Buy EPYC Rome now, or will there be better deals after Milan

[dragonian]

I'm planning on getting a 16 core Rome as a whole house virtualization server for a house that I'm building. The thing is the house won't be finished for at least a year.
Obviously most technology it always makes sense to wait, as there will always be something faster/ cheaper... but does this apply to servers?

This box will be used for DVR video feeds for a video matrix. So i really just need enough pcie lanes for a couple of video cards and a 10 GbE card.

I looked at the Naples gen of EPYC's and they don't seem to be really cheaper at this point. If anything they seem to be equal or greater than the suggested MSRP.
I'm watched the provantage deal on the 7302P increase in price since i've been watching it. I wonder if now might be as good as it;s going to get, or can i get it cheaper by waiting a year?

I've also considered picking up a 1st gen mobo such as the SM MBD-H11SSL or maybe the EPYCD8, before they disappear. I'm not sure that I really have a need or want to pay extra for PCIe4. I've noticed that the ROME8D seem to be finally available this week.
Only question would be will the 1st gen boards have full support for Milan chips if i decide to wait.

Any thoughts?

 

[ari2asem]

even rev.1 boards are not compatible with rome cpu.

if you dont need pcie gen 4, then buy a board which is working with rome cpu.

at this moment no one can tell if milan wil work with rome-boards.

but if i were you, i would wait untill your house is finished.

 

[hmw]

If you're willing to wait for a year - it's always better to have a newer, more efficient CPU. The Zen3 architecture is supposed to have a 10%-15% IPC increase and be more optimized: for example, there's a shared cache for the entire CCD, instead of CCX per CCD. And Zen3 is supposed to be more power efficient than Zen2

However, CPUs meant for enterprise don't go down in price suddenly - it's more gradual. And new enterprise focused CPUs will also be significantly more expensive in the beginning, since stocks are earmarked for larger OEMs and there's less supply in retail/channel. As you can see, Naples CPUs aren't that much cheaper, because large OEMs and customers who have Naples servers will not replace them suddenly with Rome CPUs or Rome based servers. They will buy newer ones sure, but no one usually touches servers until end of lifespan

The 7302P came out in August 2019, I placed orders in March 2020 and was able to get a newer motherboard + the 7302P in late May 2020. The 7302P / Tyan S8030 combo actually cost me less than the equivalent 3950X.

Hence if you will make your buying decision a year from now - in August 2021 as you said - you can afford to wait, watch for good offers, and build a Milan based server

 

[ericgreene]

Thanks, I give it a go to figure it out.
Regards,