5950x Compared to Threadripper 3960x – A PCIe Concern
5950x Compared to Threadripper 3960x – A PCIe Concern
Hello! It's a new member here, even after three posts. I'm trying to understand something that's been on my mind. While I've put together my PCs over time, I still struggle to remember where each part goes. I'm aiming to improve this with my latest project. I've been saving for years to get this system, and I promise it's not about money—it's about passion. I've been saving small amounts for a long time so I can build something top-notch.
My main needs are for creative work using multi-threaded apps like Blender, plus lots of gaming with single-threaded programs. But because of the large files I create and play, I really need a lot of storage. I also dislike hard drives and SATA cables. My original plan was to use only M.2 SSDs on an x570 board with three PCIe 4.0 slots and a 5950x CPU—this should handle both gaming and creative tasks well.
After chatting with a friend who knows more about component interactions, I learned that PCIe lanes are limited. Adding PCIe 4.0 cards like the Samsung 980 Pro or WD SN850, plus an RTX 3000 graphics card, could create bottlenecks. "Bottlenecks" sound concerning, so I want to avoid them.
My current machine is about 11 years old, and I'm not sure what a bottleneck really feels like. My idea was to have one OS drive in the PCIe M.2 slot, a personal files drive in a PCH slot, another for games and programs in the other PCH slot, plus the RTX card. My friend suggested upgrading to a Ryzen Threadripper 3960x, which would give me 64 lanes instead of 20 from the 5950x. This would mean more work, some headaches, and potentially swapping out my existing board—but I'm open to it if it helps in the long run.
So, the big question is: Will the extra PCIe lanes on a Threadripper make up for the bottleneck issues with an NVMe setup like this one?
It's not true, the GPU already has dedicated lanes so he likely doesn't grasp as much as he believes. You'll need 2 NVMe SSDs, plus the network adapter and other PCIe cards you can fit in lower slots. These will share a PCIe4x4 connection to the CPU, which is more than enough for any practical task.
I own eight NVMe storage units on my 3970X system. Five of them are on PCH lanes. Even when I transfer large files to one of those PCH drives, I usually have to fill the drive completely before noticing a noticeable slowdown. The only situation where it really slows down was when Steam was running and downloading a 30GB update while I was doing a media dump to a PCH drive. In short, you don’t need to use TR if you’re just managing three drives. Another myth is that lanes are flexible—actually, their arrangement is set by the motherboard manufacturer, so always check a block diagram to confirm it fits your needs.
Not worth the investment, prices are high, performance is worse than the 5950x. Just use partitions. It’s confusing why everyone wants a single dedicated 120/250GB Windows drive. You can easily install four 4TB NVMe Gen4 drives and eight 8TB SATA drives. That way you don’t need all the lanes and slots. Two 4TB NVMe plus two 8TB SATA gives you 8TB of extra storage and 16TB of super fast access. Corsair MP600 Core 4TB M.2-2280 NVMe Solid State Drive Samsung 870 QVO 8TB 2.5" SSD