AMD officially announced the second generation of “Threadripper” processor on the evening of August 6, and also opened pre-sales, the highest specification of these processors reached 32 cores 64 Thread, in addition to four products. There is no time to release the specific performance, so I can’t see the relevant evaluation for the time being, but AMD official gave the performance of the second-generation “thread tearer” processor. The contrast is naturally Intel’s Core. i9-7980XE processor.
2nd Gen Ryzen Threadripper consists of 4 SKU (Stock Keeping Unit = item). “X series” of 16 cores and 12 cores, and “WX series” of 32 cores and 24 cores.
The WX series is a CPU product of up to 32 cores twice the size of the conventional Threadripper. It is 2 SKU of “2990 WX” of 32 cores / 64 threads and “2970 WX” of 24 cores / 48 threads. Both can use the same motherboard with the same Socket TR 4 as the conventional Threadripper.
Noteworthy is the operating frequency, the base is 3.0 GHz, but the boost is 4.2 GHz for both. EPYC for servers has 32 cores / 64 threads and the base is 2.2 GHz boost 3.2 GHz, so even with the same number of CPU cores, the operating frequency of the 2nd Gen Threadripper is much higher. It seems to be due to transition from 14 nm process to 12 nm process, raising TDP (thermal design power) and boost control technology of CPU.
The X series is the same series as the first generation Threadripper, with two dies active. It is 2 SKU of “2950 X” of 16 cores / 32 threads and “2920 X” of 12 cores / 24 threads. The 2nd Gen Ryzen Threadripper will be sold in parallel with the first generation Threadripper, but it seems that the X series will be substantially replaced.
Among the four SKUs, high-end 32 cores / 29 threads 2990 WX of 64 threads will be shipped from August 13, with reservations starting today. Next, the 2950X of 16 cores / 32 threads will be released on August 31, 2970 WX of 24 cores / 48 threads and 2920 X of 12 cores / 24 threads will be shipped from October.
Compared with the Intel Core i9-7980XE processor, AMD’s 32 core monster 2990WX scored 51%, 47%, 39% higher in CineBench R15, POV-Ray, Blender, Corona Render multi-threaded test software, respectively. 35% can be said to present a crushing advantage.
The 16-core 2950X and the 10-core Intel Core i9-7900X are also leading the way in multi-threading performance. CineBench R15, 7-Zip, and HandBrake are 41%, 32%, and 18% higher, respectively. Of course, AMD itself admits that in terms of games, the 2950X is not as good as the 7900X, and the game scores at 1080P resolution are about 6% behind.
