Help to choose components for a Ryzen rig

robert44444uk · 2018-04-05, 08:12

I'm trying to go for a decent rig to run a multi-threaded prime gap routine written in perl and I think I can afford a Ryzen 1800 series. Then it comes down to ensuring that all the other components will sing along sweetly and that I am not paying for stuff I don't need:

The current UK spec I am inching towards is:

Quote:

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 1800X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.0GHz/20MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard: ASUS® PRIME X370-PRO (DDR4, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX/SLI)
Memory: 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card: 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 710 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
Hard Disk: 250GB Samsung 860 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s
Power Supply: CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350
Processor Cooling: Corsair H80i V2 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

The program I am planning to run is attached in two benchmark test forms for anyone with a Ryzen set up, who also has perl, who doesn't mind running the benchmarks.

I would be very grateful for any advice you hardware experts might have on this.

M344587487 · 2018-04-05, 09:40

I have a 1700 and perl 5.22 (but don't use perl as you're about to see). Running "perl smallgaptest.pl" fails as it can't find Timer/Runtime.pm (missing the Timer::Runtime module). I install cpanm and try "sudo cpanm Timer::Runtime", which fails compilation maybe due to missing Time::Elapse. Trying to install Time::Elapse in the same way fails. I don't know enough about Perl to debug the problem or decipher google. Unless you have a magic fix, I tried :P

The motherboard is nice, maybe overkill for what you need. A good B350 board should be plenty, it's just the RAM compatibility you need to pay attention to. ASRock is meant to be solid. MSI and Gigabyte supposedly have lower quality VRMs especially in the cheaper boards. I would recommend a 1700 as it's much cheaper (£230), comes with a decent heatsink and can be overclocked to the same as the other two if really necessary. Ryzen+ comes out this month so you need to consider 2700 and 2700X too, benchmarks indicate a 10% performance boost and better RAM support, but as the new line they'll probably be expensive on launch.

robert44444uk · 2018-04-05, 10:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by M344587487

I have a 1700 and perl 5.22 (but don't use perl as you're about to see). Running "perl smallgaptest.pl" fails as it can't find Timer/Runtime.pm (missing the Timer::Runtime module). I install cpanm and try "sudo cpanm Timer::Runtime", which fails compilation maybe due to missing Time::Elapse. Trying to install Time::Elapse in the same way fails. I don't know enough about Perl to debug the problem or decipher google. Unless you have a magic fix, I tried :P

Ahh, that's a shame. You could take out the

Code:

use Timer::Runtime;

and instead add the following code at the start, after the "use" section

Code:

my $start_run = time();

and at the end of the code:

Code:

my $end_run = time();
my $run_time = $end_run - $start_run;
print "Job took $run_time seconds\n";

The variable to play with in the benchmarking is

Code:

my $nthreads

Good luck with this fix, and hopefully you can get some results for the benchmark.

Quote:

The motherboard is nice, maybe overkill for what you need. A good B350 board should be plenty, it's just the RAM compatibility you need to pay attention to. ASRock is meant to be solid. MSI and Gigabyte supposedly have lower quality VRMs especially in the cheaper boards. I would recommend a 1700 as it's much cheaper (£230), comes with a decent heatsink and can be overclocked to the same as the other two if really necessary. Ryzen+ comes out this month so you need to consider 2700 and 2700X too, benchmarks indicate a 10% performance boost and better RAM support, but as the new line they'll probably be expensive on launch.

This is very helpful - thank you! Cost is a real issue, so saving money is really good!

Thomas11 · 2018-04-05, 10:35

Assuming that you are running this in a Linux environment, you could simply take out the line:

Code:

use Timer::Runtime;

(as suggested by Robert) and use the Linux "time" utility to get the timings, e.g.:

Code:

time perl smallgaptest.pl

Thomas11 · 2018-04-05, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by M344587487

I have a 1700 and perl 5.22 (but don't use perl as you're about to see). Running "perl smallgaptest.pl" fails as it can't find Timer/Runtime.pm (missing the Timer::Runtime module). I install cpanm and try "sudo cpanm Timer::Runtime", which fails compilation maybe due to missing Time::Elapse. Trying to install Time::Elapse in the same way fails. I don't know enough about Perl to debug the problem or decipher google. Unless you have a magic fix, I tried :P

Regarding the installation issues with the Perl modules, you could try the following:

Code:

   sudo cpan
   force install Time::Elapse
   force install Timer::Runtime

M344587487 · 2018-04-05, 12:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas11

Regarding the installation issues with the Perl modules, you could try the following:

Code:

   sudo cpan
   force install Time::Elapse
   force install Timer::Runtime

Thanks I figured it out, perl is installed by default on Ubuntu but either I hadn't configured it properly or it was outdated. Did an upgrade then forced the modules in with cpanm --force.

