PC Processors

[dapoets]

When I run Blender and not the benchmark, all 32 cores are used 100%.  When I run the Blender Quick Benchmark (BMW & Classroom) only half of my cores are pressed to 100% and the other half are not doing anything.  This is my 1st AMD build.  Am I missing something?

Gigabyte Aorus Master TRX40

64GB DDR4 3600mhz

Custom water cooling loop.

[misterj]

dapoets, I am waiting for a 3970X, so please tell me where and when did you get yours?  Please post a screenshot of Ryzen Master (RM) while running the benchmark.  Simply drag-n-drop the image into your reply.  In general the operating system schedules and dispatches the work and the processor executes it.  Please open the W10 (assume Windows) Task Manager-Performance-Open Performance Monitor and watch your benchmark run and see how many threads are dispatched.  Thanks and enjoy, John.

EDIT: Please provide a link to the benchmark you are running and I will run  it on my 2990WX.

[dapoets]

Here are the screen shots.  PBO is on but it doesn't matter if it's on or off, only half the cores are used.  When I run an actual Blender run and not the blender benchmark then all the cores are used.  So yeah I'm confused.

I got the 3970X from Microcenter in Southern California.

Any idea as to what's going on?

[misterj]

Thanks, dapoets.  What a mess!  I am confused also.  Here are your specifications:

Notice that your Max Temps is 68C but your RM says 95C.  Some obvious questions: what version of RM are you running?  What version of W10 are you running?  I'm running 1909.18363.535 and you should be also.  Is this a fresh install of W10 since the 3970X was installed?  If not then please format your C: disk and install a nice fresh copy of W10 from MS.  Running Blender Quick Benchmark with PBO off may tell us something.  RM should say 'Default OC'.

I ran the Blender Quick Benchmark this afternoon and looks like I got the right one.  I ran it twice (really 4 or 5) with scores of 6:44.71 and 6:29.05 on my 2990WX with a bad MB loosing a stick of memory.  All 32 cores ran.  The other tries all resulted is system crashes.  It is a shame running this system with a bad MB, but I have RMAed it twice with the same results.  I am hoping to find a 3970X soon.  I certainly will not use the same MB vendor.

BTW, all Threadripper maximum temperature is 68C.  What a mess.  Thanks much and enjoy, John.

[dapoets]

68°C apparently isn't for Ryzen Threadripper 3970X so many of use are unsure as to why it's on a couple of AMD documents.  Just running stock all youtubers as well as myself hit into the 70's and most into the mid 80's just stock settings.

[mammoth]

Hmmm. This is a very interesting thread. I just got my 3970X up and running and the one issue, very irritating I might add, and I am now out to resolve... is MY "high temps" and fans on my Enermax Liqtech TR4 II 360 throttling high and running VERY LOUD most of time, even when the machine is doing nothing, with only 1 to 2 percent CPU utilization. I have re-pasted twice now, first with Cryonaut Thermal Grizzly, and secondly with Arctic Silver 5. No change at all. Super irritating and annoying, as I can't put the machine in use like this.

My temps also quickly get up to the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and the machine isn't doing anything. I have no applications even installed yet. Running practically anything is cause for the machine to jump to 4.3, 4.4Ghz, trying to run at full throttle for some reason. Launching Firefox, running NZXT CAM, anything, and the machine jumps into high gear and high fans.

My MB is Gigabyte Designare, Win 10 latest with full updates, and all Gigabyte drivers, utilities installed with meticulous precision to correct order (chipset first) and ensuring all latest versions that can be found and are available. All Gigabyte installed Apps work, including the super buggy RGB Fusion 2.0. However, after reading this thread I installed RM (v2.1.0.1424), and now it crashes the machine! I have installed Win10 Pro multiple times on this machine already, and I HAVE had RM installed and working before. Lots O' Bugs.  

NOTE: If I just let the machine sit in BIOS, it NEVER throttles, runs hot, or gets loud. Temps stay around 38C to 40C, basically running like any machine would in Windows sitting idle.

[mammoth]

OH JOY TO THE WORLD!

I read an article on Tom's that led me to the solution for me!

Threadripper 3970X Gaming - AMD Threadripper 3970X and 3960X Review: Taking Over The High End | Tom'... 

I went into BIOS and made two changes:

1) Under Tweaker, Advanced CPU Core Settings, Core Performance Boost: Changed from Auto to Disabled.

2) Under Settings, AMD Overclocking, Precision Boost Overdrive: Changed from Auto to Disabled.

BAM! Nice and quiet, normal sounding machine.

Perhaps I don't need to disable both of those, maybe just PBO, but I will experiment with that later.

If I ever am doing some heavy threading work loads or some big job, I could go in and turn those on... and then leave the house while it ROARS through that work, but for everyday use, this is amazing!

[dapoets]

Honestly you should not have had to disable either of those as that's still basically just stock settings.  Now when you mentioned your temps going up I didn't see any degree measurement that you stated which is out of the norm.  If you hit 90°c sure that's concerning but even low to mid 80°c range is perfectly fine and normal on full load.  You may need to adjust your fan curve.  I have mine set to match my water temps with only 1 bottom intake fan actually set to my CPU temp.  If your processor is say at 70°c you may only need to have your fans at 50% or 60% depending on what fans you have.  I am using silent wings 3 by beQuiet so I tend to have my fans set to 40% on idle and 60% to 70% when temps are about 37°c for my water which means my CPU is on a consistent load w/ temps around 70-75°c.  In other words, change your fan cure profile and set those 2 settings you changed back on auto. 

