Rampage VI Extreme (LGA2066, Intel X299) - info, experience, BIOSes etc.

[Brighttail]

Welp I bit the bullet and ordered the Phanteks Enthoo Elite Case. It is overkill but I have the Enthoo Primo and it is only 4 inches taller and 2 inches wider, but a lot heavier. With the new radiators I can use one or both of my older radiators and run a dual pump setup, with each pump cooling the GPU/CPU respectively on its own.

*EDIT* I canceled my order on the ELITE. I spent 2 hours looks at all the schematics and couldn't figure out any way without severely heavy modding to put two reservoirs in there and have it look good with SOFT tubing. This case was made for hardline tubing and even then modding would be necessary in some fashion.

I know my Enthoo Primo and I just don't have it in me to spend $1300+ CAD and put the time in to make it look good. So I'll keep the primo which I already know inside and out and will build it in there.

[DragonPurr]

Trying to make sure I understand this right.... So are there 2 fully functioning AVX512 FMA units on the 7900x and up? If not, what about the 7940x specifically as that's the one I'm thinking about getting and would like to compare to xeon w. I think higher clockspeed is also important in my case for real time low latency vst processing triggered via midi keyboard. But more cores is good for many tracks in the DAW. It'ss a balance, just trying to figure out the sweetspot. From what I can tell while I could do some decent overclocking using rampage extreme to get high clock freq, many cores, and avx-512. While with xeon w I might get "more avx-512" ability, but I think they can't be overclocked?

It depends on what you mean by "fully functioning AVX512 FMA units". From the 7900X up to the 7980XE, they all have 2 AVX512 FMA units that consist of a full/dedicated 512-bit-wide AVX512 unit and a pseudo/fused/joined dual-AVX256 AVX512 unit that is 256-bits wide in the two AVX256 units, but uses a 512-bit register, and this dual-AVX256 AVX512 unit sometimes runs slower than than the full AVX512 unit for some vectorization routines such as bit shuffles and so it may require two clock cycles per instruction, instead of just one clock tick needed by the full AVX512 unit. You are a programmer, so hopefully you understand that difference ;-) The 7800X and 7820X both just have the dual-AVX256 pseudo-AVX512 unit and not the full 512-bit-wide AVX512 unit.

I mentioned in a previous post that I really think the 7940X hits the best price-vs-performance and multi-vs-single-core-performance sweet spot of all the SKL-X i9 CPUs if you are using it for a DAW build, just as I am using it for a video/photo-processing workhorse. None of the audio/video/photo software can make good use of 14 cores right now, so it also gives you a great deal of future-proofed leeway (I hate the word "future-proofing" because it is mostly a myth, but I use it here anyway).

I explained my intended use of the 7940X and why I think it hits the perfect sweet spot for a SKL-X workstation build in this previous post (you can ignore the talk about magnetic screwdrivers later in that post):

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...l=1#post676006

I back-ordered my 7940X from Newegg on Monday morning, and I noticed that all their 7940X, 7960X, and 7980XE back-orders have now been claimed so all three are now listed as out-of-stock Auto-Notify now, and I mentioned in a previous post that Newegg's Auto-Notify emails are very buggy and unreliable so you have to keep checking the product listing yourself instead of just waiting for their Auto-Notify email alerts that often do not work or get sent many hours later.

The Xeon-W CPUs have better AVX512 acceleration, but they are locked CPUs, which is also why the 18-core W-2195 runs at a cool 140W TDP, same as the 140W-TDP 12-core 7920X, compared to the 165W-TDP of the 7980XE. But the locked 10-core Xeon W-2155 also turbos up to 4.5 GHz on all cores, compared to 4.3 GHz on the 10/12/14-core SKL-X, so I think the 10-core Xeon W-2155 offers the best multi-vs-single-core-performance sweet spot of all the Xeon-W CPUs. Unfortunately, the Xeon-W CPUs are being released in December or January, and most Xeon CPUs are not adequately benchmarked and reviewed by people compared to Intel's consumer CPUs. So I am not sure if you can get a good head-to-head comparison between the 7940X and the W-2155 even by next January. Someone may benchmark and compare the two 18-core W-2195 and 7980XE CPUs together in January, just because they are the top-of-the-line CPUs. Earlier this week, a number of reviewers benchmarked both the 7960X and 7980XE using Adobe Premiere and the 7960X runs faster than the 7980XE. I think when you also factor in single-core performance in your mix of DAW workflows, the 7940X and 7920X will be even consistently faster than the 7960X and 7980XE when running applications, not when running synthetic benchmarks. But trying to compare a 7940X overclocked to 4.8 GHz versus a W-2155 with better AVX512 acceleration running at its locked 4.5 GHz turbo freq is very VERY workflow-dependent, obviously. If you are not processing audio/video/photo/3D-model data, the OC'ed 7940X wins. But if you are frequently doing that, the W-2155 may have the edge.

