Threadripper 3rd Gen

AMD has revealed its 3rd Gen Threadripper SKUs.

AMD Threadripper 3000 series from 1399 to 1999 USD (for now)

• The Ryzen Threadripper 3960X is a 24-core processor with a base clock of 3.8 GHz and a turbo clock of 4.5 GHz. It has 140MB of the cache. This SKU will be available for 1399 USD.
• A 32-core version called Ryzen Threadripper 3970X will retail at 1999 USD. For 600 dollars more you get 8 more cores and 4MB of Cache.
• Both SKUs will be available on November 25th.

Threadripper 3rd Gen also utilises a new socket.

 

Has anyone heard why they felt the need for a new socket?

 

A part explanation here from ANandtech.

 

Meh.

 

Price is not so good but no competition right now

 

Intel HEDT is shaping up nicely especially given the price.

Reposting one of my comments from STH:
The pricing comes at a bad time for AMD. HEDT is already a small market, and with the announcement of heavy price drops from Intel, a $200 hike on the top CPU combined with motherboard premium does not bode well for AMD, especially since many professional software are heavily Intel optimised and runs better even on lesser chips.

Having made its name for releasing good CPUs at a reasonable price, a venture into the top end may prove disastrous if they do not perform substantially better (I have no reasons to believe that they won’t), especially at a time where Intel has essentially undercut AMD’s pricing segments.

Also, $400 minimum for motherboard?!

 

Whelp... AMD has successfully, immediately turned me from one of their biggest evangelists to.. what's the opposite of that?

I bought into x399 believing that they wouldn't abandon it for no good reason, that I'd eventually be able to buy decent single core performance with the 3000 series

Already bad enough that the 3960x will be a $2200aud CPU, but a $400+++ motherboard on top? *Vomit emoji*

Now what? Dead platform with hardware that will sell for pennies vs what it did under 12 months ago.

I would have just gone Intel if I wanted to get done without lube wrt new chipsets for no damn reason at the drop of a hat.

Or am4 and I'd now own a 3900x and have that perfect mix of multi and single core performance that I want.

Or I could have just bought Intel HEDT 12 months ago and had cores AND single thread performance all year!

Since AMD already dropped x399 in 2 years, they can't be trusted not to do the same to TRX4, you'd have to be desperate, a business that REALLY needs 32 cores, or an idiot, to buy it.

 

I am disappointed also by the new socket... I invested in x399 in the hopes i could incrementally upgrade, and had expected it as AMD has a great track record of backwards compatibility.
The other part that I find concerning is that they’ve also made no attempt to increase memory bandwidth, still quad channel. I’m not saying that on its own isn’t a major consideration, but to me it smells of another major upgrade in the future to the chipset.

 

There were earlier rumours about 8 channel memory support coming as a separate product line - https://www.overclock3d.net/news/cp...data_leaks_-_reveals_hedt_workstation_split/1

 

That's what makes the socket change even more offensive

They're going to make trx8 anyway for the 8 channel chips... Anyone who wants 88 pcie4 lanes and whatever else trx4 improves could go that

And give us x399 owners the upgrade too

Or at least make a 3955x 16 core for us!

 

I didn’t think about that. AM4 probably has better CPU options than X399 now (save specific workloads with the 2970/2990).

You got boned.

 

Yep

People who bought a decent am4 board 2 years ago and can now get a 3900/3950 won the jackpot, even have better IO eventually with pcie4 vs 3 even if x399 has more lanes.

2970/90 are so ridiculously niche, only good for researchers/ full time professional content creators who can properly use all those threads with the NUMA junk. Totally useless for home users besides novelty. It really was just a marketing exercise "look what we can do suck it Intel"


If x399 got zen2, it would still at least be a tiny bit better than x570, with more memory bandwidth and still plenty of IO. bah. Guess I'll just keep waiting for gpu's and put even more money there hah

 

Lol mad butthurt. I don't think anyone ever actually recommended x399 unless you had a specific need. How did you end up making the decision for that over AM4?
Probably AMD's fault eh.

 

X399 isn't BAD. Was a better choice over am4 12-18mths ago unless you *only* game. Remember we didn't have the 3900x then, 8 cores max, and it wasn't a huge loss in single core performance. Motherboard quality really good (besides Foxconn socket..), quad channel, 64 PCIE3 lanes etc. It's a great platform in every way bar, now, lack of zen2.. which.. does bring it down from great to just ok.

But the weakness of x399 compatible CPU being single core perf/gaming especially now vs zen2.. well AMD could have fixed that. Just release a single SKU on zen2 for it a (or 8-12-16 core CPU with a premium over the am4 variants) large majority of owners would likely eventually buy it for the 30-40% boost per core (especially over 1000)

. People who actually *need* 24/32 cores would still buy the new platform. As it stands it's not going to be that big a seller anyway, where x399 was a lot closer to mainstream with more affordable 8+12 core CPU.

Even now, 1920x is down to $200usd. It's very much an entry level pricepoint (mobo exxier than CPU to start lol) plenty of people could be enticed in with the prospect of a major upgrade later but nope.

 

Amd only ever promised am4 Continued support, if you didn't do your proper research than that's on you.

It's rough but they are atleast doing it for a reason unlike intel

 

Research or not, I doubt anyone was sitting there, at the end of 2017, expecting an X399 Threadripper mobo to offer less performance two years later than a B350 board. (Purely looking at cpu, and ignoring the NUMA beleaguered outliers)

It’s just a funny turn of events, really. And I doubt it really effects many people - most people are on HEDT for a reason, the TR40 upgrades are probably worth it to them.

 

I read it for tr4 as well on the same slides

It was, at minimum, heavily implied

And it's unneccessary to do this new socket too. Am4 was fine for zen2 so... What's the reason? "More bandwidth?". Not limited on am4. More IO? for who? All 10 customers that need that and wouldn't be better off with the SWTRX8 coming?

 

AMD making Intel competitive again.

 

I would be pissed if I had bought a Threadripper board. That would be a considerable personal investment
IMO there is a strong argument for staying with mainstream sockets.

 

Goes into detail why its a new socket..