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[greynolds]

The PC I'm using to host my JRiver install is getting long in the tooth.  The motherboard, CPU, RAM, and HBA (16 port SATA controller) are all getting old and old drivers seem to be causing problems with recent Windows 10 updates.  So I'm looking to replace the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and HBA card with current products and reuse the rest of the existing system, which lives in a big Norco rack mount case with a bunch of hot swap drive bays

The motherboard appears to be a bit tricky as I need something with sufficient PCIe slots to handle:

- Dual slot GTX1070 video card
- LSI / Broadcom 9305-16i HBA card (x8 lane PCI Expressฎ 3.0)
- Intel  I350-T2 PCI Express x4 dual port LAN card

Otherwise, I want something that can support a pretty beefy CPU as I want to be able to run a Windows 10 VM for some non-JRiver items that will be configured to use it's own LAN connection.

After looking around a bit on PCPartPicker, here's a possible combo:

Motherboard: ASUS WS C246 PRO
CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K (with an appropriate cooler)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200
Video Card: GTX1070
HBA Controller: LSI/Broadcom 9305-16i (this gives me the connections needed to the backplanes of the Norco hot swap drive bays)
LAN card: Intel  I350-T2
OS Drive: Brand new Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD

I should be all set on the case, power supply, and everything else.

What I'm not clear on is if the PCIe slots on the motherboard are sufficient for the cards I want to install as it sounds like the number of lanes available on the slots changes when certain slots are used.

Any suggestions that keep the cost in the same ballpark (or less) are appreciated.  I'm not really interested in splitting this into 2 PC's if I can avoid it.

[tij]

Out of curiosity ... if running in rack mount and VM ... why not use server grade components like ECC RAM?

Also ... AMD these days seems to offer better CPU ... power wise ... price wise ... and performance wise ... Intel seems to be riding on their name and reputation only atm

Supermicro seems to offer good value server grade motherboards that support multi GPU setups (need to check form factor carefully as some of their boards are custom form meant to fit their rack offerings)

[Hendrik]

On a consumer CPU you get 16 PCIe lanes. A typical setup would be 8 for graphics and 2x 4 for other things.

You would have to consult the motherboard documentation for the exact details, but the board alone can't give you more lanes, you would have to swap platforms to the workstation segment (More lanes) or get an expensive board with a PCIe switch (more flexibility in using the lanes)

[greynolds]

Thanks for the responses, guys.  The motherboard and CPU combo I mentioned in my initial post are intended as a starting point for discussion - I'm not locked into anything at this point and am not ruling out server class motherboards and CPUs.  I do want to keep the cost somewhat reasonable and also want to try to keep power consumption somewhat reasonable (if possible).  I realize I'm already using a bunch of power for the GPU and drives, so I realize that saving a few watts on the motherboard and CPU may be a bit silly to worry about.

Out of curiosity ... if running in rack mount and VM ... why not use server grade components like ECC RAM?

It's rack mounted mostly for convenience (it's more of a HTPC in a really big box with a bunch of hard drives to store my media, not because I'm looking for full blown data center caliber performance and reliability.  The current configuration has been working fine for towards 10 years, but it's time to upgrade since I'm running into issues with outdated drivers for the HBA card and motherboard with recent Windows 10 updates (I've been getting blue screens when it tries to install the latest update, but it's not clear which device is the culprit).

To be clear, I don't intend to run JRiver in a VM; the VM is intended for other tasks that I'd like to isolate from JRiver as long as the performance impact of the VM doesn't adversely affect JRiver.  If I end up with an 8 core CPU and 64GB of RAM, the initial thought is to give 2 or 4 cores and 8 or 16GB or RAM to the VM, leaving the rest for JRiver.

I'm not convinced ECC RAM would do anything for me other than cost more money.  If there's a truly compelling reason to go with ECC RAM, I'll certainly consider it.

Also ... AMD these days seems to offer better CPU ... power wise ... price wise ... and performance wise ... Intel seems to be riding on their name and reputation only atm

I'm not completely opposed to using AMD, but I've always used Intel over the years.  I also haven't built a PC for about 10 years, so specific recommendations would really be helpful as I've fallen somewhat out of touch with what the best options might be and there are so many choices now.

