That's why (note not identical parts because it's a 12 core TR vs an 8 core i7 - but they are as close as I can get in terms of costs). If I went the other way and went with a 10 core i9 vs the 16 core TR then we see roughly the same pattern of behaviour.
Threadripper wins in the multithreaded tests so long as the workload suits it but for the many benchmarks it's per-core speed which is more important than number of cores.
In essence, if your work requires fast cores and quite a few threads then you're better off with the i7 or i9, if it utilizes loads of threads but speed is less important then you're better off with the TR.
So; given that there are obvious use cases for both processors I'm afraid I can't agree that "Threadripper X399 is better in every possible way".
For instance if you look at video encoding. Puget Systems are incredible detailed in their testing. Check out their Skylake-X vs Threadripper articles for both Premiere Pro CC and Davinci Resolve here:
You can see that thredripper is not "better in every possible way". It really depends what is the most important in the system. RAW cpu power, expandability, multi gpu, multi nvme including multi gpu, raid cards, network cards and so on.
TR can also win if you need the extra PCIe lanes; but with SLI/xFire both slowly dying in the 2 card version and more rapidly in the 3/4 card formats the need for a huge number of lanes is going away for gaming.
Hopefully the BIOS/UEFI on this board isn't as buggy as the X399 board I have. Broken fan profiles, settings corruption over time, etc. all plague my X399 board. This was my first MSI board and it's going to be my last!
The fan I had attached during testing (a DC fan) worked fine throughout the testing period. No settings corrupted over time but, it was only a week or so it was on the test bench.
Did you try setting a custom profile in the bios? For my X399 I tried changing the fans to go from 0% to 100% in a range from 40C-66C, the end result is that the fans don't end up turning on at all.
Believe it or not, I've had exactly zero issues with my ASRock Taichi X399---was kinda concerned about trusting a "budget brand" but after seeing all the issues with the MSI/ASUS/GB boards, I decided to give them a try.
I do NOT use custom fan profiles though---cant tell you if those work or not.
While the motherboard's price and features seem reasonable, the terminology used to describe the target audience seems weird to me. When I think of casual gaming, playing things like Candy Crush Saga or spending time on Pogo.com both come to mind. Maybe there's a few inexpensive titles or some occasional 3D stuff, but certainly nothing that needs a 6+ core CPU or even much more than a low end dGPU.
"Casual" in the realm of PC gaming pretty much refers to anything short of playing competitively or professional, which can essentially refer to anyone who just wants really high performance.
That's a much broader use of the term than I've seen anywhere else. It's not like "casual gamer" has a formal definition someplace so you can get away with using it like that, but you and MSI are the only ones I know of that have done it. I think from MSI's view, its mostly wishful thinking to get people playing Farmville to buy a $280 motherboard and a Skylake-X CPU for it. I'm sure they'd like that and their marketing people are trying to encourage more casual types to move up the product stacks, but most of us causal types are playing games on our phones and tablets or on a very low-end notebook PC rather than a desktop put together from individual parts.
I appreciate how this board is the most aesthetically pleasing white board I have ever seen on the market, and one of the nicest looking boards of all colors and designs I have seen in a long time.
The X299 Tomahawk has a particularly bad VRM implementation, so that should probably be noted somewhere. It has some VRM components on the back of the board with only a tiny heatspreader on them (and only a 4x2 design). The X299 Gaming Pro Carbon in comparison comes with a 6x2 power design using better components - and even those need to get cooled on high OCs.
From the feature set alone, the Tomahawk looked like a board I might've bought, but alas the subpar VRM limiting the OC potential had turned me off of those quite fast.
It was mentioned below the specifications table that it wasn't 'great'. However, it handled all of our testing and overclocking just fine. You will likely run out of cooling first before there is a worry about the VRMs here. Also consider the board is marketed for the professional, so there really isn't a need in the first place considering the vast majority using the board will likely keep it at stock or mild clocks anyway.
What's this?! An MSI motherboard without an integrated Killer NIC? I hope they've finally realized gamers aren't interested in sub-par Killer products and this trend continues.
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Lolimaster - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
Why buy this when Threaripper X399 is better in every possible way, like more pci-e lane, upgrades for the next 3 years. Modular arch.Lolimaster - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
You can use ECC out of the box, nvme bootable raid, etc.mkaibear - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1904?vs=19...That's why (note not identical parts because it's a 12 core TR vs an 8 core i7 - but they are as close as I can get in terms of costs). If I went the other way and went with a 10 core i9 vs the 16 core TR then we see roughly the same pattern of behaviour.
