it.
VW won't at least run worse on Windows.

 

Edited December 3, 2018 by zoomer