Supermicro seems to offer good value server grade motherboards that support multi GPU setups (need to check form factor carefully as some of their boards are custom form meant to fit their rack offerings)

Yes, I've been looking at Supermicro motherboards as an option.  Their X11SAT motherboard appears to be a reasonable option for my needs, at least based on the PCI lane configuration.

On a consumer CPU you get 16 PCIe lanes. A typical setup would be 8 for graphics and 2x 4 for other things.

You would have to consult the motherboard documentation for the exact details, but the board alone can't give you more lanes, you would have to swap platforms to the workstation segment (More lanes) or get an expensive board with a PCIe switch (more flexibility in using the lanes)

My understanding is that the number of lanes is ultimately a mix of what the motherboard chipset and the chosen CPU provide (https://silentpc.com/articles/performance-and-pci-express-bus-lanes).  What's not entirely clear is what sort of performance is incurred when you have to rely on the chipset lanes over and above the CPU lanes.

The specs for the Supermicro X11SAT indicate the following:

3 PCI-E 3.0 x16 (run at 16/NA/16 or 16/8/8)
1 PCI-E 3.0 x1 (in x4)
1 5V PCI 32-bit slots

Though I have absolutely no use at this point for a PCI slot, it sounds like the slot configuration would meet my needs as I could put the GPU in the x16 slot, the HBA in one of the x8 slots and the network card in the other x8 slot.  But is there a performance sacrifice there if the selected CPU only has 16 lanes?  If there is a performance sacrifice is it actually significant to the point where I will care?

[greynolds]

I suppose another question here is do I really need the nVidia GTX 1070 video card?  My home theater display is a LG OLED77G7.  I upgraded to the GTX 1070 from a much older ATI/AMD HD 6670 video card a year or so back and can't say I noticed a dramatic difference in the picture quality watching DVD, Bluray, TV, and videos (of all sorts of resolutions).  If I can get by with integrated graphics, that obviously makes a big difference on my expansion slot requirements.

[RoderickGI]

If I can get by with integrated graphics, that obviously makes a big difference on my expansion slot requirements.

There be dragons...

... at least if you are outputting audio over HDMI. I believe Intel iGPU's still have issues with some audio formats and configurations. Or at least their drivers do. That is something you would want to research very carefully before going down that path. There have been plenty of discussions on the forum.

[greynolds]

There be dragons...

... at least if you are outputting audio over HDMI. I believe Intel iGPU's still have issues with some audio formats and configurations. Or at least their drivers do. That is something you would want to research very carefully before going down that path. There have been plenty of discussions on the forum.

Thanks for the response.  I've got no problem keeping the GTX 1070 in the system if there are good reasons for keeping it.  And of course, I'm not hell bent on going with an Intel CPU and chipset combo if there's a good argument for going with AMD - this could possibly be a good argument for going with AMD.

[RoderickGI]

Yep, it could be. I haven't looked into audio over HDMI with AMD. Also something worth researching. With Intel it is typically hard to find the facts. Hopefully AMD shares better information.

[tij]

I suppose another question here is do I really need the nVidia GTX 1070 video card?  My home theater display is a LG OLED77G7.  I upgraded to the GTX 1070 from a much older ATI/AMD HD 6670 video card a year or so back and can't say I noticed a dramatic difference in the picture quality watching DVD, Bluray, TV, and videos (of all sorts of resolutions).  If I can get by with integrated graphics, that obviously makes a big difference on my expansion slot requirements.

I am using 1070 with LG E6. 1060 would be minimum for 4K and MadVR. But 1070 is great so far for all my needs (including 2160p60 for likes of Gemini Man and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk … though I really hate high frame rate on motion pictures) … I highly doubt you can use iGPU with madVR on 4k … especially 60fps (there was discussion on intel NUC … if I recall correctly iGPU was not able to handle it)

Another reason for GPU is madVR tone mapping for HDR … not sure about G7, but E6 tone mapping has significantly noticeable hue shift in HDR tone mapping (one that sore my eyes most is Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2 at train station with Harry and Dumbledore … the scene is very bright and there are lamps on train station columns … those supposed to have reddish hue … E6 tone mapping gives them yellowish/greenish hue

PS. not sure why you need 2 1070 … one is enough … and if its not - madVR does not use CF or SLI anyway (if you force SLI/CF on madVR it will run slightly slower)

PSS. thing with rackmount equipment … they are designed to be housed in separate rooms … so noise was likely not considered in the design … my 36 drive rackmount is noisy as hell when all drives are used due to powerful fans needed to push air around all those drive)

PSSS. I use ECC ram on NAS as I am running FreeNAS that strongly recommends using it … in this case its reliability so data don't get corrupted when calculating parities for RAID6

on HTPC - ECC is unnecessary expenditure … RAM itself and special CPU/motherboards (from what I recall ECC is supported on Xeon, i3 and i9 ... and you need motherboard that support it)

[RoderickGI]

My understanding is that "Dual slot GTX1070 video card" ≠ two video cards. Just one card that is so wide it takes up two slots.

