I'm getting close to a point where I'll be throwing the platform into a garbage bin or giving it few blows with a hammer.
The 3D printed mounting bracket failed miserably (incompatible due to the curvature of the heatpipes) and I still have no way to cool the CPU.
None of the resellers have any ETA for Enermax TR4 coolers or Noctua U14S-TR4 either (or anything else for that matter). The only thing available for this platform is still those insufficient POS AIOs made by Asetek (20+ different variants of them).
Few different waterblocks will be available shortly, but a custom loop is not an option for me due to the nature of the setup.
I'm amazed by the level of incompetence AMD has illustrated with this platform. It is basically no different than releasing a new CPU with no motherboards available for it, utterly useless.
Normally I would blame it on the cooler manufacturers, in this case the final thermal design specifications for this platform (SP3) has been available since September 2016. Therefore the only explanation I can come up with, is that AMD didn't inform the cooler manufacturers
about this platform until the release was at hand.
/Rant
Don't let it get to you that much. Just get something to last you until proper cooling comes out. This is the lessor of the evils w.r.t to Intel's Skylake-X mayo paste under the heatspreader which can't be addressed. I've made the same observations and commentary before launch and it is being shown that I was correct. There seems to be a marriage of issues w.r.t to proper cooling solutions. That being said, Noctua was the only company that was 100% honest and frank w/ me. For that, even though I am not a fan of the non-contact heatpipe towards the outer edge of the contact plate, they will likely get my $$$. My e-mail exchanges with Noctua did in fact confirm that they extended the contact plate only and its not an ideal solution. Interestingly, they stated this very early on.
In further exchanges, they indicated that they haven't yet been sampled with a retail unit from AMD to finalize some figures :
http://noctua.at/en/tdp-guide?___from_store=de
Note the blank wattage fields for the threadripper units...
Noctua indicated that they'd be shipping units by the end of the month and it appears that is holding true. Be aware, if you're purchasing through their ebay page that it's shipping from overseas and you're paying a forex differential : $20 over retail.
As for AIOs on the market....
At best, they're temporary holdovers. Use them as such. They're using and screwing you after-all.I personally am opposed to them as I don't want a leak screwing up an expensive workstation and possibly critical data.
Custom loops ...
Price
IMO, what is the biggest revelation of doing a computer build in recent times is that America has extremely destroyed a significant aspect of the country/culture : It's manufacturing base/pride in quality production. Every single thing I touch is made in a foreign country w/ subsequent lead times, pricing, and quality issues. From power buttons, switches, wires, computer cases, water blocks, tubes, connectors, water pumps, fans, heatsinks... motherboard, AIB cards, electronics.
There used to be a thing called quality American Manufacturing and honest work and honest companies. Now, were left with questionable corner cutting, elaborate marketing lies, and an inability to access the means to produce better solutions in our own back yards. A highschool dropout who went to trade school can mill a custom water block CNC/CAD drawing from pushing a couple of buttons based on figures from a manufacturer provided schematic ... Thermal cooling capability is all done is software. Literal button pushing...
This crap isn't complicated nor is it expensive. Meanwhile, we have to rely on British/European parts that should be made in the U.S... Pay silly prices and wait weeks for the product to make it across the shores through retailers who add no value but markup. This mess has to stop. A whole generation is losing the ability to relate and contribute to a huge engine of productivity because of myopic/greedy business types who've sent all of the manufacturing overseas. What's left are a bunch of brain deficient marketing/business reps who know nothing about the product, how to serve their customers, and whom lie every chance they get with marketing speak (compatible coolers). We should have unique and quality computer parts made in the U.S. Someone who has an idea should be able to drive up the street and have it milled/made for them in a machine shop. Alas, instead, in the mass market we have to keep buying cut quality junk from overseas made by a generic shop who then stamps 20 different company's logos on it. It's likely that a large number of these AIO companies don't even have an engineering staff.
We need to start making things in america again... Engineered properly with care and sold via honest detailing. I've worked in the tech industry for some time and have seen the very foundation of it erode over the years as bean counters/business people sell this country and its future up river through offshoring/cut quality production aimed at doing nothing more than profiteering off of differentials. The results are :
> bad engineering (planned obsolescence) which leads to resources being wasted)
> Lies to consumers (marketing) to cover the truth about how the product is made and what its quality is
> And just all together b.s
You can't keep shoveling money to those who produce nothing of value and in some cases undermine it and expect to be able to build the future...
It's time for a shakeup among the lazy middle men skimming off the top and those who make a business from labeling overseas junk as a premium product.
There's my /rant.