When AMD Ryzen Threadripper HEDT platform launched earlier this year, a shortcoming was its lack of NVMe RAID support. While you could build soft-RAID arrays using NVMe drives, you couldn't boot from them. AMD is addressing this, by adding support for NVMe RAID through a software update, scheduled for 25th September. This software update is in the form of both a driver update (including a lightweight F6-install driver), and a motherboard BIOS update, letting AMD X399 chipset motherboards boot from RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 arrays made up of up to ten NVMe drives. AMD confirmed that it has no plans to bring NVMe RAID support for the X370 or B350 platforms.

AMD today released the Ryzen Threadripper 1900X eight-core HEDT (high-end desktop) processor. This product is targeted at pro-sumers who could use the quad-channel memory bandwidth and added I/O which the Threadripper HEDT platform brings to the table, but can make do with 8 cores/16 threads, which is why the chip is priced just $50 higher than the 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7 1800X, at USD $549. The Threadripper 1900X comes with higher clock speeds than the 1800X, with 3.80 GHz nominal clock-speed (compared to 3.60 GHz of the 1800X), 4.00 GHz boost, and XFR adding another 200 MHz to the boost clock, if your cooling is good enough.

The Ryzen Threadripper 1900X gives you the full quad-channel DDR4-3200 memory interface, with support for up to 2 TB memory, and ECC support. There's even unofficial RDIMM support. The chip also offers the full 64-lane PCI-Express interface, with the same PCI-Express device configurations as the higher 1920X and 1950X parts. AMD created the 1900X by disabling two cores per CCX in each of the active 8-core dies on the Threadripper MCM. The chip also only features 16 MB of L3 cache, that's 4 MB per active CCX. Its TDP continues to be rated at 180W. AMD put out its internal testing performance numbers for the 1900X.AMD's performance slides follow.

AMD's third Ryzen Threadripper series HEDT processor SKU, the Threadripper 1900X, started selling in India, ahead of its 31st August scheduled availability. Listed on the country's leading online PC hardware store PrimeABGB, the Threadripper 1900X is priced at INR 45,699. While this price roughly converts to USD $715, which is way above the $549 MSRP announced by AMD, it's important to note that in India the retailer margins and taxes on PC hardware tend to be very high. The same retailer, considered by PC enthusiasts in India as having some of the lowest prices, lists the Threadripper 1920X at INR 65,488 ($1,024), and the Threadripper 1950X at INR 82,008 ($1,283).

The PrimeABGB listing also indicates that the 8-core/16-thread Threadripper 1900X features 16 MB of L3 cache, as opposed to 32 MB on the 1920X and 1950X. This could mean that AMD is configuring the two "Summit Ridge" dies on the 1900X in a 2+2+2+2 CCX configuration, with 4 MB of L3 cache per CCX, just like on the Ryzen 5 1400. The chip still features a quad-channel DDR4 memory interface, and 64-lane PCIe. It is priced between the $390 6-core/12-thread Core i7-7800X and $590 i7-7820X.

Alphacool has been growing their product portfolio immensely as of late, and now, the company is teasing the Eisblock Flatboy, the company's specifically-designed waterblock for AMD's Ryzen Threadripper CPUs. Threadripper CPUs have one of the biggest surface areas ever encountered in a consumer processor; because of that, not all cooling solutions are appropriate to cool the up-to 16 cores and 32 threads monsters, with a higher surface area than normal being needed.

Still in the prototype phase, the Eisblock Flatboy integrates a reverse, silent flow pump system, like the company has already introduced on their Eiswolf product. The prototype as is seems to obstruct clearance for the rightmost DIMM slot to the left of the CPU socket, which shouldn't pose a problem for some people, but would be an extremely sore point for prospective buyers should that design decision overflow towards the final version.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, announces all-new DDR4 specifications and expanding the Flare X series, designed for AMD processors and platforms. Compatible with the new Ryzen Threadripper processors and AMD X399 chipset motherboards, these new DDR4 specifications are designed to achieve high frequency at DDR4-3600 MHz 32GB (8GBx4), as well as a massive total capacity at DDR4-2933 MHz 128GB (16GBx8). Included in the mix of new quad-channel DDR4 memory kits are DDR4-3200 MHz CL14 32GB (8GBx4) and DDR4-3466 MHz CL16 32GB (8GBx4).