So, Greynolds just has one 1070 card.

[tij]

My understanding is that "Dual slot GTX1070 video card" ≠ two video cards. Just one card that is so wide it takes up two slots.

So, Greynolds just has one 1070 card.

my bad ... then its not whether morherboard can support it ... its whether the case has enough room for it

[greynolds]

My understanding is that "Dual slot GTX1070 video card" ≠ two video cards. Just one card that is so wide it takes up two slots.

So, Greynolds just has one 1070 card.

Correct, it's just the typical 1070 that uses up two slots because the thing is so darn big.

PSS. thing with rackmount equipment … they are designed to be housed in separate rooms … so noise was likely not considered in the design … my 36 drive rackmount is noisy as hell when all drives are used due to powerful fans needed to push air around all those drive)

I've got the option 120mm fan bracket for my Norco cases, so while not silent they aren't crazy loud either.  The rack is in the basement, so I'm not concerned about a little noise.  As I said previously though, the system has been running like this for about 10 years.  It's just time to upgrade to a current motherboard / CPU / RAM combo and replace the old drive controller card that has current OS support.  I'm not seeking device on how to make the PC silent and such.

PSSS. I use ECC ram on NAS as I am running FreeNAS that strongly recommends using it … in this case its reliability so data don't get corrupted when calculating parities for RAID6

I'm not using RAID and am not interested in discussing the pros and cons as I've gone down that path before and am happy with the choice I made to go with JBOD - for my needs it works just fine.

on HTPC - ECC is unnecessary expenditure … RAM itself and special CPU/motherboards (from what I recall ECC is supported on Xeon, i3 and i9 ... and you need motherboard that support it)

Right.

Someone over on AVS Forum had made a specific recommendation of going with an AsRock Taichi AMD X399 chipset motherboard and compatible CPU with the generic "AMD is better" comment.  After researching the PCIe lanes topic a bit further (thanks for pointing this out @Hendrik), I think it's actually a great suggestion as the compatible CPU's have 64 PCIe lanes and the chipset has 66 PCIe lanes.  It doesn't look like Intel has anything that really comes close to that number of lanes.  It also looks like the performance of the compatible AMD CPU's is tough to beat.

So the combination of an ASRock X399 Taichi motherboard (about $320), AMD Threadripper 1920X 12 core CPU (about $200), and an appropriate RAM option looks like just about a perfect option for my needs.

[tij]

1920X is 180W 14nm 3.5/4GHz and from 2017 (this is workstation CPU … high lanes and ECC support … aka more expensive motherboards)

Current comparable offering (pricewise) from AMD would be 3600X 95W 7nm 3.8/4.4GHz (this is consumer CPU … so as Hendrick mention MB for this will be 16 lanes)

1920X is OLD. With 3600X you will be sitting at about same performance as 1920X ... but can upgrade to 3950X when it becomes as cheap as 1920X now (though personally when I upgrade ... I usually up whole rig)

I am not sure why fixating on PCIe lanes ... single PCIe 3.0 lane is effectively 985 MB/s ... HDD is 80-150MB/s and since you don't RAID that's the figure you looking at (which by the way is plenty for serving movies)

I too never used AMD since Athlon ... but looking at benchmarks/prices now seriously makes me scratch my head

[greynolds]

I am not sure why fixating on PCIe lanes ...

Well, it doesn't exactly help that I'm getting conflicting advice, I guess.  One person says I won't have enough PCIe lanes on a consumer CPU and motherboard combo and need to go with server class CPU's and chipsets to have enough PCIe lanes, while another tells me I don't need to worry about that and just go with consumer stuff, while someone else tells me I need ECC memory (or don't).

