Just a little taste
AMD gives us clocks and core counts, with a performance tease, on Threadripper!
In a surprise move with no real indication as to why, AMD has decided to reveal some of the most exciting and interesting information surrounding Threadripper and Ryzen 3, both due out in just a few short weeks. AMD CEO Lisa Su and CVP of Marketing John Taylor (along with guest star Robert Hallock) appear in a video being launched on the AMD YouTube website today to divulge the naming, clock speeds and pricing for the new flagship HEDT product line under the Ryzen brand.
We already know a lot of about Threadripper, AMD’s answer to the X299/X99 high-end desktop platforms from Intel, including that they would be coming this summer, have up to 16-cores and 32-threads of compute, and that they would all include 64 lanes of PCI Express 3.0 for a massive amount of connectivity for the prosumer.
Now we know that there will be two models launching and available in early August: the Ryzen Threadripper 1920X and the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X.
| Core i9-7980XE | Core i9-7960X | Core i9-7940X | Core i9-7920X | Core i9-7900X | Core i7-7820X | Core i7-7800X | Threadripper 1950X | Threadripper 1920X | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Skylake-X | Skylake-X | Skylake-X | Skylake-X | Skylake-X | Skylake-X | Skylake-X | Zen | Zen |
| Process Tech | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm | 14nm |
| Cores/Threads | 18/36 | 16/32 | 14/28 | 12/24 | 10/20 | 8/16 | 6/12 | 16/32 | 12/24 |
| Base Clock | ? | ? | ? | ? | 3.3 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 3.5 GHz | 3.4 GHz | 3.5 GHz |
| Turbo Boost 2.0 | ? | ? | ? | ? | 4.3 GHz | 4.3 GHz | 4.0 GHz | 4.0 GHz | 4.0 GHz |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | ? | ? | ? | ? | 4.5 GHz | 4.5 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Cache | 16.5MB (?) | 16.5MB (?) | 16.5MB (?) | 16.5MB (?) | 13.75MB | 11MB | 8.25MB | 40MB | ? |
| Memory Support | ? | ? | ? | ? | DDR4-2666 Quad Channel |
DDR4-2666 Quad Channel |
DDR4-2666 Quad Channel |
DDR4-2666 Quad Channel |
DDR4-2666 Quad Channel |
| PCIe Lanes | ? | ? | ? | ? | 44 | 28 | 28 | 64 | 64 |
| TDP | 165 watts (?) | 165 watts (?) | 165 watts (?) | 165 watts (?) | 140 watts | 140 watts | 140 watts | 180 watts | 180 watts |
| Socket | 2066 | 2066 | 2066 | 2066 | 2066 | 2066 | 2066 | TR4 | TR4 |
| Price | $1999 | $1699 | $1399 | $1199 | $999 | $599 | $389 | $999 | $799 |
| Threadripper 1950X | Threadripper 1920X | Ryzen 7 1800X | Ryzen 7 1700X | Ryzen 7 1700 | Ryzen 5 1600X | Ryzen 5 1600 | Ryzen 5 1500X | Ryzen 5 1400 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Zen | Zen | Zen | Zen | Zen | Zen | Zen | Zen | Zen |
| Process Tech | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm |
| Cores/Threads | 16/32 | 12/24 | 8/16 | 8/16 | 8/16 | 6/12 | 6/12 | 4/8 | 4/8 |
| Base Clock | 3.4 GHz | 3.5 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 3.4 GHz | 3.0 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 3.2 GHz | 3.5 GHz | 3.2 GHz |
| Turbo/Boost Clock | 4.0 GHz | 4.0 GHz | 4.0 GHz | 3.8 GHz | 3.7 GHz | 4.0 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 3.7 GHz | 3.4 GHz |
| Cache | 40MB | ? | 20MB | 20MB | 20MB | 16MB | 16MB | 16MB | 8MB |
| Memory Support | DDR4-2666 Quad Channel |
DDR4-2666 Quad Channel | DDR4-2400 Dual Channel |
DDR4-2400 Dual Channel |
DDR4-2400 Dual Channel |
DDR4-2400 Dual Channel |
DDR4-2400 Dual Channel |
DDR4-2400 Dual Channel |
DDR4-2400 |
| PCIe Lanes | 64 | 64 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| TDP | 180 watts | 180 watts | 95 watts | 95 watts | 65 watts | 95 watts | 65 watts | 65 watts | 65 watts |
| Socket | TR4 | TR4 | AM4 | AM4 | AM4 | AM4 | AM4 | AM4 | AM4 |
| Price | $999 | $799 | $499 | $399 | $329 | $249 | $219 | $189 | $169 |
The 1920X will feature 12 cores, 24 threads, a base clock of 3.5 GHz, and Boost clock of 4.0 GHz. Priced at $799, the 1920X goes aggressively between the Core i9-7900X at $999 from Intel (10c/20t) and the Core i7-7820X at $599 (8c/16t). AMD demoed the Threadripper 1920X against the Intel 7900X in CineBench R15, beating it by 12%.
