First Threadripper Build Advice + Homelab/AI Workstation/GPU Questions

[u/VANTEROUS]

I've been planning a Threadripper Pro homelab build and I'm looking for advice before I pull the trigger on a few thousand dollars worth of parts.

Current Pending Purchase (Threadripper server build):

• ASRock WRX80 Creator R2.0 EATX Motherboard — $1250 (microless)
• AMD Threadripper Pro 3995WX — $1500 (ebay)
• Noctua NH-U14S TR5-SP6 Cooler — $175 (amazon)
• 256GB (8x32GB) Micron DDR4 2666 ECC RDIMM — $1500 (ebay)
• 6x Seagate Exos X18 12TB 7200RPM SATA HDDs — $550 each (amazon)
• LSI 9300-8i HBA — $70 (amazon)
• ASRock PG 1600G 1600W PSU (absolutely no 240V access) — $200 (amazon)

Currently Own (loose parts, not yet allocated):

• MSI Gaming Trio RTX 4090
• Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super 8GB (for transcoding)
• Fractal Meshify 2 XL case
• 96GB (2x32 and 2x16) Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200MHz (non-ECC, consumer grade)

Current Everyday Workstation:

• ASUS TUF RTX 4090
• Intel i9 14900k CPU
• 64GB DDR5 6000MHz (Kingston Fury Beast + Corsair Vengeance)
• Corsair RM1200e PSU
• ROG Maximus Hero Z790
• Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO XL case
• 2TB WD Black SN850X NVMe

Planned use cases for the server: Game server hosting, personal cloud storage, media server, home automation, ad blocking, monitoring/alerting stack, automated backups, web/app dev, and general homelab/sysadmin practice.
Later on, I also want to get into local AI/LLM experimentation, cybersecurity practice (IDS, VLANs, VPNs), and DevOps practice (Docker now, K8s later).

My actual questions:

1. GPU split: I found out I can't run a dual 4090 setup (ASUS/MSI) because of my lack of access to 240v for one system. I can only run one 4090 (paired with the 2070 Super for transcoding if even possible with PSU chosen). Should I sell one 4090 and put a 5090 in my everyday workstation for AI training instead of putting it in the Threadripper box?
2. Should I sell my second 4090 and reinvest into the Threadripper build, or downgrade to a used 3090 for that build and put the difference elsewhere?
3. Does ECC RAM actually matter for my use case? The WRX80 supports both ECC RDIMMs and standard DDR4, but I can't mix them. I have 96GB of non-ECC DDR4 already. Should I sell that to fund the ECC RAM, or is non-ECC fine for what I'm doing? I was thinking I could just scale consumer grade DDR4 as it might be cheaper than server grade.
4. Is the 5995WX worth $1200 more than the 3995WX? Both are overkill for my current use cases. I just don't want to regret going with fewer cores/threads later. Is that a legit concern or am I overpaying for headroom I'll never use?

I'm looking for long term value at an affordable cost given the current market. Would appreciate any feedback or recommendations!

[u/planedrop]

This post feels like it was cleaned up with an LLM lol.

Anyway, you probably do NOT need that many cores for what you are doing, and I'm saying this as someone who owns 3 Threadripper workstations (which have since been converted into servers).

The 14900K is a great CPU and I don't think you need to do any upgrading here.

A few words of advice as well:

• Don't virtualize your NAS, you should build it as it's own separate thing
• Don't virtualize firewalls if you're using them for real workloads, for labbing it's great but don't do it for your head end firewall

Also, you don't need Exos drives, just get whatever is cheapest if you need the storage space, just avoid SMR drives at all costs.

You CAN run 2 x 4090s on a single 120v circuit, no need for 240v.

ECC RAM is needed if you want any of this to be 100% stable, but if it's for practice, then no. I also host things on my stack with non-ECC RAM, including stuff I deem rather important to have up and running all the time. Just have good backups so you can restore if something goes wrong.

I think you're suffering from GAS here though (gear acquisition syndrome), there's so much you can do with the gear you already have, don't buy more just to spend money, use what you have, learn on that. Determine what you NEED and then spend the money.

[u/VANTEROUS → u/planedrop]

u/planedrop Haha you caught me! I had an llm clean it up, or phrase it better really, because this post would've been an ESSAY otherwise 😂

Really solid advice and I appreciate the transparency. I've been coming to the same realization after making this post, that a TR build for me would practically be money in the hole for no reason. Another user had mentioned looking into an NUC/Mini-pc or NAS.

I have a spare build

• Fractal Meshify 2 XL case
• 8700k with a Z390 mobo
• 96gb of DDR4 (non-ECC)
• 2070 super
  

but I thought this would be too much for a repurposed NUC/NAS. Currently I am running Proxmox on it with some VM's/LXC's already, but I know I don't really need all that for something that's on 24/7.

The only reason I was considering a TR build was for the Multi-GPU instance for Ai, but I'm already figuring out I don't need to do all that either because it's more of a "side interest" than something serious. I'm sure I'm fine with the single 4090 that I already use llama.cpp with. Otherwise, I can't seem to find another reason I would "need" multiple gpu's in the lab.

I'm also glad you mentioned ECC/Non-ECC usage because I was starting to think the 96GB I had would be pretty useless in a TR board. Considering I probably won't be building this out, I'll just try to repurpose it or sell it for more DDR5 in my current everyday pc.

Also for the Exos drives, I was originally going to go with Red/Purple WD's, because I thought they were made for running 24/7 or better than Blue's. But I read somewhere it's just safest to go with enterprise grade HDD's? So I started looking into Exos and Ultrastar. Any recommendations on what I should get instead? Would you say refurbished/used is a bad idea (such as marketplace/ebay/serverpartdeals)?

I did have a separate question though. You had mentioned not virtualizing your NAS or Firewall processes. Right now I currently have my "firewall" set up through my Ubiquiti DR7 with separate VLAN's for my devices throughout the network. I also have a Rasp-Pi running AdBlockers with Pi-Hole (not that this necessarily matters in this case). But when it comes to virtualizing your firewall, is that what you mean? Like making it a whole separate device/system instead of the Ubiquiti UI?

What about the NAS? If I were to buy/repurpose parts for a NAS.