In apps that can take advantage of 32 threads, however, Threadripper continues to sock it to the price-equivalent Intel...
The launch of the 32-core, 64-thread Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX has rightfully stolen the headlines this week. Incredible in workloads that can take advantage of such parallelism, it's not the only new Threadripper on the scene.
It's the 2950X that arguably is far more relevant to an enthusiast audience. This 16-core, 32-thread beastie mimics much of what was good about last-generation 1950X but improves upon it by using a refined 12nm process, Precision Boost 2 and higher frequencies. The end result is performance that's a little higher than 1950X in every application we cared to test.
More importantly for AMD, the 2950X continues to beat out the rival Intel Core i9-7900X in many-core benchmarks, and though it remains behind in 1080p gaming, the gap narrows somewhat, thanks to the combination of higher speeds on the core and faster memory support.
In apps that can take advantage of 32 threads, however, Threadripper continues to sock it to the price-equivalent Intel, and the gap is big enough that it becomes very relevant in the buying decision.
The bottom line is $899 Ryzen Threadripper 2950X cements AMD's position in the HEDT space by improving upon the last generation in every meaningful way. Recommended if you want uber-impressive CPU grunt that can also game well.
The Good
The Bad
Better than 1950X in every way
Competent for gaming
Drop-in upgrade over last-gen TR
Quad-channel memory
Single-thread not as good as Intel
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X
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TBC.
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