With improved overclocking performance on the latest AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors on the X399 chipset, G.SKILL is announcing the DDR4-3600 MHz CL16-18-18-38 with 32GB (8GBx4) total capacity running in quad-channel mode, under the Flare X series. Tested for maximum stability, this kit's frequency speed marks the fastest memory kit ever released thus far for an AMD platform.

AMD revealed that the pair of 8-core "Summit Ridge" dies that make up the Ryzen Threadripper multi-chip module are heavily binned. AMD hand-selects the top-5% highest performing "Summit Ridge" dies for Ryzen Threadripper manufacturing, which makes these chips of a higher grade than even what AMD sets aside for Ryzen 7-series socket AM4 chips.

AMD requires the highest grade "Summit Ridge" dies to use in Threadripper chips, to keep electrical leakage to the minimum, so the chips can run as cool as possible, with the least power-draw. Choosing the best dies could also ensure that Threadripper chips have the highest overclocking-headroom taking into account other electrical and thermal constraints. A 7-series chip such as the 1800X could still achieve higher clocks than a Threadripper chip, in that sense.

AMD built its Ryzen Threadripper HEDT (high-end desktop) processor as a multi-chip module (MCM) of two 8-core "Summit Ridge" dies, each with its own dual-channel memory controller, and PCI-Express interface. This is unlike the competing Core "Skylake-X" from Intel, which is a monolithic 18-core die with a quad-channel DDR4 interface and 44-lane PCIe on one die. AMD has devised some innovative methods of overcoming the latency issues inherent to an MCM arrangement like the Ryzen Threadripper, by tapping into its nUMA technology innovation.

To the hardware, four 8 GB DDR4 memory modules populating the four memory channels of a Ryzen Threadripper chip is seen as 16 GB controlled by each of the two "Summit Ridge" dies. To the software, it is a seamless block of 32 GB. Blindly interleaving the four 8 GB memory modules for four times the bandwidth of a single module isn't as straightforward as it is on the Core X, and is fraught with latency issues. A thread being processed by a core on die-A, having half of its memory allocation on memory controlled by a different die, is hit with latency. AMD is overcoming this by treating memory on a Ryzen Threadripper machine like a 2-socket machine, in which each socket has its own memory.

Update: Corrected socket compatibility. This is a specially-designed cooler by Arctic for AMD's HEDT platform, As such, it offers limited compatibility with CPUs of lower die sizes, which means it's only compatible with TR4, AM4, LLGA2011(v3) and LGA2066 sockets.

Arctic announced the Freezer 33 TR, a tower-type CPU air cooler, designed for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors, with out of the box support for AMD socket TR4/SP3r2. The cooler comes in two variants based on color - black with red accents, and black with silver accents. The cooler features a conventional tower-type design, in which four 6 mm-thick copper heat-pipes, which make direct contact with the CPU at the base, pass through an aluminium fin-stack, which is ventilated by an included fan.

Compared to other Freezer 33 variants, the TR variant features an elongated base, for higher coverage of the Threadripper integrated heatspreader (IHS). The aluminium fins and heat-pipes feature matte-black nickel-plating. The included fan takes in 4-pin (PWM) input, spinning between 200 to 1,800 RPM. The cooler can cope with thermal loads of up to 320W, which makes it good for CPU TDP rating up to 200W, according to Arctic. Besides socket TR4, the cooler also supports AMD's AM4 socket, while Intel support stands at their LGA2011(v3), LGA2066. Available now, and backed by a generous 10-year warranty, the Freezer 33 TR is priced at 47.99€.