[mammoth]

Thank you for your detailed and very helpful response. You are correct, I discovered you really need to custom configure all of the fans. I have made quite a bit (maybe even QUIET a bit) of progress since my initial post. I have more tuning to do for sure, and once I have it really solid, I will post my results.

I'm using the ENERMAX Liqtech II TR4 360, and when I was installing Windows the fans were just roaring at full speed.

I have not had an AMD system since like 2005, and everything has changed since then, so it's a lot to wrap one's brain around. I'm accustomed to a very quite machine, especially during an install, and couldn't be sure if the temps were going crazy, what was normal, etc. Running with a $2k CPU (way more than I've ever paid for CPU in  my life), the last thing I wanted to do was cook it.

Thanks again, and much more to do.

[dapoets]

I solved it by wiping my system clean.  I have 100% core usage in blender.  My temps have always been fine and I run my water cooled system on a fairly silent config.  My fan curve is fine. But thank you.  My water temps never get higher than 34c no matter what loads I put on it due to having 3 large radiators and all beQuiet silent wings 3 fans. 

[misterj]

dapoets, AMD has now update the Specifications to Max Temps 95C.  Thanks and enjoy, John.

[jamesx380fx]

Probably cause that benchmark hasn't been updated in a while (it still uses 2.79 and not the latest 2.81 branch) and is probably only using a fixed set of Threads for use in its pre defined settings profile, and as you mentioned already its clearly working just fine when you render using your normal workload and not the benchmark tool.

You can also download and try the new demo files for 2.81 like The Junk Shop demo to test and see if all threads are in use, you may have to lower the tile size though as 250x250 is the default for it and thats (for me at least) is a bit too large for doing a CPU only Cycles render.

[dapoets]

This is probably it... But I have seen some youtubers run it and their times are half what I'm getting due to only half of my cores are being utilized.  I'll check versions.

[misterj]

Thanks, dapoets.  What is your version of Blender Quick Benchmark?  The AMD Specifications for the 3970X says 68C.  I am trying to get AMD to respond.  What version is your RM?  In the future you should always show the temperature in RM.  It is not visible in your render run.  Until this is sorted, I would advise users to stay away for temperatures over 68C.  Thanks and enjoy, John.

[dapoets]

Ryzen Master version 2.1.0.1424

I'm not concerned about the 68°c issue as 100% of all reviews I have seen go well past that on stock settings and Ryzen Master shows 95°c to be the limit for everyone.  But I think it's just the Blender Benchmark being the issue because when I run nearly anything in the actual Blender program I get 100% core usage but the Blender Benchmark is apparently running an older version of blender for it's runs and so that's probably it.  2nd gen Ryzen Threadripper probably does run fine on that older version but as 3rd gen is brand new it probably just doesn't know what to do with it.

[misterj]

Truly bazaar!

[dapoets]

Also my system has very high end watercooling so when I'm doing an extremely intense render in any program (blender, handbrake, you name it) I max out at about 75°c while other youtubers tend to hit the mid 80's when they do similar tasks.  I have come to realize that in handbrake, it will use all cores all the way down to only half the cores depending on the quality of the render.  4k 60fps uses all cores.  1080p uses half the cores.  So this is probably what the blender benchmark is doing, just using a setting that only touches half the cores.

[mammoth]

Hello dapoets, and thank you for your posts.

What cooling system are you using and how loud is it? If this is going to be the new normal, I have to do something drastic because my radiator fans are just way too loud.

Thank you.

[misterj]

jamesx380fx, did you read my post?  Something is seriously wrong!  I ran Blender Quick Benchmark on my 2990WX and it ran fine -  all 32 cores.  The blender-benchmark.exe says version 2.8.0.0. Thanks, John.

[jamesx380fx]

Looks like it uses an old beta version of 2.80 branch from 2018 which is different from the final version of 2.80 and 2.81 (Master build) both of which were released just a few months ago this year with 2.82 already in works to be released early next year.

Alot of changes have been made since the 2.80 beta to the point that most of the old 2.80 plugins (released before the master) wont even work with the final release, the Cycles renderer for example has been greatly improved since then and it could be one of the reasons why its behaving differently in the quick bench tool.

Honestly, its best to not bother with the quick bench tool for benchmarking/stress testing since that tool was primarily made for gathering data on what hardware it users were most likely using (GPU/CPU) plus the demo files that it uses has thread count set to auto with a fixed pre defined tile size, some of them using 128x128, 256x256 or higher, which isn't the best tile size for use on CPU only Cycles rendering on high thread count CPUs. settings like these need to be adjusted/tweaked by the end user themselves to get the best out of the hardware they are using.

Though there is one demo file there you can download seperately named Cosmos Laundromat Demo that i do use for stress testing which will seriously push your CPU/GPU (Hybrid Render) and Memory, i also sometimes use it for when i want to check overall system power draw (using a wattmeter). You can still load it just fine in the newest version of blender, just need to adjust the tile size and (if needed) set thread count manually.

[dapoets]

That sounds reasonable.  Thank you for the reply!

[misterj]

After several responses from AMD, they are now saying 95C is correct for Max Temps.  I suggested they change the 3970X Specifications.  Enjoy, John.

EDIT:Specifications have now been updated to 95C.