For the benchmarks I had to create an empty merits.txt, is that some sort of configuration file I'm missing? Here's the results, but note the CPU may not have been fully utilised for some of the testing:

Code:

smallgaptest.pl Started: Thu Apr  5 12:37:17 2018
# 39   i * 167#/21534  (1..10000000)  mingap 1346 
18.791741     2890  PRP67 = 138067*167#/21534-1594
17.389811     2706  PRP68 = 849917*167#/21534-1382
18.318888     2854  PRP68 = 1024807*167#/21534-1516
18.570360     2896  PRP68 = 1192981*167#/21534-1438
17.069326     2670  PRP68 = 1915451*167#/21534-1374
18.040892     2824  PRP68 = 2143205*167#/21534-1338
18.617178     2918  PRP69 = 2627371*167#/21534-1296
17.913754     2808  PRP69 = 2664685*167#/21534-1306
18.160088     2848  PRP69 = 2876147*167#/21534-1446
18.200766     2856  PRP69 = 3143995*167#/21534-1438
21.276427     3340  PRP69 = 3354361*167#/21534-1642
18.265413     2868  PRP69 = 3480211*167#/21534-1522
16.605635     2610  PRP69 = 4073809*167#/21534-1324
18.639102     2930  PRP69 = 4159661*167#/21534-1556
19.536212     3072  PRP69 = 4373099*167#/21534-1706
17.621521     2772  PRP69 = 4649063*167#/21534-1338
18.039961     2840  PRP69 = 5245129*167#/21534-1338
18.271699     2880  PRP69 = 6358703*167#/21534-1286
18.168063     2866  PRP69 = 7230857*167#/21534-1374
16.999550     2682  PRP69 = 7373587*167#/21534-1396
17.260136     2724  PRP69 = 7762661*167#/21534-1286
17.717003     2796  PRP69 = 7717717*167#/21534-1348
19.690642     3108  PRP69 = 7928771*167#/21534-1592
20.459272     3230  PRP69 = 8196017*167#/21534-1388
18.227805     2878  PRP69 = 8328403*167#/21534-1546
16.779002     2650  PRP69 = 8710399*167#/21534-1318
17.282953     2730  PRP69 = 8918557*167#/21534-1398
21.966038     3470  PRP69 = 9026411*167#/21534-1724
17.762752     2806  PRP69 = 9025333*167#/21534-1348
18.737447     2960  PRP69 = 9038041*167#/21534-1338
18.036650     2850  PRP69 = 9399167*167#/21534-1382
19.476307     3078  PRP69 = 9652283*167#/21534-1436
18.654349     2948  PRP69 = 9601057*167#/21534-1374
19.273204     3046  PRP69 = 9701443*167#/21534-1348
smallgaptest.pl Finished: Thu Apr  5 12:39:07 2018, elapsed time = 00:01:49.629163

CPU usage topped out at 400%, indicating that only 4 threads were used (either 4 cores or worse 2 cores with SMT). For comparison mlucas shows up to 800% usage with 8 threads (with and without SMT), and up to 1600% usage for 8 cores with SMT.

edit: Accidentally did small twice, running med now.

robert44444uk · 2018-04-05, 12:51

My 4 core machine results for varying threads - in seconds

Quote:

4 259.2
5 252.6
6 245.4
7 230.6
8 225.5
2x4 222.1 - 2x4 is two instances of the software running concurrently.

this compares to your 109 secs.

What did you set your my $nthreads at? the variable is in the program, rather than set as a flag - the default in the program as I sent it to you is 4 - and with the Ryzen this can be set up to 16.

