Question Upgrading to Threadripper 1950x - what components can I keep from existing build?

obloquy

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Feb 25, 2018
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Hey,

I wanted to upgrade my pc... well.... I wanted to do more of a 'soft' upgrade rather than another scratch build that'll cost a bomb. I was given a brand new Threadripper 1950x in early June and haven't had time to actually look into it but I have a few questions I wanted to ask about what I can keep from my old build and what I absolutely need to upgrade (only made 1 build so sorry if the questions are obvious ). My current set up was made in early 2016 and is as follows:

CPU - 6th gen i7 6700k, 4 core, 8 thread
RAM - Kingston HyperX Fury 2133 MHz DDR4 32GB RAM
MOBO - ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Professional Gaming i7
PSU - Corsair CP-9020072 Platinum Series 750W
CPU Cooling - Noctua NH-U14S with 2 AF-A15 140mm fans (love them)
SSD 1 - Samsung 850 500GB SSD - Running Windows 10
SSD 2 - Samsung 860 1TB SSD
HDD - Seagate Baracuda 4TB
GPU - Geforce GTX 1080Ti
Corsair 780T Graphite Tower

I'm open to suggestions, but for the MOBO upgrade, was thinking maybe the MSI X399 SLI PLUS. But apart from that I'm not sure and wanted to get a little help on these questions:

Would I need to upgrade my PSU to something that can handle the Threadripper 1950x? I'm not planning on overclocking/gaming, but want to utilise the 16 cores (from my modest 4 cores) for intense 3D rendering work stuff

Would my current Noctua Air cooler be fine for the Threadripper or would an upgrade be needed? I prefer Air coolers to AIO, though I've heard water is best, again if you plan to over clock. Not a massive water cooler fan, mainly for the noise it makes

Finally (and importantly) would I need to upgrade my PC Tower?!

Any help and advice would be very much appreciated :)
 
You will need a new MOBO, and maybe a new cooler, i'm not sure if you'll have the hardware for the TR4 socket, but if you do go for it. worst comes to worse if your temps are too high you can buy a new cooler later.

Also new ram may improve your performance by a good bit as early ryzen/threadripper benifits greatly from faster ram, but again thats something you could do later if you wanted to.

As for your case and everything else you should be fine.
 
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A new cooler will be required since the one you have won't cover the full Threadripper CPU heat spreader. You will also want faster RAM since the infinity fabric is linked to RAM speed. Officially the 1st Gen Threadripper supports up to 2666MHz RAM, but you can probably get faster than than since BIOS updates have improved the RAM compatibility.
 
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obloquy

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Hey thanks very much for the advice guys! Very appreciated and informative. I was considering jumping to Corsair Vengence 64gb RAM 3000MHz a few weeks ago as my cpu was getting bottlenecked with handling giant zbrush files so thought that might help (along with the thread ripper).

In terms of cooling, can anyone recommend anything?? I like air coolers but not sure whats best. I know Noctua do a NH-U14S TR4 CPU Cooler for AMD TR4, but would it be enough? (no overlocking/gaming that is)
 
Hey thanks very much for the advice guys! Very appreciated and informative. I was considering jumping to Corsair Vengence 64gb RAM 3000MHz a few weeks ago as my cpu was getting bottlenecked with handling giant zbrush files so thought that might help (along with the thread ripper).

In terms of cooling, can anyone recommend anything?? I like air coolers but not sure whats best. I know Noctua do a NH-U14S TR4 CPU Cooler for AMD TR4, but would it be enough? (no overlocking/gaming that is)
It should be just fine for your system.
 
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obloquy

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Feb 25, 2018
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A new cooler will be required since the one you have won't cover the full Threadripper CPU heat spreader. You will also want faster RAM since the infinity fabric is linked to RAM speed. Officially the 1st Gen Threadripper supports up to 2666MHz RAM, but you can probably get faster than than since BIOS updates have improved the RAM compatibility.

Just one more thing jeremyj_83 if thats ok - do you recommend 2666Mhz or 3000Mhz RAM for the thread ripper?