Monday, November 25th 2019
AMD Paves Upgrade Path for TRX40 Platform with 64-core 3990X in 2020
AMD is hours away from market-availability and reviews of its 3rd generation Ryzen Threadripper HEDT processors, which includes two models at launch, the 24-core 3960X, and the 32-core 3970X, with prices starting at USD $1,399. The two are closely related to the 2nd generation EPYC "Rome" server processor family, which we know includes core-counts going all the way up to 64. It was hence obvious that a 64-core Threadripper will launch at some point, and that point is 2020, and the part goes by the name 3990X.
The slide detailing the 3990X mentions its core count of 64-core/128-thread, total cache (L2 + L3), which is a staggering 288 MB, and TDP of "just" 280 W. There is no mention of the chip's clock-speeds, and with the 3970X already priced close to $2,000, one can expect even higher prices for a chip with double the core count. At some point these products stop being HEDT and enter the realm of workstations. Intel's short-term response to even the 3970X could be limited to somehow sell the 28-core "Cascade Lake-SP" with quasi-HEDT branding the way it sells the Xeon W-3175X, and on a different platform than the X299.
Sources:
VideoCardz, Brolyx5 (Twitter)
The slide detailing the 3990X mentions its core count of 64-core/128-thread, total cache (L2 + L3), which is a staggering 288 MB, and TDP of "just" 280 W. There is no mention of the chip's clock-speeds, and with the 3970X already priced close to $2,000, one can expect even higher prices for a chip with double the core count. At some point these products stop being HEDT and enter the realm of workstations. Intel's short-term response to even the 3970X could be limited to somehow sell the 28-core "Cascade Lake-SP" with quasi-HEDT branding the way it sells the Xeon W-3175X, and on a different platform than the X299.
39 Comments on AMD Paves Upgrade Path for TRX40 Platform with 64-core 3990X in 2020
No Intel HEDT processor is fit for the workstation role since they lack ECC memory support. AMD HEDT chips do work with ECC, though.
64 cores o_O, that's one monstrous cpu for sure. This is litterly gonna hurt Intel in the ass. Sure Intel has there 56 core xeon but with a tdp of 400 watt so that is only baseclock. Guess how much watt at full boost.
(Speculation based on a released EPYC part : www.anandtech.com/show/14882/amds-new-280w-64core-rome-cpu-the-epyc-7h12)
I am aware that Zen->Zen2 came with a nice IPC uplift and that Zen2->Zen3 is supposed to improve on that (which is excellent), I'm just saying, news about IPC do more for me that announcing a new core record.
More cores is essential in the server space (so kudos to AMD for pursuing that lucrative market), that's also true.
You can bet it's going to be more than 100-200mhz especially for single core clocks. You can pin this comment and come back to it in 2020 and see if I was right.
The upcoming Nitrous 3 engine is the only game engine I can think of which could scale high enough. Their versions 1 & 1.5 can scale to 16 & +/-24 cores I believe (2x threads).
Can't wait to see their v3.
Calibri
I mean, AMD uses their own font, not that default Microsoft Office PoC. Here's a comparison with their actual slide:
The CPUs are just phenomenal with what AMD has done. I think if I could have an upgrade from my 5960X, it would be the 3950X just because of its performance and price. Not as great as the 3900X but 12 cores is just so last week for a desktop PC now.....