AMD has unveiled a new series of Threadripper chips. For the first time since the beginning 2020, the company is launching these giant workstation CPUs for consumers as well as professionals. Like the earlier Ryzen 7000 series, Threadripper has made the switch to DDR5 memory and PCI-Express 5.0. The maximum number of cores has been raised to 96.
A year ago, AMD’s HEDT (High-End Desktop) offerings seemed to have ended. The Threadripper 5000 series only came in a “PRO” variant, leaving price points for such chips well above $2,000. For the 7000 series, it is not yet known how much AMD will charge for each model, so it remains to be seen how attainable the chips will be for consumers.
The chips use a new socket on the TRX50 platform. The Threadripper Pro 7995WX is the top model within the series, with 96 cores and 192 threads. All chips are baked on TSMC’s 5nm process. Below is an overview of the announced chips:
| Threadripper 7000 series | Cores | Threads | Max boost | L3 cache | TDP | Price |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX | 96 | 192 | 5.1 GHz | 384 MB | 350W | n.a. |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX | 64 | 128 | 5.1 GHz | 256 MB | 350W | n.a. |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7975WX | 32 | 64 | 5.3 GHz | 128 MB | 350W | n.a. |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7965WX | 24 | 48 | 5.3 GHz | 128 MB | 350W | n.a. |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7955WX | 16 | 32 | 5.3 GHz | 64 MB | 350W | n.a. |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7945WX | 12 | 24 | 5.3 GHz | 64 MB | 350W | n.a. |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X | 64 | 128 | 5.1 GHz | 256 MB | 350W | n.a. |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X | 32 | 64 | 5.3 GHz | 128 MB | 350W | n.a. |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7960X | 24 | 48 | 5.3 GHz | 128 MB | 350W | n.a. |
Based on EPYC Genoa
The Threadripper hardware is based on that of the EPYC Genoa server chips, modified to be suitable for desktops. The TDP of 350W is significantly more than the 280W required by the Threadripper 5000 series.
All Pro chips have support for eight memory channels and 128 PCIe lanes. The non-Pro variants contain four memory channels and have a maximum of 48 lanes.
AMD promises major performance improvements over the Intel offerings. For example, renders in Chaos V-Ray are said to be up to 223 percent faster (7995WX versus Xeon W-3495) and developers can compile up to 50 percent faster in Unreal Engine (7985WX versus Xeon W-3495).
The new Threadrippers launch on Nov. 21.
Also read: AMD wants to keep up with Nvidia by acquiring AI software maker Nod.ai