I really do appreciate the advice, but I'm kind of left wondering what the heck I should do at this point.

[tij]

Hahaha ... then back to basics

Functionally - what are you really planning to use PC for?

1. you want it to be HTPC to feed your G7 via HDMI
2. you want it to be a file server for need #1

do you want it to serve files to other computers on network (if yes - what files? - movies, photos, doc?)
you planning to transcode those movies for mobile phones/tablets?
you want it to run VM? (what you intend VM to run?)

as you are price conscious (and not one of those who just buys most expensive stuff) you really need to nail what you want with PC before going shopping

[greynolds]

Hahaha ... then back to basics

Functionally - what are you really planning to use PC for?

1. you want it to be HTPC to feed your G7 via HDMI
2. you want it to be a file server for need #1

do you want it to serve files to other computers on network (if yes - what files? - movies, photos, doc?)
you planning to transcode those movies for mobile phones/tablets?
you want it to run VM? (what you intend VM to run?)

as you are price conscious (and not one of those who just buys most expensive stuff) you really need to nail what you want with PC before going shopping

1. HTPC running JRiver to feed LG G7 via HDMI
1a. Use JRiver's DVR functionality to record from SiliconDust HDHomeRun OTA and CableCard network tuners
1b. Watch DVD, Bluray, and UHD Bluray movies
1c. Watch other video file types
1d. Listen to music both on the main system and through the JRemote iOS app
1e. Occassionaly stream video to the JRemote iOS app when on vacation
2. File server for JRiver
3. File server for other media file uses, but the primary focus is on serving JRiver

For the VM, I'm hoping to run the following:

1. Bittorrent client using a few CPU cores (the exact number largely depends on what I end up with - on a 12 core, I would probably give this 4 and the other 8 to the main box), a reasonable amount of RAM (probably 4-8GB), and a separate physical LAN connection so I don't interfere with JRiver's access to the SiliconDust tuners.
2. IP updater client for DynDNS (this is obviously a light task)

There are a few other really light duty apps that will run on the JRiver system, such as MCEController to allow my Crestron control system to control JRiver, but nothing of significance.

That's about it.  The bittorrent client is currently limping along on another old PC that has similar issues with old hardware that has driver issues with recent Windows 10 updates, so I'm hoping to be able to combine the 2 systems into 1, but keep the bittorrent client reasonably isolated from JRiver.

[tij]

Well .. I think ppl recommended you 1920X cause you mention VM and they assume you running heavy stuff

As you not doing software raid ... ECC RAM is not needed either.

Threadpiper platform is geared towards workstation with lots of features you don’t need but are available on motherboard ... and hence you pay for it

Disclaimer: following is my opinion. While it’s good you doing research before buying, always be aware that you are in control and that final decision is yours alone.

Looking at your functional requirement, I would go for newer generation CPU. Since we discussing AMD that would be series 3 Ryzen. 1920X is 1st generation, imho too old (it’s like buying series 9 GeForce now).

Get motherboard with 1Gb Lan ... that eliminates the need to use PCIe LAN (sure server grade LAN are better ... but do you really need all those features they offer?)

So all you need is x16 for GPU and x8 for HBA ... most consumer MB will cover that.

3600X seems to fit your budget ... 6 cores but those cores are faster than 1920X cores ... of course if budget permits go 3700 or 3900 (but those are significantly more expensive)

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/AMD-Ryzen-5-3600X-vs-AMD-Ryzen-Threadripper-1920X/3494vs3062

MC does not use much CPU unless you transcoding videos or doing DSD to/from PCM

Obviously buy RAM in pairs ... so if it’s not enough can buy additional pair (as opposed to getting 4 sticks at once ... then finding RAM not enough and needing to replace all 4 sticks)

Biggest boost though will be SSD for your OS and MC library (buy good one ... nothing more painful than loosing HDD with OS and MC library on it) ... I would not exclude possibility on running 2 SSD in Raid1 (it’s not that expensive at sizes we talking here)

Good luck

[Awesome Donkey]

The problem with switching the 1920X Threadripper with the 3600X Ryzen 5 is the amount of PCI-E lanes; The 3600X has 20, the 1920X has 60, so quite a bit. However, with the 3600X you'll gain PCI-E 4.0 (aka Gen 3) support (so faster SSDs are a possibility) whereas the 1920X doesn't support that, since it's a few years older. Seriously though, what kind of hardware are you going to be running to justify 60 PCI-E lanes?!? Honestly, 20 lanes is more than enough if you're going to be running a single GPU with a couple NVMe SSDs. Even running two GPUs (both running in 8x) wouldn't be an issue either, and honestly you probably wouldn't notice a performance difference between 16x and 8x.