Noctua is stocking up inventories of its AMD Ryzen Threadripper-compatible NH-U14S-TR4-SP3 tower-type CPU cooler. A variant of the NH-U14S (pictured below), the cooler will be available from 12th August in the United States, through Noctua's eBay store. Other retailers will have stocks by the end of August. Noctua believes the NH-U14S features sufficient muscle to cope with the 180W TDP Threadripper processors, some of the lower variants come with 140W TDP. The TR4-SP3 variant comes with a slightly enlarged base, for better coverage of the large integrated heatspreaders of the Threadripper chips. The other Threadripper-compatible coolers in Noctua's lineup are the NH-U12S-TR4-SP3, and NH-U9-TR4-SP3.

Thermaltake today announced that five of its Water 3.0 Riing series all-in-one, closed-loop, liquid CPU cooler models support AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors in the new TR4 package. Among the supporting models are the Water 3.0 Riing RGB 360, Water 3.0 Riing RGB 240, Water 3.0 Riing RGB 120, Water 3.0 Riing RGB Extreme, and Water 3.0 Riing RGB Ultimate. The five coolers include brackets for socket TR4, although the company didn't mention if the circular blocks of the Water 3.0 Riing RGB series provides 100% coverage of the processors' integrated heatspreader.

Redditor "callingthewolf" has posted what is an awe-inspiring result for AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 1950X (that's an interesting username for sure; let's hope that's the only similarity to the boy who cried wolf.) The 16-core, 32-thread processor stands as the likely taker for the HEDT performance crown (at least until Intel's 14-core plus HEDT CPUs make their debut on the X299 platform.) With that many cores, highly thread-aware applications naturally look to see tremendous increases in performance from any frequency increase. In this case, the 1950X's base 3.4 GHz were upped to a whopping 4.0 GHz (@ 1.25 V core) and 4.1 GHz (at 1.4 V core; personally, I'd stick with the 4.0 GHz and call it a day.)

The feat was achieved under a Thermaltake Water 3.0 liquid cooler, on a non-specified ASRock motherboard with all DIMM channels populated with 8 x 8 GB 3066 MHz DIMMs. At 4.0 GHz, the Threadripper 1950X achieves a 3337 points score on Cinebench R15. And at 4.1GHz, the big chip that can (we can't really call it small now can we?) manages to score 58391 points in Geekbench 3. While those scores are certainly impressive, I would just like to point out the fact that this is a 16-core CPU that overclocks as well as (and in some cases, even better than) AMD's 8-core Ryzen 7 CPUs. The frequency potential of this Threadripper part is in the same ballpark of AMD's 8-core dies, which speaks to either an architecture limit or a manufacturing one at around 4 GHz. The Threadripper 1950X is, by all measurements, an impressively "glued together" piece of silicon.

An unnanounced AMD HEDT Ryzen Threadripper processor has cropped up on some of the most well known motherboard vendors' support lists. Following AMD's product stacking for the Ryzen line of processors, the Threadripper 1920 comes with the same 12 cores and 24 threads as the 1920X, although it runs at lower frequencies (3.2 GHz base, 3.8 GHz Boost on the 1920, against 3.5 GHz and 4.0 GHz on the 1920X). The lower frequency threshold means the 1920 also comes with a lower, 140 W TDP rating (the 1920X has a higher value at 180 W).

These news come courtesy of CPU support lists for the ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme, ASRock X399 Professional Gaming/X399 Taichi as well as GIGABYTE X399-Gaming 7. Expect the new Threadripper to become the sweet spot for the 12-core, 24-thread CPUs of our time, since its performance and pricing will situate it below the 1920X's $799, but above the already announced 8-core Threadripper 1900X, which will come in at $549. Remember that all AMD Zen-based processors come unlocked out of the box for your frequency-increase-through-overclocking pleasure, so it should be relatively simple to extract as much performance from the 1920 as the 1920X can deliver.

