AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X review - Introduction

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X
Massive HEDT performance for a consumer level price.

Ryzen Threadripper is here and as such welcome to our first Threadripper review. It has been a short but massively interesting few months for AMD and everyone that has been following it all. Hey, do you realize that it was only in March this year that AMD unleashed Ryzen processors into the consumer domain? And sure, it was a bit of a rocky launch with memory compatibility and some 1080p game performance. But look at where these platforms are now, just six months later any one of you guys, DiY PC builders, will at the very least consider buying and building a Ryzen based PC as they just ooze out performance and value. A year ago you would not even consider an AMD PC, right? That change in mindset is colossal and for AMD is well-deserved as they have been able to rattle the cages in the processor industry this year, massively. With the release of the Ryzen processor and accompanying eco system, AMD shifted the CPU arena to their advantage. Meanwhile Intel is looking everywhere to address the moves that AMD is making, Intel is puzzled, and has been panicking. They rushed out the X299 platform, quickly announced an up-to 18-core processor and, well, you have seen the results - enough said about that.

When AMD released Ryzen, all of a sudden there were announcements in their server segment, including Naples with up-to a staggering 32 processor cores. And from then onwards, rumors flooded the web. Later in March the first X399 design block diagrams surfaced on the web, indicating that AMD was working on a many-core processor, but little did we know it was to be released for you guys, the consumer market, and yes, these diagrams showed an ASUS label. Shortly thereafter the first official announcements were made, AMD would be releasing what we now know to be the X399 chipset platform for motherboards, to be paired with Ryzen Threadripper processors. You have already seen many X399 motherboard announcements and it is no secret that Threadripper processors were to be initially released in the HEDT (High-End Desktop) segment, available starting today on August 10th, 2017. AMD will initially release two models: a 16-core, 32-thread model and a 12-core, 24-threaded model. However, later this month you will also see a 3rd model, the Ryzen Threadripper 1900X.

The flagship processor is the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X, a 16-core product that will get a 3.4 GHz base frequency with the ability to precision boost to 4.0 GHz. These processors are SMT, thus ‘hyper-threaded’ to 32 threads. This processor will retail for 999 USD. Then there is the Ryzen Threadripper 1920X, this is the 12-core part, the base clock is a notch higher at 3.5 GHz and the precision boost is also 4.0 GHz, thus the SKU will get 24 threads. This processor will retail for 799 USD and then in late August you will see the Ryzen Threadripper 1900X, an 8-core part, the base clock is set at 3.8 GHz and the precision boost, again, is 4.0 GHz, this SKU will get 16 threads. The advantage for this processor is that you can house it on the X399 platform with its 64-PCIe lanes and Quad-channel DDR4 compatibility. This part will cost 549 USD.

These processors are fully unlocked and seat themselves onto the new Socket TR4 on a X399 motherboard of your choice. All these processors Turbo up towards 4.0 GHz and all of them have an extended XFR range of 200 MHz, so yes, when properly cooled and in the right conditions, these will hit 4100~4200 MHz on up-to four cores. All brands like MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte and ASRock will offer motherboards in several price ranges starting at roughly 300 USD. With Threadripper comes some benefits as combined with that new Socket TR4 (4094 pins!) X399 motherboard platform you will be able to run your memory in a quad-channel memory configuration. Next to that, you will gain a staggering 64 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3.0. And that means the sky is the limit, connectivity wise. 

That said, it is time to start up the review, you guys want numbers, right?!