Question building a 256GB RAM system

[mrdata]

I need to spec a system with 256 GB RAM. It seems that the way to do this is with a server board, specifically with either an Intel Xeon or an AMD EPYC chip. It seems that EPYC chips give more bang for the buck, particularly the 7401P. It also seems there aren't many manufacturers of such boards, namely ASRock, Gigabyte and Supermicro. It also seems that they tend to skimp on audio entirely, requiring a sound card if the user wants sound. Is that correct?

If I go with EPYC, it seems that I can use any liquid cooler that supports Threadripper as its socket is identical to that of EPYC. Is this correct?

Is there anything else I should be mindful of?

 

[Barty1884]

1. If you go the server route, you'll almost certainly require a soundcard.
2. Yes & No. Any AIO specifically designed for Threadripper will be fine. But just because a cooler has a TR4 bracket won't inherently mean it's a good choice. Threadripper & Epic chips can be anywhere from 150-250W in TDP - so there's a bit more homework required.

I guess the main question here is......why? What are you looking to achieve?

128GB is the max you can do in the consumer/HEDT space, as options are to X299 from Intel, or X399 from AMD - both having 8 DIMM slots. So 8x 16GB would be your max for now. 32GB DIMMs haven't made it to the consumer space.... yet.
So, with that, if you need 256GB, Epyc would be the route to go....

 

[Karadjgne]

Umm yeah, about that. You can get EEC ram upto 128Gb sticks now. So if using 2011-3, Epyc mobo's, as long as the board supports that ram size and the cpu can use EEC ram, you are good.

Has audio, supports upto 512Gb of ram.
Motherboard: Asus - Z10PE-D8 WS SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($531.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Has audio and supports upto 1Tb of ram.
Motherboard: Asus - Z10PE-D16 WS SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($478.99 @ SuperBiiz)

For the ram, can use upto 64Gb per stick on those boards, so I'd be giving Crucial and/or Kingston a call about supply.