So I also wouldn't recommend getting a first generation Threadripper either.

[Hendrik]

Not sure if this was mentioned before above, but for what its worth, a dual-port LAN card is probably not that useful anymore in this day - unless your aim is actually getting 3-4 ports.
Many motherboards exist with Dual Intel LAN on board, so you can get two proper Intel LAN ports on the mainboard without needing an add-in card, which greatly reduces complexity.

And in 2019/2020, you could even opt for a board with a 2.5G/5G port for future compatibility, since this is your file server. Many AMD X570 boards exist with either dual Intel or a single 2.5G/5G or even 10G port.

If you take the LAN card of the  equation, any mainboard will be happy to run your graphics card at 8x (which is plenty for graphics), your HBA  at 8x, and on a AMD Ryzen platfom (20 lanes in total) even leaving 4x open for a PCIe SSD. That would be my choice of configuration. On Intel, you only get 16 lanes, so its either 8x GPU, 4x HBA and 4x SSD, or using 8x HBA and moving the SSD to the chipset. 4x Gen3 seems plenty for a HBA to me, unless you actually have SSDs on that HBA.

[greynolds]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I'm not stuck on any choice (including AMD vs Intel) nor the budget yet.  I initially "picked" the 1920X from the list on PCPartPicker because it looked like the 1920X had a good number of cores and a reasonable speed for my needs and the price is very good.  So it seemed like a good starting point for a discussion.

There is a 2920X that's a generation newer and about $400, but from what I can see the performance difference isn't significant compared to the 1920X, while the cost is about double (hence why I figured the 1920X was a reasonable starting point).

As far as the budget goes, I want to keep the cost "reasonable", but am also able and willing to spend what I need to within reason to end up with a system that will work well, hopefully for 5-10 years without needing any major upgrades in that time (other than maybe a newer video card).  So I'm willing to spend perhaps ~$500 on the CPU if there's a good reason to do so, but I'm not willing to spend $1000 or more on a CPU, which rules out the current 3rd generation ThreadRipper options, for example.  Similarly, I'm not opposed to spending as much as $400-500 on the motherboard if there's a good reason to.  But I'm also happy to spend less and hold on to the leftover money.

For the OS drive, I'm planning to use a Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD that I recently upgraded the old system with (I needed to update the old OS drive as I didn't have enough free space left to install the Windows 10 1903 update).  I had been using an SSD for the OS all along.  Getting a second one and running them in a RAID is an option, but is the slight complication in the setup really going to provide a big benefit?

The separate network card is primarily to avoid issues with the SiliconDust HDHomeRun tuners:

I had been running into problems with dropouts in my TV recordings on the current system that ultimately were an issue with the integrated LAN on the motherboard (which uses an Intel LAN chipset).  After quite a bit of effort in trying different drivers, tweaking the network card configuration and so on, installing the separate Intel LAN card resolved the issue.  SiliconDust has a command line utility that will report any network issues and it was reporting lots of issues with the motherboard LAN, but none with the add-on card.  A big difference with networked TV tuners versus other network activity is that there's no opportunity for a retry as it's essentially a live stream - you either get the data on the first try or you don't get it at all.  For the home network, I'm using several HP ProCurve Gigabit managed switches (48 port in the basement rack, 24 port in the home theater room, and a couple of 8 port units in other rooms) and a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter 4 as my router.

I had also tried running the BitTorrent client on the PC alongside JRiver and found that it caused TV dropout issues when it was active even with the add-on LAN card.  I don't use it a ton, but when it's downloading something, it can use a lot of network bandwidth.  I've got Verizon FIOS Gigabit service at the house, so something like this can come close to consuming most of the bandwidth on a single Gigabit LAN connection.  So I definitely want to isolate that in a separate VM and separate LAN connection, or continue to run it on a separate PC.

It's possible that on a much newer system some of the network issues I had run into won't be an issue, but newer hardware won't make a single Gigabit LAN port provide more bandwidth .

[greynolds]

You posted this while I was typing my reply above...

