What are the current high end options for a new development
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chrisw
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- Full name: Christopher Whittington
What are the current high end options for a new development
I've a couple of these right now (AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16-Core Processor (4.50 GHz)), purchased three years ago, and am looking to get another high end machine. Any advice on current good options appreciated.
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ColonelPhantom
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Re: What are the current high end options for a new development
The successor to the 7950X, which is the 9950X, is the only one that comes to mind. There's also the X3D options but I don't think they matter much for developers, especially in the context of a chess engine.
I'd also say that a 7950X is good enough to not bother upgrading; the only really noticeable gains will be in AVX-512 code, and only if it operates on full 512-bit wide vectors. (To be fair: that might actually be a decent chunk of it in a chess context, think NNUE evaluation.)
The good news is that a 9950X would be a drop-in replacement. Other than that, at most I can think that more RAM would be worthwhile, but that is ridiculously expensive right now. If you want a more substantial upgrade, I could also imagine a Threadripper system could be worth it for the extra cores and memory bandwidth.
I'd also say that a 7950X is good enough to not bother upgrading; the only really noticeable gains will be in AVX-512 code, and only if it operates on full 512-bit wide vectors. (To be fair: that might actually be a decent chunk of it in a chess context, think NNUE evaluation.)
The good news is that a 9950X would be a drop-in replacement. Other than that, at most I can think that more RAM would be worthwhile, but that is ridiculously expensive right now. If you want a more substantial upgrade, I could also imagine a Threadripper system could be worth it for the extra cores and memory bandwidth.
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chrisw
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Re: What are the current high end options for a new development
My problem is I’m moving countries (air connection only) and don’t fancy hauling the current equipment with me. The 7950’s are AVX512 capable and I’ve also a couple of 64x thread rippers. Started browsing build your own PC sites and they seem to be offering non nvidia GPUs, not sure if those would be up to the job. Advice?ColonelPhantom wrote: ↑Wed Dec 17, 2025 1:46 pm The successor to the 7950X, which is the 9950X, is the only one that comes to mind. There's also the X3D options but I don't think they matter much for developers, especially in the context of a chess engine.
I'd also say that a 7950X is good enough to not bother upgrading; the only really noticeable gains will be in AVX-512 code, and only if it operates on full 512-bit wide vectors. (To be fair: that might actually be a decent chunk of it in a chess context, think NNUE evaluation.)
The good news is that a 9950X would be a drop-in replacement. Other than that, at most I can think that more RAM would be worthwhile, but that is ridiculously expensive right now. If you want a more substantial upgrade, I could also imagine a Threadripper system could be worth it for the extra cores and memory bandwidth.
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Joost Buijs
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Re: What are the current high end options for a new development
The only affordable non NVidia GPU with good performance is the 'AMD AI pro R9700' with 32 GB GDDR6. I looked at this GPU myself, the drawback is that their AI-software support for Windows is still a bit lacking.chrisw wrote: ↑Wed Dec 17, 2025 4:53 pm My problem is I’m moving countries (air connection only) and don’t fancy hauling the current equipment with me. The 7950’s are AVX512 capable and I’ve also a couple of 64x thread rippers. Started browsing build your own PC sites and they seem to be offering non nvidia GPUs, not sure if those would be up to the job. Advice?
AVX-512 on the 7950x is 'double pumped', internally it uses a 256 bit data-path and two 256 bit instructions to emulate 512 bit, the 9950x is clearly faster with AVX-512.
Recently I built a new workstation with a 24 core Threadripper 9960x, last week I added a NVidia 'RTX Pro 4500 Blackwell' GPU to it which has 32 GB GDDR7 with ECC. It has approx. the speed of the RTX-5080, but it has double the memory with ECC. The RTX-5090 is about 1.5 times faster, but it has no ECC, and I don't like the fact that these 'gaming cards' blow all the heat into the computer case. Another problem with the RTX-5090 is that it uses way too much power, which causes power connectors to melt like candlesticks.
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Dann Corbit
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Re: What are the current high end options for a new development
Worthy of consideration:
AMD EPYC 7713 which has 64 cores / 128 threads.
It is far cheaper than the Threadrippers. And (if you can afford it) you can put two of them in one machine for 128 cores / 256 threads.
