- AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X
- AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X
The 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X is an expensive processor on an expensive platform, but it also shows very impressive performance. If you are semi-professional in rendering, compiling or encryption, for example, the extremely high number of cores can offer serious added value over the top models from the regular series.
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X
The Ryzen Threadripper 7980X is AMD’s masterpiece when it comes to consumer processors. The raw computing power is bizarrely large with 64 Zen 4 cores. Tasks that can keep all those cores busy, such as 3D rendering, run very quickly and are also efficient due to the combination of many cores with relatively low clock speeds. However, in many software, even software that does benefit from the 7970X’s 32 cores, the added value of the 7980X is limited. If you know you need it, it’s great that you can buy it now, but if you were still in doubt, the answer is probably ‘no’.
They are back with a vengeance: AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper processors with up to 96 cores. You can now buy a real high-end desktop CPU again, with quad-channel memory, a wealth of PCIe 5.0 lanes and therefore a lot of cores. We started working with the Threadripper 7970X and 7980X.
Pro of non-Pro?
Eighteen months ago, AMD announced that it would discontinue its Ryzen Threadripper processors for consumers, leaving only the more expensive Pro models. At the time, the manufacturer pointed out the advantages of a simplified line-up, but AMD now says it wants to offer a product again for the ‘ultimate prosumers’ who want extremely good multithreaded performance, but no business management functions, eight-channel memory or bizarre amount of PCIe need lanes.
Threadripper 7000
Threadripper Pro 7000WX
64
Max. number of cores
96 Four-channel, max. 1TB
Memory
Eight-channel, max. 2TB 92
PCIe-lanes
148
48
Of which PCIe 5.0
128
TRX50
Chipset
WRX90
That is why there are now two platforms for the new socket sTR5. The normal Threadrippers use motherboards with the TRX50 chipset; the Pro versions are best combined with a WRX90 motherboard. Best, because you can put a Threadripper Pro in a consumer board with the TRX50 chipset, but then the platform functions are of course limited to the lowest common denominator. Conversely, a consumer Threadripper in a WRX90 motherboard will not work.
The technology: a maximum of twelve core chiplets and an I/O die
Although there has been a Ryzen Threadripper 5000 Pro series for business buyers, we on Tweakers last paid attention to AMD’s hedt platform at the time of the Ryzen Threadripper 3000 series, with the 64-core 3990X as the top model. The maximum number of cores has not even been increased for the consumer line-up, but the new Threadrippers are a lot more modern in many other areas.
To start with, there are of course newer cores in the Threadripper 7000 CPUs, spread over a maximum of twelve chiplets, each with eight Zen 4 cores. They are 13 percent faster per clock tick than Zen 3, and if you compare with the Zen 2 cores in the 3000 series, you even arrive at 34 percent faster. In addition, the cores have much larger caches and clock higher. The 64-core model of the new series boosts to a maximum of 5.1GHz on one core; with the comparable chip in the Threadripper Pro 5000 series it was still 4.5GHz.
The platform improvements that Zen 4 brought to the desktop at the end of 2022 have also been implemented on this hedt platform. Both the memory controller and the PCIe controller are in the I/O die, which, unlike the core chiplets, is not made on TSMC’s 5nm process, but on the 6nm node. The DDR5 controller only supports registered memory with an official clock speed of DDR5-5200, although higher speeds of, for example, DDR5-6000 are perfectly feasible in practice. The previous Threadrippers that you could buy as a consumer, the Threadripper 3000s, still worked with regular Udimm-DDR4 modules. Regular non-registered modules that you can combine with a normal Ryzen 7000 processor are no longer supported in this generation. In this area, this series has clearly moved more towards server hardware. You will also notice this in the start-up times. Especially the first boot with new memory settings can be painfully slow.
A large portion of PCI Express lanes now operate at PCIe 5.0 speed. In the consumer versions of the processor there are 48. They currently share their bandwidth with the SATA ports, but in practice it is still easily possible to connect two x16 add-in cards and two PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe SSDs directly to the CPU. Close. You also have the necessary PCIe 4.0 lanes to connect plug-in cards or SSDs.
The lineup: up to 64 cores for consumers, up to 96 cores for pros
The consumer Threadripper 7000 series consists of three models; the 7960X with 24 cores, the 7970X with 32 cores and the 7980X with 64 cores. AMD sent us the last two processors for a test. However, there is another processor for socket sTR5 with more cores; the highest core count of 96 is only available in the Pro line, in the form of the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX. At more than ten thousand euros, it costs twice as much as the 7980X.
In addition to the top model in terms of number of cores, the Pro line also has exclusive 12- and 16-core variants. However, they are not yet available for sale separately.
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series
Cores
Threads
Boostsnelheid
L3-cache
Tdp
Price
Ryzen Threadripper 7980X
64
128
5,1GHz
256MB
350W
€ 5.346,84
Ryzen Threadripper 7970X
32
64
5,3GHz
128MB
350W
€ 2.676,87
Ryzen Threadripper 7960X
24
48
5,3GHz
128MB
350W
€ 1.623,84
AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 series
Cores
Threads
Boostsnelheid
L3-cache
Tdp
Price
Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX
96
192
5,1GHz
384MB
350W
€ 10.971
Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX
64
128
5,1GHz
256MB
350W
€ 7.960,03
Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7975WX
32
64
5,3GHz
128MB
350W
€ 4.153,88
Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7965WX
24
48
5,3GHz
128MB
350W
€ 2.893,99
Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7955WX
16
32
5,3GHz
64MB
350W
N.n.b.
Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7945WX
12
24
5,3GHz
64MB
350W
N.n.b.
When AMD announced its plan to discontinue consumer Threadrippers, we thought we were about to kill the hedt segment. After all, Intel had long stopped releasing Core X processors with extra cores and bandwidth. This means that there is not really a competitor with which we can directly compare the Threadripper 7970X and 7980X.
Intel currently has a Its successor, Emerald Rapids, was released late last year, but has not yet reached the Xeon w line. In short, as far as processors sold in a box to regular consumers, Intel has no real answer to AMD’s new violence.
2024-01-06 04:59:00
#AMD #Ryzen #Threadripper #7970X #7980X #monster #processors