Priced at $999, the Threadripper 1950X has the full 16 cores and 32 threads of compute, running at a base clock of 3.4 GHz but still is targeting the boost clock rate of 4.0 GHz! For reference, this is the same clock Boost clock speed as the Ryzen 7 1800X. At $999, the 1950X is the direct target at the 7900X, but will offer considerably more multi-threaded performance. It resulted in a Cinebench R15 score of 3062, 41% faster than the Core i9-7900X!
Obviously, this is only a single performance data point, and we know that Intel will maintain its performance advantage in single threaded workloads, but the aggressive pricing and performance capability in multi-threaded workloads bodes well for the Threadripper product. Questions of power consumption will remain, but AMD has some wiggle room here based on the extremely high power draw we see from the current assortment of Skylake-X parts, not to mention the issues and questions surrounding the X299 platform’s VRM concerns.
There were rumors that the Threadripper processors were going to target a $849 price tag so there will likely be some disappointment that AMD didn’t hit those numbers. Still, $999 for the 16-core part puts it $700 below the MSRP of the 16-core Intel Core i9-7960X processor while also shipping well before it. I knew that AMD wanted to put pressure on the Skylake-X family and this price, despite being higher than the rumors, still accomplishes that. There is a lot more to test, including gaming performance and boat-loads more applications and workflows, but the first glimpse of Threadripper is very, very strong.
Don't forget about Ryzen 3!
While news of the high-end desktop announcement will get the most attention, the most sales will probably be with also-announced Ryzen 3 product family. Expected after the announcement of the Ryzen Pro series that included Ryzen Pro 3, plain old Ryzen 3 will be available in the form of the Ryzen 3 1200 (3.1 GHz base, 3.4 GHz boost) and the Ryzen 3 1300X (3.5 GHz / 3.7 GHz). These are both quad-core and quad-thread, bucking the trend of having SMT enabled across the entire Ryzen family.
No pricing information was shared yet, but AMD says they will be selling on store shelves as of July 27th, so we will know very soon. I expect pricing to be in line with the Core i3 family of processors, but with four true cores, compared to the dual-core / HyperThreaded implementation that Intel offers, AMD should continue to show multi-threaded performance benefits and slight single threaded deficits.
The year of AMD continues to march on – the company has already released Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5, the Radeon RX 500 series, EPYC data center processors, and Vega Frontier Edition. Ryzen 3, Ryzen Threadripper, and RX Vega are all due later this month or early in August. The hallways in Austin and Santa Clara must be buzzing with excitement because I know our team and readers can’t wait to get our hands on the goods!
Wait, is it called 1950X
Wait, is it called 1950X because it has 16 cores. That makes sense. I’m sure glad AMD continued their tradition of chipset naming schemes with X399 too.
AMD went Hadouken and Intel
AMD went Hadouken and Intel talks about glued CPUs and quotes wffctech and gaming performance. Wtf?
AMD is coming out swinging.
AMD is coming out swinging. I think that they are gonna start making multi-threaded GPU’s in the near future. Something that I don’t think that nVidia will be able to compete with. If they came out with a multi-threaded GPU (or say, a GPU with an R7 capability) they would have beaten back both Intel and nVidia. Mix multi-threaded GPU with HBM? Whew.
They have the technology, just now can they build it?