When fully utilizing NVMe storage raid array are you maxing out CPU?

Not even close!

I'm on a 5800X with a 3080ti and 64GB, also PCIe 4.0 SSDs. I built in in 2019 then upgraded the CPU a year ago from a 3600x to the 5800x and it's so insanely fast for everything I do, including VMs, compiles, transcodes, etc. Nutty performance. The past few years have had amazing performance boosts.

AMD sticking to one socket (AM4) for multiple generations was a great move for end users. I am also on 3600x and just yesterday was looking to order a 5800x since the prices have dropped a lot and the performance gain is around 50% just by upgrading one component.

That is my main reason to upgrade, even from 5950x (which is still selling very well). "Future-proof" for 4-5 years, with easy upgrades. Only problem is, Intel is also now claiming LGA 1700 will be here for a couple more years. But nothing compared to what AMD offers.

Individual cores on the 7950x are roughly twice as fast as what you have. If your work isn't massively multithreaded, then a 7950x will likely perform quite a bit better than a Threadripper 3970x. (Though of course you won't be able to get more than 128GB RAM.)

This is with clamping down TDP on the 7950x to roughly 110W. It's an absolute beast.

Besides more RAM, 3970x also has proper ECC support.

And more PCIe lanes, compared to the consumer platforms with a measly 20/24 (which is basically one GPU and one NVMe full bandwidth).

How is the ECC support deficient on later CPUs? I checked the docs, it does seem to be supported on the 7000x series.

The CPU is alright, but the motherboards are lacking. You can install ECC memory modules on them and the system will boot, but you don't know for sure if ECC is really working unless the motherboard reports memory status like how many errors were correct. Someone mentioned on HN that there's a Linux kernel component for this and that he had luck with an ASRock motherboard.

Keep in mind that 128 GB barely works on AM5 (basically, EXPO/XMP doesn't, only regular JEDEC speeds, i.e. 4800 MT/s) [1] 2 sticks of RAM up to 64 GB is the fully functional maximum.

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/xzj69v/is_anyone_runni...

Are you saying that 2x32GB is the max that allows for EXPO/XMP? I'm thinking about building a system like that and this is critical. Do you have any better resources that explore this more and test out different configurations?

That's my understanding, yes. All my knowledge is from random Reddit threads however.

Since I was scared off 128 GB by all those complaints, I built a 7950X system with 2*32GB memory, and it runs well/stable at its rated 6000 MT/s with EXPO on (also, AMD says 6000 MT/s is the sweet spot for AM5 memory interface, so I am happy).

Motherboard: ASRock X670E Steel Legend

RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30

Here is another thread I remember reading: https://old.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/za0x0q/level1tech...

That's what I got (7950x steel legend), except that I'm running 128GB memory at 4800.

Here's my stream results (with the cpu in 105watt "eco" mode):

  $ wget https://www.cs.virginia.edu/stream/FTP/Code/stream.c
  $ gcc -O3 -fopenmp stream.c
  $ a.out

  Number of Threads counted = 32

  Copy:           45571.7
  Scale:          40672.0
  Add:            45317.3
  Triad:          42759.0

With array size 8,000,000

  Copy:           31551.3
  Scale:          30983.7
  Add:            34403.6
  Triad:          34484.1

Interesting, didn't think memory speed will make so much difference but it did.

7950x X670E Steel Legend, standard mode, 2*32 GB = 64 GB RAM at 6000, CL 30.

    Array size = 1,000,0000

    Copy:           61488.8
    Scale:          55905.4
    Add:            61320.2
    Triad:          57706.5

    Array size = 8,000,0000

    Copy:           43631.0
    Scale:          43062.7
    Add:            46782.6
    Triad:          46966.8

Wow, that's significant. I may have to look into that.

Running with two DIMMs per channel is more challenging for the CPU's memory controller than one DIMM per channel, and it's much worse if they're dual-rank DIMMs—which current 32GB DDR5 modules are. I believe the EXPO/XMP profiles are all based on using only two DIMMs total, because those modules are sold in kits of two. At some point in the next year, there should be 24GB single-rank modules hitting the market, allowing for 48GB at top speed or 96GB with less of a performance penalty than 128GB from 4x32GB currently causes.

I can't max out my PCI slots and run 256gb in quad channel, though.

I'm on a 7+ year old workstation with an i5-4460 (quad core, no HT) 3.2ghz, 16gb memory, first gen SSD and I also don't feel the need to upgrade.

All of the web apps I build inside of Docker with WSL 2 reload in a few dozen milliseconds at most. I can edit 1080p video without any delay and raw rendering speed doesn't matter because for batch jobs I do them overnight.

Writing to disk is fast and my internet is fast. Things feel super snappy. I've been building computers from parts since about 1998, I think this is the longest I ever went without an upgrade.

> Writing to disk is fast and my internet is fast. Things feel super snappy. I've been building computers from parts since about 1998, I think this is the longest I ever went without an upgrade.

I did like you: rocking a Core i7-6700 from, what, 2015 up until early 2022. 16 GB of RAM, NVMe PCI 3.0 x4 SSD, the first Samsung ones. I basically build that machine around one of the first Asus mobo to offer a NVMe M.2 slot.

It was and still is an amazing machine. I gave it to my wife and I'm now using an AMD 3700X since about a year and... I'll be changing it for a 7700X in the coming weeks (hopefully).

The 3700X is definitely faster than my trusty old 6th gen core i7 but Zen 4 is too good to be true so I'm upgrading.

All this to say: you can stay with the same system for seven years then upgrade twice in less than 12 months!