Not sure if this was mentioned before above, but for what its worth, a dual-port LAN card is probably not that useful anymore in this day - unless your aim is actually getting 3-4 ports.
Many motherboards exist with Dual Intel LAN on board, so you can get two proper Intel LAN ports on the mainboard without needing an add-in card, which greatly reduces complexity.

As I alluded to in my previous reply, I've had somewhat mixed results with the integrated motherboard LAN ports, even when they're supposed to be "proper" Intel LAN ports.  Perhaps I've just had bad luck with the motherboards, but this has been with Asus WorkStation series motherboards.

And in 2019/2020, you could even opt for a board with a 2.5G/5G port for future compatibility, since this is your file server. Many AMD X570 boards exist with either dual Intel or a single 2.5G/5G or even 10G port.

I have considered that.  My HP ProCurve switch does have a couple of ports that I believe support 10G (if not they definitely support 2.5G or 5G).

[tij]

at 2920X price point 3900X is good

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/AMD-Ryzen-9-3900X-vs-AMD-Ryzen-Threadripper-2920X/3493vs3354

even if you need 3PCIe slots ... that does not mean you need x60

some MB have 3 pcie4.0 x16 (only one can run at x16 ... remaining 2 at x8) ... plus 2 pcie4.0x1 ... should be enough for your needs?

[greynolds]

at 2920X price point 3900X is good

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/AMD-Ryzen-9-3900X-vs-AMD-Ryzen-Threadripper-2920X/3493vs3354

even if you need 3PCIe slots ... that does not mean you need x60

some MB have 3 pcie4.0 x16 (only one can run at x16 ... remaining 2 at x8) ... plus 2 pcie4.0x1 ... should be enough for your needs?

Yes, that would probably be plenty for my needs.  The non-Threadripper CPU's also have the benefit of using less power, even though the yearly cost difference isn't all that significant.

[greynolds]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone.

After giving this a bunch of thought, I believe I've settled on the following (I may shop around a bit on pricing, but the links show the products):

New Purchases:

• Motherboard: ASRock X570 Taichi https://www.newegg.com/asrock-x570-taichi/p/N82E16813157883?Item=N82E16813157883
• CPU: AMD 3900X https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-9-3900x/p/N82E16819113103?&quicklink=true=
• Hard Drive Controller Card: LSI / Broadcom 9305-16i HBA card https://www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9305-16i

Already have:

• Video Card: GTX 1070 video card https://www.newegg.com/evga-geforce-gtx-1070-08g-p4-6676-kr/p/N82E16814487321
• LAN Card: Intel I350-T2 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ATA16Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So this leaves 2 remaining questions.

First is the CPU cooler.  Is there any good reason to bother with upgrading from the stock cooler that comes with the 3900X for my needs (no gaming)?  If so, what's a reasonable option that works well and isn't crazy loud (it will be in the basement, so it doesn't need to be silent)?

Second is RAM.  I've been very happy with G.Skill RAM for many builds over the years, but since around 10 years have passed since I last purchased RAM, there may be other options that are preferable at this point.  I'm going to go with either 32GB or 64GB so I have plenty for the main system plus a VM (or 2).  What memory speed makes the most sense for a good balance of reliability, heat, and performance? Specific brand & model recommendations would be appreciated.

[Awesome Donkey]

If you don't plan on doing any overclocking, the stock cooler will do fine. In fact, those Wraith coolers AMD has are pretty darn good for a stock cooler.

AMD Ryzen/Threadripper CPUs benefit from faster clocked RAM, thanks to the infinity fabric. I'd get the fastest RAM you can get your hands on and can afford, but anything DDR4 3200 and above should be great. Personally, if I was doing a build today, I'd get at least DDR4 3600 RAM but that's mainly because I want to be a speed demon.

I personally use G.Skill RAM in my system right now, and never had any issues. Corsair also has some good RAM.

[greynolds]

If you don't plan on doing any overclocking, the stock cooler will do fine. In fact, those Wraith coolers AMD has are pretty darn good for a stock cooler.

AMD Ryzen/Threadripper CPUs benefit from faster clocked RAM, thanks to the infinity fabric. I'd get the fastest RAM you can get your hands on (if I was doing a build today, I'd get at least DDR4 3600 RAM), but anything 3200 and above should be great.