Threadripper wins in the multithreaded tests so long as the workload suits it but for the many benchmarks it's per-core speed which is more important than number of cores.
In essence, if your work requires fast cores and quite a few threads then you're better off with the i7 or i9, if it utilizes loads of threads but speed is less important then you're better off with the TR.
So; given that there are obvious use cases for both processors I'm afraid I can't agree that "Threadripper X399 is better in every possible way".
BroderLund - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
For instance if you look at video encoding. Puget Systems are incredible detailed in their testing. Check out their Skylake-X vs Threadripper articles for both Premiere Pro CC and Davinci Resolve here:https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/DaVinci...
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Premier...
You can see that thredripper is not "better in every possible way". It really depends what is the most important in the system. RAW cpu power, expandability, multi gpu, multi nvme including multi gpu, raid cards, network cards and so on.
DanNeely - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
TR can also win if you need the extra PCIe lanes; but with SLI/xFire both slowly dying in the 2 card version and more rapidly in the 3/4 card formats the need for a huge number of lanes is going away for gaming.rsandru - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
My two 1080Tis are doing just fine, no need to worry :-)eek2121 - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
Hopefully the BIOS/UEFI on this board isn't as buggy as the X399 board I have. Broken fan profiles, settings corruption over time, etc. all plague my X399 board. This was my first MSI board and it's going to be my last!Joe Shields - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
The fan I had attached during testing (a DC fan) worked fine throughout the testing period. No settings corrupted over time but, it was only a week or so it was on the test bench.eek2121 - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
Did you try setting a custom profile in the bios? For my X399 I tried changing the fans to go from 0% to 100% in a range from 40C-66C, the end result is that the fans don't end up turning on at all.Joe Shields - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
No custom profiles, no. The default set worked.blppt - Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - link
Believe it or not, I've had exactly zero issues with my ASRock Taichi X399---was kinda concerned about trusting a "budget brand" but after seeing all the issues with the MSI/ASUS/GB boards, I decided to give them a try.I do NOT use custom fan profiles though---cant tell you if those work or not.
PeachNCream - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
While the motherboard's price and features seem reasonable, the terminology used to describe the target audience seems weird to me. When I think of casual gaming, playing things like Candy Crush Saga or spending time on Pogo.com both come to mind. Maybe there's a few inexpensive titles or some occasional 3D stuff, but certainly nothing that needs a 6+ core CPU or even much more than a low end dGPU.inighthawki - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
"Casual" in the realm of PC gaming pretty much refers to anything short of playing competitively or professional, which can essentially refer to anyone who just wants really high performance.PeachNCream - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
That's a much broader use of the term than I've seen anywhere else. It's not like "casual gamer" has a formal definition someplace so you can get away with using it like that, but you and MSI are the only ones I know of that have done it. I think from MSI's view, its mostly wishful thinking to get people playing Farmville to buy a $280 motherboard and a Skylake-X CPU for it. I'm sure they'd like that and their marketing people are trying to encourage more casual types to move up the product stacks, but most of us causal types are playing games on our phones and tablets or on a very low-end notebook PC rather than a desktop put together from individual parts.Intervenator - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
I appreciate how this board is the most aesthetically pleasing white board I have ever seen on the market, and one of the nicest looking boards of all colors and designs I have seen in a long time.nevcairiel - Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - link
The X299 Tomahawk has a particularly bad VRM implementation, so that should probably be noted somewhere. It has some VRM components on the back of the board with only a tiny heatspreader on them (and only a 4x2 design). The X299 Gaming Pro Carbon in comparison comes with a 6x2 power design using better components - and even those need to get cooled on high OCs.From the feature set alone, the Tomahawk looked like a board I might've bought, but alas the subpar VRM limiting the OC potential had turned me off of those quite fast.
Joe Shields - Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - link
It was mentioned below the specifications table that it wasn't 'great'. However, it handled all of our testing and overclocking just fine. You will likely run out of cooling first before there is a worry about the VRMs here. Also consider the board is marketed for the professional, so there really isn't a need in the first place considering the vast majority using the board will likely keep it at stock or mild clocks anyway.Joe Shields - Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - link
Apologies, that is the SLI Plus marketed towards the professional. Scratch that portion of the above post. :)notR1CH - Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - link
What's this?! An MSI motherboard without an integrated Killer NIC? I hope they've finally realized gamers aren't interested in sub-par Killer products and this trend continues.gammaray - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Why you say Killer NIC is sub par?prophet001 - Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - link
Anyone delidded?