Threadripper was not part of AMD’s original plans for Zen

  

There’s a unique story surrounding Threadripper, but one that gives testament to the spirit that’s emerging in the company as we go through this transition since 2014 when we announced our Zen architecture. It’s not really a story of roadmaps and long-term planning or huge R&D budgets – it’s a lot more personal than that and stemmed from a skunkworks project and a small group of AMD employees who had a vision of a processor they’d really want in terms of a high-performance PC.

They worked on it in their spare time and it was really a passion project for about a year before they sought the green light from management, which is quite unusual – it was something they really cared about. The result, several years later was Ryzen Threadripper, which is the world’s most powerful desktop processor. Without this group of people Threadripper may not have happened.

 

  

Some signs of Threadripper’s origins can still be seen today, from its use of the TR4/SP3v2 socket (a modified SP3 socket) to the fact that its basic design looks almost identical to AMD’s EPYC series of server CPUs. 

With Threadripper AMD has been able to capture part of the HEDT (High-End Desktop) market, offering consumers an unprecedented amount of value and Intel a huge incentive to shake up their own lineup with 12 core X299 CPUs. 

Threadripper is a showcase of AMD’s passion for the CPU market, giving us hope that the company will continue to innovate moving forward as they develop new and improved products. 

 

You can join the discussion on Threadripper’s Origin on the OC3D Forums. 

 

  

There’s a unique story surrounding Threadripper, but one that gives testament to the spirit that’s emerging in the company as we go through this transition since 2014 when we announced our Zen architecture. It’s not really a story of roadmaps and long-term planning or huge R&D budgets – it’s a lot more personal than that and stemmed from a skunkworks project and a small group of AMD employees who had a vision of a processor they’d really want in terms of a high-performance PC.

They worked on it in their spare time and it was really a passion project for about a year before they sought the green light from management, which is quite unusual – it was something they really cared about. The result, several years later was Ryzen Threadripper, which is the world’s most powerful desktop processor. Without this group of people Threadripper may not have happened.

 

  

Some signs of Threadripper’s origins can still be seen today, from its use of the TR4/SP3v2 socket (a modified SP3 socket) to the fact that its basic design looks almost identical to AMD’s EPYC series of server CPUs. 

With Threadripper AMD has been able to capture part of the HEDT (High-End Desktop) market, offering consumers an unprecedented amount of value and Intel a huge incentive to shake up their own lineup with 12 core X299 CPUs. 

Threadripper is a showcase of AMD’s passion for the CPU market, giving us hope that the company will continue to innovate moving forward as they develop new and improved products. 

 

You can join the discussion on Threadripper’s Origin on the OC3D Forums.