I'm sorry I forgot about the merits.txt file :(

Mark Rose · 2018-04-05, 12:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by robert44444uk

I'm trying to go for a decent rig to run a multi-threaded prime gap routine written in perl and I think I can afford a Ryzen 1800 series. Then it comes down to ensuring that all the other components will sing along sweetly and that I am not paying for stuff I don't need:

The current UK spec I am inching towards is:.

Can you wait two weeks? The new 2000 series desktop chips are due to be released April 19th. They have a few benefits:

Better energy efficiency, i.e. higher clocks for the same watts.
Improved multi-core turbo (Precision Boost 2), but this requires a 400 series motherboard. The X470's should be out soon and there will be B450's later this year.
Higher officially supported memory of DDR4-2933.
Lower memory latency.

The new 2700X will be faster than the 1800X, consuming a few more watts. If you're trying to save money though, and you'll be running this system 24/7, I'd look at the 2700 (8 cores) or the 2600 (6 cores), both of which consume only 65 watts out of the box.

An early review of the new Ryzens: https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7-270...lished-online/

Prices leaked on Amazon: https://wccftech.com/full-amd-ryzen-...usly-reported/

If your program can only use 4 cores/threads and you can't change this, and you won't be using the machine for other purposes, I'd look at buying an i3-8100 or i3-8350k system instead. It would be cheaper. However, if you're buying a general purpose system, I'd stick with the 2000 series Ryzens.

robert44444uk · 2018-04-05, 13:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Rose

Can you wait two weeks? The new 2000 series desktop chips are due to be released April 19th. They have a few benefits:

Better energy efficiency, i.e. higher clocks for the same watts.
Improved multi-core turbo (Precision Boost 2), but this requires a 400 series motherboard. The X470's should be out soon and there will be B450's later this year.
Higher officially supported memory of DDR4-2933.
Lower memory latency.

The new 2700X will be faster than the 1800X, consuming a few more watts. If you're trying to save money though, and you'll be running this system 24/7, I'd look at the 2700 (8 cores) or the 2600 (6 cores), both of which consume only 65 watts out of the box.

An early review of the new Ryzens: https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7-270...lished-online/

Prices leaked on Amazon: https://wccftech.com/full-amd-ryzen-...usly-reported/

If your program can only use 4 cores/threads and you can't change this, and you won't be using the machine for other purposes, I'd look at buying an i3-8100 or i3-8350k system instead. It would be cheaper. However, if you're buying a general purpose system, I'd stick with the 2000 series Ryzens.

Thank you Mark.

I can use any number for cores/threads with this program. As posted, it just means changing the $nthreads in the program. So I am certainly looking for lots of cores!!

M344587487 · 2018-04-05, 13:28

Yes my bad, that small result is for threads set to 4. For all the tests the scheduler did a good job of not using SMT when there were cores available.

small 8 thread

Code:

smallgaptest.pl Started: Thu Apr  5 13:58:34 2018
# 39   i * 167#/21534  (1..10000000)  mingap 1346
18.791741     2890  PRP67 = 138067*167#/21534-1594
17.389811     2706  PRP68 = 849917*167#/21534-1382
18.318888     2854  PRP68 = 1024807*167#/21534-1516
18.570360     2896  PRP68 = 1192981*167#/21534-1438
17.069326     2670  PRP68 = 1915451*167#/21534-1374
18.040892     2824  PRP68 = 2143205*167#/21534-1338
18.617178     2918  PRP69 = 2627371*167#/21534-1296
17.913754     2808  PRP69 = 2664685*167#/21534-1306
18.160088     2848  PRP69 = 2876147*167#/21534-1446
18.200766     2856  PRP69 = 3143995*167#/21534-1438
21.276427     3340  PRP69 = 3354361*167#/21534-1642
18.265413     2868  PRP69 = 3480211*167#/21534-1522
16.605635     2610  PRP69 = 4073809*167#/21534-1324
18.639102     2930  PRP69 = 4159661*167#/21534-1556
19.536212     3072  PRP69 = 4373099*167#/21534-1706
17.621521     2772  PRP69 = 4649063*167#/21534-1338
18.039961     2840  PRP69 = 5245129*167#/21534-1338
18.271699     2880  PRP69 = 6358703*167#/21534-1286
16.999550     2682  PRP69 = 7373587*167#/21534-1396
18.168063     2866  PRP69 = 7230857*167#/21534-1374
17.717003     2796  PRP69 = 7717717*167#/21534-1348
17.260136     2724  PRP69 = 7762661*167#/21534-1286
19.690642     3108  PRP69 = 7928771*167#/21534-1592
18.227805     2878  PRP69 = 8328403*167#/21534-1546
20.459272     3230  PRP69 = 8196017*167#/21534-1388
16.779002     2650  PRP69 = 8710399*167#/21534-1318
17.282953     2730  PRP69 = 8918557*167#/21534-1398
21.966038     3470  PRP69 = 9026411*167#/21534-1724
18.737447     2960  PRP69 = 9038041*167#/21534-1338
17.762752     2806  PRP69 = 9025333*167#/21534-1348
18.036650     2850  PRP69 = 9399167*167#/21534-1382
19.476307     3078  PRP69 = 9652283*167#/21534-1436
18.654349     2948  PRP69 = 9601057*167#/21534-1374
19.273204     3046  PRP69 = 9701443*167#/21534-1348
smallgaptest.pl Finished: Thu Apr  5 13:59:30 2018, elapsed time = 00:00:55.483178