And as I mentioned, it depends upon whether you care about mobo and build aesthetics, because the C422 mobos will likely all look like industrial workstation mobos. The bling thing and using tempered glass cases was why I went with the R6E and 7940X/7900X. I think you will be very happy with a 7940X and a R6E I think the W-2155 with a C422 mobo will also work very well for your DAW. But you will not be able to get a good comparison between those two CPUs this year.

[smithkid]

It's Saturday morning here with a holiday on Monday. I have something to do for the next 3 days holiday.

[DragonPurr]

Welp I bit the bullet and ordered the Phanteks Enthoo Elite Case. It is overkill but I have the Enthoo Primo and it is only 4 inches taller and 2 inches wider, but a lot heavier. With the new radiators I can use one or both of my older radiators and run a dual pump setup, with each pump cooling the GPU/CPU respectively on its own.

If you really like a certain PC case, I think that it is never a waste of money or "overkill" compared to all other PC build components that you buy, because the case will outlast all your other components. You can overspend on a top-of-the-line CPU or overspend on the fastest DDR4 memory. But another faster CPU is often just around the corner, and much faster DDR5 RAM will arrive 3 or 4 years from now. But your PC case remains.

I love Phanteks cases, and I have their Evolv ATX and Luxe tempered glass cases. I also really like that custom Bespoke flight case that the Elite is shipped inside.

[FireRx]

I'm going to follow Brighttail and Dragon's advice and leave the plastic film on there until the last minute.

[smithkid]

I am just connecting the EK-M.2 Nvme heatsink to the 960pro and see one guy recommends removing the top and bottom stickers off the 960 before applying the thermal pads. The stickers themselves seem like thermal pad! Any thoughts?

And will the 960pro fit in the DIMM.2 with the heatsink attached?

PS- There was no plastic film on any part of the board and finger prints on the M.2 cover. Otherwise all looks good.

[DragonPurr]

Welp I bit the bullet and ordered the Phanteks Enthoo Elite Case. It is overkill but I have the Enthoo Primo and it is only 4 inches taller and 2 inches wider, but a lot heavier. With the new radiators I can use one or both of my older radiators and run a dual pump setup, with each pump cooling the GPU/CPU respectively on its own.

*EDIT* I canceled my order on the ELITE. I spent 2 hours looks at all the schematics and couldn't figure out any way without severely heavy modding to put two reservoirs in there and have it look good with SOFT tubing. This case was made for hardline tubing and even then modding would be necessary in some fashion.

I know my Enthoo Primo and I just don't have it in me to spend $1300+ CAD and put the time in to make it look good. So I'll keep the primo which I already know inside and out and will build it in there.

So why can't you put two reservoirs inside the Elite?

Just earlier today, someone posted their build on EK's Facebook page as part of a comment to an EK post, and his dual-mobo build also uses soft tubing:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

He has two mobos being cooled inside there with two reservoirs and it looks crowded, but it works.

[restsugavan]

Trying to make sure I understand this right.... So are there 2 fully functioning AVX512 FMA units on the 7900x and up? If not, what about the 7940x specifically as that's the one I'm thinking about getting and would like to compare to xeon w. I think higher clockspeed is also important in my case for real time low latency vst processing triggered via midi keyboard. But more cores is good for many tracks in the DAW. It'ss a balance, just trying to figure out the sweetspot. From what I can tell while I could do some decent overclocking using rampage extreme to get high clock freq, many cores, and avx-512. While with xeon w I might get "more avx-512" ability, but I think they can't be overclocked?

You’re wrong buddy even 7800X also has 2 x FMA /AVX 512 unit on it.

*

Let’s both you and Dragonpur see output from 7900X and 7800X result via picture.

Both 7900X and 7800X are representing what intel’s guy said.

*“ We support Upto 2 FMA/AVX-512 Unit on SKL-X SKU.�*

You could check from Skylake SP core diagram. There are no addition dedicated AVX-512 unit any more.
Both Skylake SP and Skylake X core are identical the same.*
*
***

*
*

[FireRx]

hmmm, insteresting. , make sure everything works on that, Smithkid. you never know

[tistou77]

@FireRx, you have Bitspower Monoblock for R6 ?