Lack of PCI-E 4.0 in a ""high end desktop" system in late 2019 seems a bit rich. Intel is going to have to bargain bin this entire platform if even half the rumours about Threadripper 3 are accurate.
Excluding PCIe 4.0 Intel is going to have to lower prices drastically to sell any HEDT systems. The purpose of these is more cores, higher memory bandwidth, and more PCIE lanes which of course PCIe 4.0 doubles bandwidth effectively doubling lanes compared to PCIe 3.0. AMD has more of all the features all around. Looking at Intel's profits though its not hurting them at all as of yet but frankly anyone looking at 10+ cores would be silly to pick Intel right now especially with AMD's superior SMT.
Given the lack of PCIE4.0 devices, the vast number of 3.0 devices, having lots of lanes is generally better than less 4.0 lanes. Not that Threadripper isnt going to have 4.0 AS WELL, just saying. Intel's pricing drops does change this greatly. Intel is still Intel, its a highly supported and well documented platform that will make its way into more OEM builds than Threadripper ever will. It will do OK, but yes most BYO home builds will probably go AMD this year.
That said, there are plenty of X299 and Xeon-W boards in the world looking for some cheap 18 core goodness, i have a couple in my home :P
Um its perfectly fine in a high end system. You do know that just because something is new doesn't mean its needed right? Especially true with technology.
You do know that PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives are already available and that they provide another substantial improvement in read performance, right?
I'd say anybody doing things like video editing is making a mistake if they purchased a PCIe 3.0 board today. Anybody with two or more NVMe drives (where the second is hooked up to the chipset rather than the CPU), or anybody with a lot of simultaneous I/O would also benefit greatly from a PCIe 4.0 board.
For AMD, currently not getting a X570 board with PCIe 4.0 leaves only X470 or lower as alternatives. That is a PCIe 2.0 chipset, not PCIe 3.0, so at least for AMD, avoiding PCIe 2.0 means you must go PCIe 4.0.
Not everybody needs PCIe 4.0. Obviously, consumer gaming graphics cards won't benefit from it at all. That doesn't mean there aren't any reasons to go with PCIe 4.0 though.
Not really. There is a reliability in bios, drivers, and optimizations that AMD motherboards still lack. Along with vrm differences in motherboards where you have to pay a fortune to get a good motherboard. (Along with another tiny fan) Although memory compatibility is much better now, it still has issues. There is also the issue of heat and clearance issues because of huge heatsinks with pcie-e 4.0 ssd's right now that throttle unless heavily cooled. Especially when a Samsung 970 does surprisingly better in everything but large file transfer. And even then, 4GB are common but only a couple of seconds difference. Not worth the extra heat and unknown reliability.
That's already one of the best things about this platform, cpu based PCIe for NVME as well as a video card, who would have thought... You can run multiple 4xM.2 cards in these systems, all right off the cpu. More bandwidth than you would ever know what to do with. Would have taken 10 racks 15 years ago for that kind of IO!
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Flunk - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
Lack of PCI-E 4.0 in a ""high end desktop" system in late 2019 seems a bit rich. Intel is going to have to bargain bin this entire platform if even half the rumours about Threadripper 3 are accurate.FreckledTrout - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
Excluding PCIe 4.0 Intel is going to have to lower prices drastically to sell any HEDT systems. The purpose of these is more cores, higher memory bandwidth, and more PCIE lanes which of course PCIe 4.0 doubles bandwidth effectively doubling lanes compared to PCIe 3.0. AMD has more of all the features all around. Looking at Intel's profits though its not hurting them at all as of yet but frankly anyone looking at 10+ cores would be silly to pick Intel right now especially with AMD's superior SMT.imaheadcase - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
Except 4.0 is not needed for most people till a few years out..so yah..danielfranklin - Monday, October 28, 2019 - link
Given the lack of PCIE4.0 devices, the vast number of 3.0 devices, having lots of lanes is generally better than less 4.0 lanes. Not that Threadripper isnt going to have 4.0 AS WELL, just saying.Intel's pricing drops does change this greatly. Intel is still Intel, its a highly supported and well documented platform that will make its way into more OEM builds than Threadripper ever will.
It will do OK, but yes most BYO home builds will probably go AMD this year.
That said, there are plenty of X299 and Xeon-W boards in the world looking for some cheap 18 core goodness, i have a couple in my home :P
imaheadcase - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
Um its perfectly fine in a high end system. You do know that just because something is new doesn't mean its needed right? Especially true with technology.PCI-E 4.0 is a long way from being needed.
a5cent - Monday, October 28, 2019 - link
You do know that PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives are already available and that they provide another substantial improvement in read performance, right?I'd say anybody doing things like video editing is making a mistake if they purchased a PCIe 3.0 board today. Anybody with two or more NVMe drives (where the second is hooked up to the chipset rather than the CPU), or anybody with a lot of simultaneous I/O would also benefit greatly from a PCIe 4.0 board.
For AMD, currently not getting a X570 board with PCIe 4.0 leaves only X470 or lower as alternatives. That is a PCIe 2.0 chipset, not PCIe 3.0, so at least for AMD, avoiding PCIe 2.0 means you must go PCIe 4.0.
Not everybody needs PCIe 4.0. Obviously, consumer gaming graphics cards won't benefit from it at all. That doesn't mean there aren't any reasons to go with PCIe 4.0 though.
Dug - Monday, October 28, 2019 - link
Not really. There is a reliability in bios, drivers, and optimizations that AMD motherboards still lack.Along with vrm differences in motherboards where you have to pay a fortune to get a good motherboard. (Along with another tiny fan) Although memory compatibility is much better now, it still has issues.
There is also the issue of heat and clearance issues because of huge heatsinks with pcie-e 4.0 ssd's right now that throttle unless heavily cooled. Especially when a Samsung 970 does surprisingly better in everything but large file transfer. And even then, 4GB are common but only a couple of seconds difference. Not worth the extra heat and unknown reliability.
firewrath9 - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
"whopping 10 SATA ports"Didn't ASRock make a Z87 mobo with 22 SATA Ports?
I'd love to see perhaps a X299 board with like 10 M.2 slots
danielfranklin - Monday, October 28, 2019 - link
That's already one of the best things about this platform, cpu based PCIe for NVME as well as a video card, who would have thought...You can run multiple 4xM.2 cards in these systems, all right off the cpu. More bandwidth than you would ever know what to do with. Would have taken 10 racks 15 years ago for that kind of IO!
M O B - Sunday, October 27, 2019 - link
An ASRock X299 SAGE/10G board would be appreciated. Those extra few lanes should be helping here, but I'm not seeing any better looking I/O.