I personally use G.Skill RAM in my system right now, and never had any issues. Corsair also has some good RAM.

Thank you, sir.  I had taken a look at some cooler reviews and had the impression that the stock cooler would be fine.

Since G.Skill is still good, then I'll stick with what I know.  Unless you see any issues with it, I'll go with this option for RAM:

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series (4 x 16GB) DDR4 3600 Model F4-3600C18Q-64GVK https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-64gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232927

The other options for DDR4 3600 seem to jump up in price pretty quickly without providing much in the way of performance improvements.

Thanks again.  Next steps are to order the parts and then to find time to rebuild the system.

[tij]

since mb is dual channel ... why not go 2x32gb ... price is identical ... but gives you option to upgrade to additional 2x32gb (even if thats highly unlikely lol)

[greynolds]

since mb is dual channel ... why not go 2x32gb ... price is identical ... but gives you option to upgrade to additional 2x32gb (even if thats highly unlikely lol)

The only 2x32GB options I see on pcpartpicker are about $100 more and I'm not seeing much, if anything, for options at NewEgg either, unless lower speeds are considered.  By the time I might need more than 64GB (which seems highly unlikely), prices will have dropped and I can always recover some of what I paid.

[BryanC]

I'm currently selling a Supermicro X10DRi motherboard. It has 3 16x PCIe 3.0 slots and 3 8x PCIe 3.0 slots (CPU1 gets 2 16x and 1 8x, CPU2 gets 1 16x and 2 8x). I also have 2 Xeon E5-2697v3 CPUs for sale, although those are probably way overkill for your needs. You could throw a pair of E5-2620 v3 CPUs from ebay in there for $20-30/ea for a total of 12 cores and 80 PCIe 3.0 lanes. I also have 2 compatible Supermicro SNK-P0050AP4 heatsinks for sale. These are from my workstation rig that I'm parting out and upgrading because I need punchier single core performance. But for your needs I think it would very economical and performant. PM me if you're interested.

[greynolds]

I'm currently selling a Supermicro X10DRi motherboard. It has 3 16x PCIe 3.0 slots and 3 8x PCIe 3.0 slots (CPU1 gets 2 16x and 1 8x, CPU2 gets 1 16x and 2 8x). I also have 2 Xeon E5-2697v3 CPUs for sale, although those are probably way overkill for your needs. You could throw a pair of E5-2620 v3 CPUs from ebay in there for $20-30/ea for a total of 12 cores and 80 PCIe 3.0 lanes. I also have 2 compatible Supermicro SNK-P0050AP4 heatsinks for sale. These are from my workstation rig that I'm parting out and upgrading because I need punchier single core performance. But for your needs I think it would very economical and performant. PM me if you're interested.

Thanks for the offer, but I really want to upgrade to something current - it looks like those CPU's came out in 2014.  What I currently have is pretty good performance wise, but I've been starting to run into out of date driver issues.  If I start out with just slightly newer hardware, I'll be right back to that point in a few years.

[BryanC]

Thanks for the offer, but I really want to upgrade to something current - it looks like those CPU's came out in 2014.  What I currently have is pretty good performance wise, but I've been starting to run into out of date driver issues.  If I start out with just slightly newer hardware, I'll be right back to that point in a few years.

You can also use the v4's (Broadwell) but you will be spending closer to $500/CPU instead of $20. If you are looking for something new then it's hard to go wrong with AMD. 1000-series Threadrippers and 2000-series Ryzens are great bang for your buck in multicore (go for the Threadripper if you really need a gazillion PCIe lanes). If you need faster cores for punchy workloads then I would buy a Ryzen 3000-series, which are also a great deal right now if you live near a Microcenter. 4000-series Ryzens have a lot of hype right now (which is driving down 3000-series prices) and if you really want the best value (and can wait even longer) the 5000 series Ryzen CPUs will likely be using a new socket and DDR5 RAM which will allow you to perform a cheap upgrade cycle in the future. But it sounds like any of the current Ryzen or Threadrippers would do the job for you.

In all honesty I'd be more worried about the future of Windows software than any hardware compatibility issues in the future. All of the Intel and AMD stuff is mainlined in Linux and should continue to work indefinitely. Your best shot at full compatibility is sticking with server motherboards like Supermicro's that don't use obscure chips like the cheaper consumer brands tend to do.