Cooler Master has announced support for AMD Ryzen Threadripper and Socket TR4 for its AIO liquid CPU coolers through the usage of a mounting kit (RL-TR4B-MLLS-R1). The list of compatible coolers includes the MasterLiquid 240 and 120, MasterLiquid 240L RGB, MasterLiquid 120L RGB, Lite 240 and Lite 120.

AMD's latest HEDT CPUs offers up to 16 cores and 32 threads which reaches up to 180 watt TDP with the flagship 1950X. Cooler master says AMD's Threadripper CPUs will require top notch cooling, and that Cooler Master's dual chamber cooling presents itself as a perfect option made possible through "the unique cooling process which isolates the heated coolant from the cooled to maximize the results of the cooling of the processor."

LinusTechTips has received an Alienware Area 51, the boutique system which Alienware has developed through its exclusive partnership with AMD for the 16-core, 32-thread Threadripper CPUs.

The system was tested using a proprietary Dell/Alienware motherboard, as well as 32 GB (4x 8 GB) of 2666 MHz DDR4 RAM. Graphics were handled by a Founders Edition GTX 1080 Ti, and storage was etched on a SanDisk A400 256 GB NVME drive (Up to 2050/700 MB/s Sequential Read/Write). The nature of the benchmarked systems, with their myriad of hardware parts, means that the benchmarks are not 100% representative of CPU performance deltas between the tested processors; however, they do put out some interesting numbers. The other HEDT system to be tested was an Intel-based X299 system with a stock Intel Core i9-7900X (10 cores, 20 threads) on an ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe, 4x 8 GB of 3200 MHz DDR4 memory, the same GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition, and a 512 GB Samsung 950 Pro NVME SSD.

AMD's connectivity-rich Ryzen Threadripper HEDT platform may have an Achilles's heel after all, with reports emerging that it lacks support for booting from NVMe RAID. You can still have bootable NVMe RAID volumes using NVMe RAID HBAs installed as PCI-Express add-on cards. Threadripper processors feature 64-lane PCI-Express gen 3.0 root complexes, which allow you to run at least two graphics cards at full x16 bandwidth, and drop in other bandwidth-hungry devices such as multiple PCI-Express NVMe SSDs. Unfortunately for those planning on striping multiple NVMe SSDs in RAID; the platform lacks NVMe RAID booting support. You should still be able to build soft-RAID arrays striping multiple NVMe SSDs, just not boot from them. Pro-sumers will still be able to dump their heavy data-sets onto such soft-arrays. This limitation is probably due to PCI-Express lanes emerging from different dies on the Threadripper MCM, which could present problems to the system BIOS to boot from.

Ryzen Threadripper is a multi-chip module (MCM) of two 8-core "Summit Ridge" dies. Each 14 nm "Summit Ridge" die features 32 PCI-Express lanes. On a socket AM4 machine, 4 of those 32 lanes are used as chipset-bus, leaving 28 for the rest of the machine. 16 of those head to up to two PEG (PCI-Express Graphics) ports (either one x16 or two x8 slots); and the remaining 12 lanes are spread among M.2 slots, and other onboard devices. On a Threadripper MCM, one of the two "Summit Ridge" dies has chipset-bus access; 16 lanes from each die head to PEG (a total of four PEG ports, either as two x16 or four x8 slots); while the remaining are general purpose; driving high-bandwidth devices such as USB 3.1 controllers, 10 GbE interfaces, and several M.2 and U.2 ports.

The team at Sweclockers have already received their Threadripper review kit. We know this because there was a short-lived video uploaded by the team, unboxing and perusing the contents of one of AMD's delicious Threadripper review kits. Videocardz, however, managed to snag some screenshots of the act, and that content is what we are bringing to you now. Also, kudos for that Dinklebot shirt - that wizzard might have come from the moon, but ours certainly hasn't.

