AMD’s New Threadripper Processors Deliver a Staggering Generational Leap – Specs Revealed
AMD’s New Threadripper Processors Deliver a Staggering Generational Leap – Specs Revealed
How could we say this without testing? The simple answer is that we have already seen what Zen 2 has done for both AMD’s Ryzen and EPYC lineups. We have seen AMD increase their CPU clock speeds, IPC and memory performance with Zen 2, giving us a sense of confidence that our Threadripper predictions are correct.Â
Today, AMD has officially revealed their Ryzen 3rd Generation Threadripper series processors, starting with a 24 core model called the Ryzen Threadripper 3960X and a 32-core model called the Ryzen Threadripper 3970X. No higher-end SKUs have been revealed.Â
Alongside this, AMD has revealed their new TRX40 platform, which ships with PCIe 4.0 support and access to a total of 72 PCIe lanes. These are not “platform PCIe lanes” that are squeezed through a smaller DMI link, these are proper PCIe lanes, granting 3rd Gen Threadripper users access to a staggering amount of bandwidth. Â
With price tags fo $1399 and $1999 respectively, AMD’s 3960X and 3970X processors are by no means cheap. Even so, AMD has told us that they will deliver users some huge generational performance boosts. Just look at the clock speeds alone, AMD’s 32-core Threadripper 2990WX offers a base clock speed of 3GHz, and a boost clock of 4.2GHz, whereas the Threadripper 3970X offers base/boost clock speed increases of 700MHz and 300MHz respectively. Combine that with an IPC boost and 3rd Gen Threadripper will deliver users some tremendous performance gains. Â
Combine this with AMD’s new multi-die architecture, which unifies Threadripper’s memory and I/O into a single chip. This grants all Threadripper CPU cores equal access to all of the platform’s DDR4 memory DIMMs, which wasn’t the case with older Threadripper CPUs. This allows 3rd Generation Threadripper CPUs to act as a singular processor, rather than a dual-CPU system in many workloads, generating huge performance gains over a wide number of workloads.Â
When speaking to AMD, generational performance gains from the Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX to the 3970X of 40-60% are not uncommon. Even higher gains were said to be possible in specific workloads. This likely refers to the applications that failed to utilise older Threadripper processors properly.Â
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| Â | Cores | Threads | Base Clock | Boost Clock | L2 + L3 Cache | PCIe 4.0 | TDP | Price |
| Ryzen Threadripper 3970X | 32 | 64 | 3.7GHz | 4.5GHz | 16+128 MB | (72 Available) | 280W | $1999 |
| Ryzen Threadripper 3960X | 24 | 48 | 3.8GHz | 4.5GHz | 12+128 MB | (72 Available) | 280W | $1399 |
| Ryzen 9 3950X (AM4) | 16 | 32 | 3.5GHz | 4.7GHz | 8+64 MB | 16+4+4 | 105W | $749 |
| Ryzen 9 3900X (AM4) | 12 | 24 | 3.8GHz | 4.6GHz | 6+64 MB | 16+4+4 | 105W | $499 |
| Ryzen 7 3800X (AM4) | 8 | 16 | 3.9GHz | 4.5GHz | 4+32 MB | 16+4+4 | 105W | $399 |
| Ryzen 7 3700X (AM4) | 8 | 16 | 3.6GHz | 4.4GHz | 4+32 MB | 16+4+4 | 65W | $329 |
| Ryzen 5 3600X (AM4) | 6 | 12 | 3.8GHz | 4.4GHz | 3+32 MB | 16+4+4 | 95W | $249 |
| Ryzen 5 3600 (AM4) | 6 | 12 | 3.6GHz | 4.2GHz | 3+32 MB | 16+4+4 | 65W | $199 |
When compared to Intel’s i9-9980XE processor, AMD’s new Threadripper processors deliver some incredible performance leaps across a wide number of workloads. If you can benefit from insane core counts, AMD’s new Threadripper platform may be what you are looking for.Â
AMD’s new Threadripper processors come with new TRX40 motherboards, which ship with support for more PCIe lanes and “scalability”, hinting at the potential for higher core count Threadripper processors in the future.Â
The TRX40 platform will ship with support for ECC memory, though support will be available on a motherboard-by-motherboard basis, offer support for 88 total platform PCIe lanes (72 full PCIe lanes) and not be backwards compatible with older Threadripper processors.Â
AMD’s new TRX40 platform will support the same cooling solutions as X399, though it is worth noting that Threadripper 3rd Gen CPUs have a higher TDP than many of AMD’s older Threadripper processors.Â
AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 3rd Generation processors and TRX40 motherboards are due to release on November 25th alongside AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X processor.Â
You can join the discussion on AMD’s Ryzen 3rd Generation Threadripper processors on the OC3D Forums. Â