To cap off its CES 2020 Keynote, AMD expanded its third-generation Threadripper lineup with the announcement of the 64-core Ryzen Threadripper 3990X. AMD previously launched the 24-core Threadripper 3960X and 32-core Threadripper 3970X late last year.

Arriving at a notable $3,990 list price, the Threadripper 3990X sports 64 cores and 128 threads, with a base clock of 2.9 GHz, max boost clock of up to 4.3 GHz, and 288MB of total cache.

threadripper 3990x specs

While Intel focuses on its platform advantages such as DL Boost (AVX-512) to distinguish its highest-end processors, AMD is simply throwing raw CPU horsepower at the situation, claiming that in some workloads such as CPU-based V-Ray rendering, a single 3990X at roughly $4,000 can outperform a dual Xeon Platinum 8280 system that costs about $20,000.

threadripper 3990x vs xeon 8280 dual

The pricing of the Threadripper 3990X is also noteworthy compared to AMD’s other 64-core offerings, the second-generation EPYC 77xx-series, which are priced between $6500 and $7000 and offer lower base and boost clocks.

The only question at this point is availability. AMD’s other high-end Ryzen and Threadripper processors — the 3950X, 3960X, and 3970X — have been in extremely short supply since launch. If AMD can provide adequate supply of this new 3990X, it will significantly outperform all of Intel’s high end desktop and workstation-class processors and further encroach on Intel’s Xeon lineup in many workloads.

The Threadripper 3990X is expected to launch in February.