A real server would allow ludicrous memory (which nobody can buy right now thanks to the AI bubble).
It is the most cost effective EPYC CPU:
https://www.cpusolutions.com/store/pc/% ... ce-d32.htm
If you have lots of RAM in your current machines and if the RAM is identical and if a server can take that RAM, you might want to canibalize it.
AMD EPYC 7713 which has 64 cores / 128 threads.
It is far cheaper than the Threadrippers. And (if you can afford it) you can put two of them in one machine for 128 cores / 256 threads.
A real server would allow ludicrous memory (which nobody can buy right now thanks to the AI bubble).
It is the most cost effective EPYC CPU:
https://www.cpusolutions.com/store/pc/% ... ce-d32.htm
If you have lots of RAM in your current machines and if the RAM is identical and if a server can take that RAM, you might want to canibalize it.
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jdart
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Re: What are the current high end options for a new development
I have multiple machines. My primary desktop is still Windows, but I don't use it for development.
Then I have several headless Linux servers, which I can browse from the Windows box using the ZOC9 SSH client.
My main development box is a used 12-core AMD system (Threadripper PRO 3945WX). That's fine for general development tasks.
Other systems include a 3970x Threadripper with a GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card, used for NNUE training. If you were buying today, you could get a more recent Threadripper such as the 9970X and a more recent graphics card. Note that Threadrippers are really designed for water cooling, and are quite difficult to run on air, although with a lot of fans I managed to make mine run that way.
I also have a couple other boxes, used for selfplay game generation and distributed SPRT testing. These don't have high-end graphics cards, but have high core count CPUs. One of them is an EPYC 48-core box. EPYCs run fine on air cooling and I've run this box 24/7 at high load with no problems.
Then I have several headless Linux servers, which I can browse from the Windows box using the ZOC9 SSH client.
My main development box is a used 12-core AMD system (Threadripper PRO 3945WX). That's fine for general development tasks.
Other systems include a 3970x Threadripper with a GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card, used for NNUE training. If you were buying today, you could get a more recent Threadripper such as the 9970X and a more recent graphics card. Note that Threadrippers are really designed for water cooling, and are quite difficult to run on air, although with a lot of fans I managed to make mine run that way.
I also have a couple other boxes, used for selfplay game generation and distributed SPRT testing. These don't have high-end graphics cards, but have high core count CPUs. One of them is an EPYC 48-core box. EPYCs run fine on air cooling and I've run this box 24/7 at high load with no problems.
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jdart
- Posts: 4427
- Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:23 am
- Location: http://www.arasanchess.org
Re: What are the current high end options for a new development
I have multiple machines. My primary desktop is still Windows, but I don't use it for development.
Then I have several headless Linux servers, which I can browse from the Windows box using the ZOC9 SSH client.
My main development box is a used 12-core AMD system (Threadripper PRO 3945WX). That's fine for general development tasks. (Many used workstation-class machines are available on eBay - mostly they are off 3-year leases).
Other systems include a 3970x Threadripper with a GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card, used for NNUE training. If you were buying today, you could get a more recent Threadripper such as the 9970X and a more recent graphics card. Note that Threadrippers are really designed for water cooling, and are quite difficult to run on air, although with a lot of fans I managed to make mine run that way.
I also have a couple other boxes, used for selfplay game generation and distributed SPRT testing. These don't have high-end graphics cards, but have high core count CPUs. One of them is an EPYC 48-core box. EPYCs run fine on air cooling and I've run this box 24/7 at high load with no problems.
Then I have several headless Linux servers, which I can browse from the Windows box using the ZOC9 SSH client.
My main development box is a used 12-core AMD system (Threadripper PRO 3945WX). That's fine for general development tasks. (Many used workstation-class machines are available on eBay - mostly they are off 3-year leases).
Other systems include a 3970x Threadripper with a GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card, used for NNUE training. If you were buying today, you could get a more recent Threadripper such as the 9970X and a more recent graphics card. Note that Threadrippers are really designed for water cooling, and are quite difficult to run on air, although with a lot of fans I managed to make mine run that way.
I also have a couple other boxes, used for selfplay game generation and distributed SPRT testing. These don't have high-end graphics cards, but have high core count CPUs. One of them is an EPYC 48-core box. EPYCs run fine on air cooling and I've run this box 24/7 at high load with no problems.