Threadripper / EPYC with many cores really need coolers designed for them. They generate a huge amount of heat but over a larger surface area.
noctua.at/en/nh-u14s-tr4 is Noctua's best offering for those. Does the job for 3970X (32 cores) without overclocking much but not beyond.
Conversation
With a second fan you can run a 3995WX with a U14S, as long as you've got good case airflow. It'll run hot, so you won't get perfect multi-core boosts, but it'll still work. Ideally I'd run a 360 radiator just for the CPU, though.
1
icegiantcooling.com appears to be a better option than the NH-U14S for 64 core Threadripper or overclocked 32 core. I don't think I'd want it in a case with a vertical motherboard though.
Probably what I'll get when Zen 3 Threadripper is finally available in a few months.
1
Looks decent. In my experience you usually get better results out of Noctua's air coolers than they spec for. I'm running a pair of NH-D9 DX-3647 in my dual Xeon 8276L workstation, and they're 165W TDP each. Idle 45C, 95th percentile under load is about 76C, absolute peak 82-ish.
2
I have an NH-D15 and I've been quite happy with it. It essentially has 3 fans because there's an NF-A14 exhaust aligned well right behind it. It's an old workstation from late 2016 though. I've needed to replace it for a while. Issue is lack of time and component availability...
2
I was either going to make a 3970X build with an NH-U14S and a 2nd fan or a 3990X build with the ProSiphon Elite. Kept hitting the issue of decent motherboards not being available in Canada or the CPUs being overpriced. Kept getting delayed and now seems silly to go with Zen 2...
1
It's tempting to make a build with a Ryzen 5950X as a stopgap until Zen 3 Threadripper is available. I only really need a new motherboard and CPU...
Most of the parts from 2016 are still fine: 64GB DDR4-2400 memory, SuperNOVA 750 T2, 2TB 960 Pro NVMe SSD, NH-D15, Core V21 case.
2
That memory clock will hold you back a bit, though, since Ryzen performance is quite dependent on memory frequency. Ideally you want at least 3200, ideally 3600.
1
Makes sense since it's only dual channel. i7-6950X is quad channel. I'm not sure how much memory bandwidth matters for the workload. It's mostly a build machine. Lots of AOSP and Chromium builds, etc. Most are incremental development builds so single threaded performance matters.
1
1
Seems I can't buy a 5950X anyway. It's available on amazon.com for an inflated price ($999 instead of $799) but that's not available to Canadians.
Largely not available in Canada and the only options have ridiculous pricing. That's my experience for the past year.
read image description
ALT
1
That's a USD price from amazon.com, not CAD.
These are the amazon.ca options. At least it's available now, which I guess is an improvement.
Import fee deposit makes no sense. Might be some kind of third party seller scamming. Ontario sales tax is 13%.
read image description
ALT