AMD‘s “world record breaking” 32-core, 64-thread 2nd-generation Ryzen Threadripper desktop processor is now up for pre-order. Announced in June at Computex 2018 in Taipei, the Threadripper 2990WX grabbed the world-record in Cinebench R15 multi-threaded CPU test. With a score of 7,618 in the single-socket desktop processor category, the chip comfortably beat the current record, 5,828 points, set by Intel’s Core i9-7980XE CPU. Intel’s latest 28-core processor hit a 7,334 Cinebench score recently.
AMD Ryzen Threadripper-2
The 2nd-gen of AMD Threadripper processors feature a total of four processor models coming to market in 2018. These high-end processors are built using AMD’s 12-nanometer Zen+ core architecture. And interestingly, they will support the same Socket TR4 platform as first-gen Ryzen Threadripper processors. This essentially means they are compatible with existing and new X399 motherboards, making it easy for the customers with 1st-gen Threadripper compatible motherboards to shift to the newer processor.
With higher clock speeds and other improvements, the new chips should bring a significant performance boost over their predecessors. The record-breaking score of 7,618 was attained by liquid-cooling the chip with nitrogen and pushing the clock speed up to 5.1 GHz. At home, you obviously won’t be getting the same results. However, the base 3.0 Ghz 2990WX chip does support 4.2 GHz speeds in boost mode. And it should just require a modest air- or liquid-cooled system.
What could be called the only major downside of the latest AMD chips is their prices, especially with the flagship 2990WX model. Although it’s a bit cheaper than Intel’s 18-core i9 chip was at launch, the price of $1,799 sounds too rich. However, AMD also has three other cheaper 2nd-generation Ryzen Threadripper chips in its lineup. The 24-core Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX costs $1,299, whereas the 2950X with 16 cores, and the Threadripper 2920X with 12 cores cost $899 and $649 respectively.
Pre-orders for the 2nd-generation Ryzen Threadripper chips is now open, with company expecting to begin shipping by August 13th. The flagship 2990WX chip will be shipped first, with the other three models following the suite soon. Here’s a run-down of AMD’s record-breaking 2nd-gen Ryzen Threadripper processor line-up:
