AMD Threadripper 7000: Up to 96 cores for HEDT and workstations

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The sparrows are already whistling from the rooftops: AMD will launch a new Threadripper generation based on the Zen 4 cores, the Threadripper Pro 7000 WX and the Threadripper 7000. The technical details are available today and they will be available from November 21st A total of nine processors will go on sale starting at $1,499 plus taxes. They will all need new motherboards, as AMD is taking the step to DDR5 here, as with Epyc servers and Ryzen desktop processors. There are also plenty of PCIe 5.0 lanes to connect fast peripherals, accelerator or graphics cards.

The six Threadripper Pro CPUs will be available in configurations from 12 to 96 cores. They support eight DDR5 memory channels for only one Registered DIMM (RDIMM) with 5200 MT/s (DDR5-5200) and ECC memory protection. They fit the WRX90 platform variant and support a maximum of 2 TB of RAM. The three non-Pro variants for TRX50 are planned with 24, 32 and 64 cores and can only use four memory channels, i.e. 1 TB.

Compared to the previous Threadripper Pro 5000 WX series, the 7000 generation has up to 50 percent more cores, connectivity improves with PCIe 5.0 instead of PCIe 4.0, which is around half as fast, and the clock frequencies increase by up to 18 percent to 5.3 GHz in boost mode for one core. The price for this is a nominal power consumption of 350 watts (predecessor: 280 watts).

At the product presentation at AMD’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, it was demonstrated that the processors are far from reaching the end of their standard clock speeds – but that they have exhausted their thermal design power (TDP). If you want to make the most of the clock reserves, you have to be prepared for significantly more than the 350 nominal watts mentioned, even if you only increase the clock frequencies via Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO).

As a manufacturer, AMD naturally sees the performance of the Threadripper Pro 7000 WX and Threadripper 7000 as beyond all doubt – we will put the claims to the test in an upcoming issue of c’t. At the same time, we honestly admit that not all tasks benefit from a 96-core processor or even a Threadripper with 64 cores. However, 3D offline rendering in particular is the domain of multi-core computers and many special effects studios in Hollywood would use corresponding workstations.

In Adobe After Effects and Premiere, even the 96-core 7995WX would only be 9 and 18 percent ahead of Intel’s 56-core Xeon w9-3495. However, it is almost twice as fast (+91%) in Autodesk Maya and twice as fast (+121%) in Chaos’ V-Ray renderer.

Back in the high-end desktop

The biggest surprise is probably the return to the high-end desktop market. AMD will launch with three processors for 1499, 2499 and 4999 US dollars list price plus taxes from November 21st. The Threadripper 7960X, 7970X and 7980X fit into the same sTR5 sockets as their larger siblings, but get their own platform with TRX50 motherboards and officially only run on this. Their features are above what is also possible on opulent X670E boards for Ryzen 7000, so that, for example, three PCIe 5.0/4.0 graphics cards can be operated at full speed.

If you really want to, you can also run the more expensive workstation CPUs in the HEDT platform – but then only with four memory channels and without Pro features. The Threadripper Pro can also be overclocked here. The clock speeds for the CPU and memory can be increased within the limits of cooling and power supply. During a demonstration at AMD’s headquarters, c’t was able to see for itself that not only the HEDT CPUs, but also the workstation versions still have some clock reserves up their sleeve.

Compared to the workstation version, the HEDT boards are not allowed to use the AMD Pro features and the manufacturer expects that, for example, remote maintenance options via BMC/IPMI will not be installed. For better overclocking, the power supply should be more extensive and one or two RGB LEDs should be used.

… and for workstations

AMD has six new Threadripper CPUs on offer for workstations, although these will not initially be released separately in retail stores, but will be sold as part of OEM devices such as those from Dell, HP and Lenovo. That’s why AMD isn’t mentioning any prices at the moment.

The appropriate platform is called WRX90 and has up to eight memory channels, each with one memory bar per channel. With suitable RDIMM bars, up to 2 TBytes are possible. As with the HEDT version, AMD relies on Registered DIMMs with 5200 MT/s and ECC memory protection. This decision was made in favor of reliability in the expected tasks, AMD told c’t when asked. We are working with the memory manufacturers to ensure that sufficient suitable memory kits are available in retail stores to coincide with the launch of the new platform. This was an even bigger problem with Intel’s Xeon W9-3495X in the summer.

The Threadripper Pro gets AMD’s “Pro” feature set, which is divided into security packages, maintainability and longer delivery or availability of spare parts.

AMD only allows memory overclocking on the WRX90 platform, but does not assume that the system providers will enable this. As our discussions with the larger manufacturers (see below) revealed, they will probably initially limit themselves to the slower DDR5-4800.

Workstations from Dell and HP from December

We were able to take a quick look at the Dell Precision 7875 and HP Z6 G5 A workstations on site in Austin; they should be available at the end of November/beginning of December. HP relies on a design with PCIe slots on both sides of the CPU, which is placed approximately in the middle of the board. According to HP’s product manager Chris Kowalk, this simplifies the board design and improves the signal stability, which is critical for PCIe 5.0. If you want to use the PCIe lanes with several graphics cards, for example, Dell and HP validate two dual-slot cards or a triple-slot card like the Radeon Pro W7900 and Dell, interestingly, only validates a W7800, even though it only has a dual -Slot cooler has. No one has three accelerator cards on offer; the majority of customers limit themselves to two copies, said the product managers.

At the market launch, Dell only wants to guarantee a memory speed of DDR5-4800 and justifies this with the availability of the components. HP is limiting itself – also due to component availability – to a maximum memory expansion of 1 TB until 256 GB RDIMMs can actually be validated.

Disclaimer: AMD invited the author to a product presentation at the company’s headquarters in Austin. AMD paid for airfare and accommodation.

(csp)