small 16 thread

Code:

smallgaptest.pl Started: Thu Apr  5 14:00:03 2018
# 39   i * 167#/21534  (1..10000000)  mingap 1346
18.791741     2890  PRP67 = 138067*167#/21534-1594
17.389811     2706  PRP68 = 849917*167#/21534-1382
18.318888     2854  PRP68 = 1024807*167#/21534-1516
18.570360     2896  PRP68 = 1192981*167#/21534-1438
17.069326     2670  PRP68 = 1915451*167#/21534-1374
18.040892     2824  PRP68 = 2143205*167#/21534-1338
18.617178     2918  PRP69 = 2627371*167#/21534-1296
17.913754     2808  PRP69 = 2664685*167#/21534-1306
18.160088     2848  PRP69 = 2876147*167#/21534-1446
18.200766     2856  PRP69 = 3143995*167#/21534-1438
21.276427     3340  PRP69 = 3354361*167#/21534-1642
18.265413     2868  PRP69 = 3480211*167#/21534-1522
16.605635     2610  PRP69 = 4073809*167#/21534-1324
18.639102     2930  PRP69 = 4159661*167#/21534-1556
19.536212     3072  PRP69 = 4373099*167#/21534-1706
17.621521     2772  PRP69 = 4649063*167#/21534-1338
18.039961     2840  PRP69 = 5245129*167#/21534-1338
18.271699     2880  PRP69 = 6358703*167#/21534-1286
16.999550     2682  PRP69 = 7373587*167#/21534-1396
18.168063     2866  PRP69 = 7230857*167#/21534-1374
17.717003     2796  PRP69 = 7717717*167#/21534-1348
17.260136     2724  PRP69 = 7762661*167#/21534-1286
19.690642     3108  PRP69 = 7928771*167#/21534-1592
20.459272     3230  PRP69 = 8196017*167#/21534-1388
18.227805     2878  PRP69 = 8328403*167#/21534-1546
16.779002     2650  PRP69 = 8710399*167#/21534-1318
17.282953     2730  PRP69 = 8918557*167#/21534-1398
21.966038     3470  PRP69 = 9026411*167#/21534-1724
18.737447     2960  PRP69 = 9038041*167#/21534-1338
17.762752     2806  PRP69 = 9025333*167#/21534-1348
18.036650     2850  PRP69 = 9399167*167#/21534-1382
19.476307     3078  PRP69 = 9652283*167#/21534-1436
18.654349     2948  PRP69 = 9601057*167#/21534-1374
19.273204     3046  PRP69 = 9701443*167#/21534-1348
smallgaptest.pl Finished: Thu Apr  5 14:00:45 2018, elapsed time = 00:00:42.469672

med 4 thread

Code:

medgaptest.pl Started: Thu Apr  5 14:18:17 2018
# 812   i * 6247#/21534  (1..200)  mingap 36818
10.759297    66072  PRP2667 = 113*6247#/21534-30748
 9.445520    58008  PRP2668 = 169*6247#/21534-24602
 9.827430    60354  PRP2668 = 179*6247#/21534-31708
medgaptest.pl Finished: Thu Apr  5 14:25:59 2018, elapsed time = 00:07:41.586702