AMD maybe have shaken up the HEDT (high-end desktop) processor market with three Ryzen Threadripper SKU announcements early this week; but the two specifications that eluded us were their rated TDP and cache amounts. The first Ryzen Threadripper models will be available in the market from the 10th of August, and will include the 12-core/24-thread 1920X and the flagship 16-core/32-thread 1950X. Both models will feature the full 32 MB of L3 cache available from a pair of 14 nm "Summit Ridge" dies, which work out to "total cache" (L2+L3) amounts of 38 MB for the 1920X and 40 MB for the 1950X. The TDP of the 1920X and 1950X is rated at 180W. The TDP and cache configuration of the 8-core/16-thread 1900X remains unknown, for now.

NZXT in a statement today confirmed that its Kraken X61, Kraken X52, and Kraken X62 all-in-one closed-loop liquid CPU coolers support AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors in the TR4 package. The company announced that compatible retention brackets for socket TR4, which work on most Asetek-sourced liquid CPU coolers, will be included in the PIB (processor in a box) package of Ryzen Threadripper processors, by AMD. The company reckons that its Kraken X61, Kraken X52, and Kraken X62 coolers provide sufficient cooling to tame the HEDT beasts by AMD.

GIGABYTE today formally launched its only socket TR4 motherboard for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors, the Aorus X399 Gaming 7. Packed to the brim with features, the board is built in the ATX form-factor, and is halfway between the ATX and E-ATX form-factors in width. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and 4-pin ATX power connectors, conditioning it for the CPU with a 14-phase VRM. The CPU socket is wired to eight DDR4 DIMM slots, and five PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots.

Storage connectivity on the Aorus X399 Gaming 7 includes three 32 Gb/s M.2 slots covered by aluminium heatsinks; and eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.1 gen 2 ports (both on the rear panel, including a type-C port, two by headers), and ten USB 3.0 ports. Networking is care of a WLAN card with 802.11ac MU-MIMO Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.2; and a gigabit Ethernet interface driven by a Killer E2500 gigabit Ethernet controller. The board is peppered with RGB LEDs controlled by GIGABYTE RGB Fusion software. Available from 10th August, the board is expected to be priced around $300.

ASRock's Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming board is ideal for high end gamers and other power users. This board gets the utmost from the modern high-speed networking environment with features like AQUANTIA 10Gb/s LAN - ideal for ultra-responsive lag-free online gaming, and for SOHO systems as well. The board's 1 x U.2 connector and 3 x Ultra M.2 sockets easily support high-end SSDs for lightning fast startup and game level loading. This board features IR3555M DrMOS and premium 60A power chokes, it is optimized for monitoring current and temperature to maintain stable power and flawless performance, even at peak loads and during overclocking.

Producing some of the smoothest and most lifelike graphics ever seen from the most powerful cards the industry has to offer, ASRock's X399 motherboards supports 4-Way operation for both NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX. All the PCIe lanes are supported directly from the CPU without using an additional bridge controller, to ensure unhindered graphics performance.

It has been a huge weekend of product announcements and launches from AMD, which expanded not just its client computing CPU lineup on both ends, but also expanded its Radeon graphics cards family with both client- and professional-segment graphics cards. This article provides a brief summary of everything AMD launched or announced today, with their possible market-availability dates.

AMD did not just announce retail availability on Ryzen Threadripper today, they also had some on-site and arranged for a fun LN2 overclocking event as part of Capsaicin SIGGRAPH 2017. As always, such events are to give day one estimates on the maximum performance potential of the silicon which in turn guides end users and board partners alike on the worst case scenarios as far as power draw and cooling requirements go.

Monstru from Lab501 was kind enough to share a couple of pictures of the actual event with us while AMD followed up with a Cinebench R15 screenshot as seen below. All 16 cores of the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X were overclocked to 5.2 GHz with a x52 multiplier on a standard 100 MHz bus speed. Core VID from CPU-Z is not trustworthy at these temperatures, so presumably it was more in the range of 1.6 V than 1.16 V. They did have DDR4 RAM in quad channel but at the JEDEC base of 2133 MHz to get as high a CPU frequency without the IMC being a factor. The Cinebench R15 score of 4122 cb is very impressive, given the previous high score for a 16-core CPU was 2867 cb, and it took a 28 core CPU to beat this score before. Sure, the days of high core count overclockable CPUs is only coming now but it goes to show where we were before AMD and Intel both decided to go big this generation.After the break we have some photographs of X399 motherboards from various manufacturers, so be sure to take a look.

