AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX and 2920X

AMD's revolutionary Zen architecture marches on. Building on the success of the awe-inspiring HEDT Threadripper processors launched in August 2017, the chip giant followed-up with 2nd Gen successors a year later and is today fleshing out its portfolio with two new additions.

The Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX and 2920X are heading to retail priced at £1,200 and £600, respectively, with both parts continuing to adopt a many-core approach that favours power users and content creators.

Perusing the specification reveals that these chips are engineered to slot into gaps that existed in the 2nd Gen Threadripper product line. The new 2970WX is for all intents and purposes a core-deactivated version of the 2990WX, resulting in a 24-core, 48-thread design with identical clock speeds, a 250W TDP and a familiar TR4 package.

Moving down the ladder, the 2920X is a 12-core, 24-thread part that harnesses the goodness of AMD's latest Zen+ architecture to deliver peak speeds of up to 4.3GHz as well as support for faster DDR4-2933 memory. Crucially, this 180W chip lowers the 2nd Gen Threadripper entry point to $649, making it a noteworthy alternative to similarly-priced Intel alternatives that offer just eight cores and 16 threads.

As before, the new Threadripper duo slots into existing TR4 motherboards, and AMD has also moved to allay concerns of memory optimisation by introducing support for Dynamic Local Memory (DLM). Available for WX processors, who typically struggled to juggle workloads on so many cores, DLM automatically analyses how much CPU time each thread is consuming to prioritise the most demanding threads and grant direct memory access. The goal is to minimise latency and maximise efficiency in applications that aren't heavily threaded, and DLM works in real-time, with no intervention from the user.

Performance

Loading up the cores is the best way to demonstrate Threadripper's prowess. Even the $649 2920X has the ability to speed past the pricier Core i9-7900X, and Threadripper continues to offer more cores for your money.

At the very top of the scale, the monstrous 24-core Threadripper 2970WX is $500 cheaper than the 32-core 2990WX, yet performance remains mighty impressive. Growing tired of waiting for scenes to render? A many-core Threadripper CPU ought to be on your radar.

It isn't all good news, mind. Multi-threaded workloads are Threadripper's bread and butter, but many modern apps, and in particular games, struggle to take advantage of the many cores and instead favour instructions per clock and maximum frequency. In these scenarios, the Intel Core architecture continues to reign supreme.

Don't, however, confuse lower IPC throughput and reduced peak frequencies as being detrimental to gaming. At higher resolutions, the onus is shifted to the graphics card, and it becomes practically impossible to discern between AMD Threadripper and Intel Core. Both are a fine fit for QHD or UHD gaming.

Summary

AMD Threadripper continues to go from strength to strength. Building on the success of 2nd Gen parts launched a few months ago, the chip giant has now expanded the appeal of its many-core HEDT range with the addition of the 24-core 2970WX and 12-core 2920X.

Bringing the entry point for 2nd Gen Threadripper down to £600 opens the door to a whole new market, and multi-threaded performance is as impressive as ever. Want to spend more time creating and less time waiting? There's now a 2nd Gen Threadripper CPU to suit all budgets.

2nd Gen AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors are available to purchase on the Scan website.