med 7 thread

Code:

medgaptest.pl Started: Thu Apr  5 13:30:32 2018
# 812   i * 6247#/21534  (1..200)  mingap 36818
10.759297    66072  PRP2667 = 113*6247#/21534-30748
 9.445520    58008  PRP2668 = 169*6247#/21534-24602
 9.827430    60354  PRP2668 = 179*6247#/21534-31708
medgaptest.pl Finished: Thu Apr  5 13:35:58 2018, elapsed time = 00:05:25.865843

med 8 thread

Code:

medgaptest.pl Started: Thu Apr  5 14:01:57 2018
# 812   i * 6247#/21534  (1..200)  mingap 36818
10.759297    66072  PRP2667 = 113*6247#/21534-30748
 9.445520    58008  PRP2668 = 169*6247#/21534-24602
 9.827430    60354  PRP2668 = 179*6247#/21534-31708
medgaptest.pl Finished: Thu Apr  5 14:06:53 2018, elapsed time = 00:04:55.464834

med 16 thread

Code:

medgaptest.pl Started: Thu Apr  5 14:07:16 2018
# 812   i * 6247#/21534  (1..200)  mingap 36818
 9.445520    58008  PRP2668 = 169*6247#/21534-24602
10.759297    66072  PRP2667 = 113*6247#/21534-30748
 9.827430    60354  PRP2668 = 179*6247#/21534-31708
medgaptest.pl Finished: Thu Apr  5 14:11:27 2018, elapsed time = 00:04:11.299515

It should be noted that the med test had variable CPU utilisation. It used the maximum number of threads specified for maybe 60% of the test, after which the number of threads kept dropping (presumably after they finished what they were doing and there was no more single-core work to grab from the bag).

robert44444uk · 2018-04-05, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by M344587487

For all the tests the scheduler did a good job of not using SMT when there were cores available.

8 thread smallgaptest.pl elapsed time = 00:00:55.483178

16 thread smallgaptest.pl elapsed time = 00:00:42.469672

42.5 secs compared to 222.1 secs for my 4 core!!!!

Here were the med test timings for my 4 core, using a varying number of threads (in secs)

Code:

threads	runtime
	
4	555.3
5	497.2
6	492.3
7	483.8
8	466.4

This compares to your:

Code:

threads	runtime
	
4	461.6
7	325.8
8	295.4
16	252.3

The lack of super-performance in the med test is, I have no doubt, due to the lack of work for the cores. As you say:

Quote:

It should be noted that the med test had variable CPU utilisation. It used the maximum number of threads specified for maybe 60% of the test, after which the number of threads kept dropping (presumably after they finished what they were doing and there was no more single-core work to grab from the bag)

A better guide is the small test. Overall I can see that upgrading to the Ryzen will be a good idea. 5x performance upgrade, for twice the number of cores.

2018-04-05, 10:35	#4
Thomas11 Feb 2003 3564₈ Posts	Assuming that you are running this in a Linux environment, you could simply take out the line: Code: use Timer::Runtime; (as suggested by Robert) and use the Linux "time" utility to get the timings, e.g.: Code: time perl smallgaptest.pl

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2018-04-05, 09:40	#2
M344587487 "Composite as Heck" Oct 2017 1427₈ Posts	I have a 1700 and perl 5.22 (but don't use perl as you're about to see). Running "perl smallgaptest.pl" fails as it can't find Timer/Runtime.pm (missing the Timer::Runtime module). I install cpanm and try "sudo cpanm Timer::Runtime", which fails compilation maybe due to missing Time::Elapse. Trying to install Time::Elapse in the same way fails. I don't know enough about Perl to debug the problem or decipher google. Unless you have a magic fix, I tried :P The motherboard is nice, maybe overkill for what you need. A good B350 board should be plenty, it's just the RAM compatibility you need to pay attention to. ASRock is meant to be solid. MSI and Gigabyte supposedly have lower quality VRMs especially in the cheaper boards. I would recommend a 1700 as it's much cheaper (£230), comes with a decent heatsink and can be overclocked to the same as the other two if really necessary. Ryzen+ comes out this month so you need to consider 2700 and 2700X too, benchmarks indicate a 10% performance boost and better RAM support, but as the new line they'll probably be expensive on launch.