AMD today officially announced some more details on its brain-child and market-stormer Ryzen Threadripper HEDT line of CPUs. Ryzen is a true new stand-alone architecture for AMD, the result of more than four years of careful planning and silicon design towards reaching a truly scalable, highly-flexible, non-glued together MCM design that could power all experiences and workloads through a single architecture design. The Ryzen architecture is already powering desktops with Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 desktop CPUs; has extended to server-side deployments through its EPYC line-up and will begin shipping for professionals with Ryzen PRO starting in Q3 2017. Also announced was that it will find its way to mobile APUs around Q4, paired with the new Vega graphics microarchitecture; and will even power professional-geared mobile solutions in 1H18. But more immediately, it's coming to the HEDT market. And AMD is putting that fight in the hands of Threadripper.

AMD pits its HEDT line-up to developers, researchers, prosumers, creators, and even multi-tasking gamers. Increased compute capabilities with up to 16 cores and 32 threads; larger memory footprint, increased I/O and storage, and support for many more GPUs and PCIe lanes ensure a stable, impressive platform for today's large data sets and tomorrow's exponentially more resource-intensive workloads. AMD will execute this with a three-pronged approach. There will be three processor models on offer for their HEDT platform. The $999 TR 1950X and $799 TR 1920X are known quantities already, with their respective 16 cores (32 threads) and 12 cores (24 threads). The new addition, however, comes in the form of the $549 TR 1900X, which offers not only 8 cores (16 threads) and 3.8 GHz base, 4.0 GHz boost clocks, but a clear upgrade path within AMD's new platform. Say what you will about AMD's offerings and execution, one thing is for sure: Zen and all the silicon it powers have prompted a reshuffle of the CPU landscape as we hadn't seen in years. Coincidence? AMD doesn't think so.

Overclocker extraordinaire der8auer, who was one of the most vocal enthusiasts calling out for better VRM designs on Intel's X299 platform (and who worked with ASUS on redesigning the VRM cooling in its motherboards) has gone and done it: he delidded a Ryzen Threadripper CPU. And this delidding went on to deliver the goods: Ryzen Threadripper delidded is EPYC (pun intended.)

Instead of the expected MCM composed of two dies (with two CCXs of four cores per die, delivering the 16 cores we were expecting), Ryzen Threadripper is actually a much more interesting chip: it seems to be a full fledged EPYC chip, with four dies of eight cores. According to der8auer, when questioned, AMD confirmed that 16-core Threadripper 1950X CPUs are configured with two working eight core dies (four CCXs of four cores each), while the other eight-core dies are disabled by AMD.

It seems that previous rumors of AMD bundling a water cooling solution with their premium HEDT Threadripper line of CPUs both were and weren't quite close to the mark. It appears that no, there won't be a liquid cooling solution shipped with the high-performance, high core-count processors after all - as a quick look at the leaked Threadripper retail packaging might convey due to the laws of physics and size constraints.

Even so, it seems AMD will be shipping a solution for water cooling of sorts... By including an Asetek-compatible retention kit with their retail packages of Threadripper. Asetek's designs are shipped under the company's own brand, as well as in a number of recognized, high-quality brands, such as NZXT's Kraken series, EVGA's CLC Series, and some of Corsair's coolers (such as the H100iV2 and the H115i coolers.) Though with Threadripper's IHS's giant size, it is likely that most water cooling solutions currently on the market won't have a sufficiently-sized base plate to cover the entire IHS area. Effects of this on cooling performance remain to be seen, though it probably won't improve temps.