Stuck in un-upgradeable Threadripper hell, should I still upgrade GPU?

Forums › Desktop computing › Stuck in un-upgradeable Threadripper hell, should I still upgrade GPU?

Niber

25 posts

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#320066 2-Jul-2025 12:41

Few years back I bought the most cursed system in the world (AMD Threadripper 3960x) which was a terrible choice because AMD then dropped that socket so now I can never upgrade it.

I've been thinking about getting rid of the entire computer and starting fresh, but it's just not feasible because these dinosaurs are impossible to sell in Dunedin for anything but pennies, so I'm stuck with it.

So I was thinking about maybe atleast selling my 3090 graphics card which still has some value, as I don't really need a fancy graphics card atm, and then buy a brand new graphics card 10 months or so later when I start needing it. but my question is, is there even any point to buying a 5090/6090 some day for this cursed machine, or is the threadripper going to bottleneck so badly that it's pointless upgrade?

one problem with the 3090 is that it can't decode h265/10bit so it's horrible for video-editing (no, I don't want to use prores) so that would be one benefit of upgrading graphics. But apart from that I would like to be able to game 4k/120fps which may be delusional on this dinosaur. (with my 3090 I do about 50fps in Plaque: Requim and 90fps in Indiana Jones Circle), because I game with such a huge OLED monitor that makes 120fps quite important

SpartanVXL

1318 posts

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#3389097 2-Jul-2025 15:05

If it is for gaming specifically then there are better processors yes. Modern games are catching up to current gen consoles and are needing a decent processor memory and nvme storage. Your GPU is doing the work for your resolution but your minimums will come from the processor.

As always if you can afford to do so then theres no better time to upgrade if it is not meeting your requirements now. You could go to a 7800x3d and it would be a big uplift.

The 3090 is still fairly decent, someone will be interested to take it if you decide to sell it. Move to at least a 5070ti or higher, you get far better raytracing performance which helps in games like indiana or doom dark ages. The transformer model for dlss also runs faster on ada/blackwell over ampere, you should be using dlss anyways at 4k.

If it’s for any other purpose than gaming you may want to look at other cpu models, just don’t go threadripper again unless you really need to.

cddt

1563 posts

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#3389119 2-Jul-2025 16:41

Have you tried selling the TR system, and if so how much for?

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Niber

25 posts

Geek

#3389136 2-Jul-2025 17:43

cddt:

Have you tried selling the TR system, and if so how much for?

I haven't tried, but I've sold so many things this year on FB marketplace and found that Dunedin is just a really bad place to sell anything PC related. I remember I sold my 1.5 year old PC laptop for ridicolously low price and even then the buyer was in ChCh because there was just zero interesting in Dunedin.

To make things worse it's very nichte specs, like 256gb RAM and 7 nvmE m2 drives which I don't think there's anyone who cares about

Not sure aobut price

Niber

25 posts

Geek

#3389137 2-Jul-2025 17:44

SpartanVXL:

If it is for gaming specifically then there are better processors yes. Modern games are catching up to current gen consoles and are needing a decent processor memory and nvme storage. Your GPU is doing the work for your resolution but your minimums will come from the processor.

As always if you can afford to do so then theres no better time to upgrade if it is not meeting your requirements now. You could go to a 7800x3d and it would be a big uplift.

The 3090 is still fairly decent, someone will be interested to take it if you decide to sell it. Move to at least a 5070ti or higher, you get far better raytracing performance which helps in games like indiana or doom dark ages. The transformer model for dlss also runs faster on ada/blackwell over ampere, you should be using dlss anyways at 4k.

If it’s for any other purpose than gaming you may want to look at other cpu models, just don’t go threadripper again unless you really need to.

i see. i fear you're right, as indeed when I want high FPS I seem to notice that even at lower settings it's hard to get high FPS. meanwhile my laptop was able to get higher FPS despite way slower gfx card

kiruti

24 posts

Geek

#3389143 2-Jul-2025 18:09

Niber:

cddt:

Have you tried selling the TR system, and if so how much for?

I haven't tried, but I've sold so many things this year on FB marketplace and found that Dunedin is just a really bad place to sell anything PC related. I remember I sold my 1.5 year old PC laptop for ridicolously low price and even then the buyer was in ChCh because there was just zero interesting in Dunedin.

To make things worse it's very nichte specs, like 256gb RAM and 7 nvmE m2 drives which I don't think there's anyone who cares about

Not sure aobut price

And there lies your problem, Facebook Marketplace. It's fine for lower value items, but anything higher value you'll need to use Trade Me.

SpartanVXL

1318 posts

Uber Geek

#3389173 2-Jul-2025 22:00

Yep a TR platform with ton of ram and nvme then you want to sell to someone who is actually doing work with it not a regular joe. Try sell here or other technical forum. Maybe find a engineering student who needs some compute.

cddt

1563 posts

Uber Geek

#3389349 3-Jul-2025 06:47

Niber:

I haven't tried, but I've sold so many things this year on FB marketplace and found that Dunedin is just a really bad place to sell anything PC related. I remember I sold my 1.5 year old PC laptop for ridicolously low price and even then the buyer was in ChCh because there was just zero interesting in Dunedin.

To make things worse it's very nichte specs, like 256gb RAM and 7 nvmE m2 drives which I don't think there's anyone who cares about

Not sure aobut price

Try listing it on TradeMe for with a "buy now" price you would be happy to accept. Set a reserve price for the auction at a price point lower than that (e.g. $300-500 lower) which wouldn't be what you want but still an ok price.

At least you'll get feedback on whether there is any interest. FB is not a place to sell high end electronics (unless they've fallen off the back of a truck).

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cddt

1563 posts

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#3389352 3-Jul-2025 07:45

I'm guessing this system cost you an absolute bomb when it was new (north of $10k?)

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timmmay

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#3389354 3-Jul-2025 07:54

I reckon computers are like cars, they devalue at least 50% as soon as you start using them. A specialty computer like that will have limited appeal, with a specialty CPU and such high specs. I'd suggest you make the most of what you have for as long as you can, as you're not going to get anything like what you paid for it - maybe 10% or 20%. I wonder if you'd get more for it as parts, but probably not.

SpartanVXL

1318 posts

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#3389377 3-Jul-2025 09:00

timmmay:

I reckon computers are like cars, they devalue at least 50% as soon as you start using them. A specialty computer like that will have limited appeal, with a specialty CPU and such high specs. I'd suggest you make the most of what you have for as long as you can, as you're not going to get anything like what you paid for it - maybe 10% or 20%. I wonder if you'd get more for it as parts, but probably not.

I can’t speak for cars but part of it is due to obfuscation of the whole, you have only the second hand descriptor to judge value of a ‘pc’.

Now for anyone who knows the parts, how old they are, what generation behind, performance etc. then prices will vary. You even get exceptions like the 4090 which is selling for more than msrp now. Thats why you see people part out their rigs more often than not, only selling the whole for convenience. I think for cars only teslas kind of kept their value for a while, you knew what you would be getting so value was less speculative.

As I said before, you want to be selling to someone who would be interested in taking advantage of cores and memory. Use as a Vm host or data science compute.

Niber

25 posts

Geek

#3389390 3-Jul-2025 10:25

timmmay:

I reckon computers are like cars, they devalue at least 50% as soon as you start using them. A specialty computer like that will have limited appeal, with a specialty CPU and such high specs. I'd suggest you make the most of what you have for as long as you can, as you're not going to get anything like what you paid for it - maybe 10% or 20%. I wonder if you'd get more for it as parts, but probably not.

Indeed I just put my 3090 out on sale now, my plan is to upgrade just the GPU to something like 5080 because then atleast the threadripper should be good at videoediting (whereas atm it's garbage for that, since it can't HW accellerate 10bit 422 h265 video), because although the gaming CPU bottleneck is a shame: ultimately I don't really have time to game anyway so it's a bit pointless thing to cry about.

Indeed the devalue quick, but it was ridicolously bad luck that AMD dropped the socket, because I was planning on keeping it upgraded for many years to come

Niber

25 posts

Geek

#3389394 3-Jul-2025 10:27

cddt:

I'm guessing this system cost you an absolute bomb when it was new (north of $10k?)

for sure it was ridicolously expensive (I think 13k) and then I didn't have time to really use it. next time I get a fancy setup it's going to be because I have an exact use-case for it in mind and have prepared everything I'm going to use it for and set out timeblock to do so

cddt

1563 posts

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#3389397 3-Jul-2025 10:36

Niber:

for sure it was ridicolously expensive (I think 13k) and then I didn't have time to really use it. next time I get a fancy setup it's going to be because I have an exact use-case for it in mind and have prepared everything I'm going to use it for and set out timeblock to do so

Very relatable. Reminds me of that quote about being young and having time and energy but no money, middle aged you have energy and money but no time, and when you're old you have money and time but no energy...

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