AMD Pre-Announces 64-core Threadripper 3990X: Time To Open Your Wallet
by Dr. Ian Cutress on November 25, 2019 9:00 AM ESTEver since AMD announced its latest enterprise platform, Rome, and the EPYC 7002 series, one question that high-end desktop users have been wondering is when the 64-core hardware will filter down into more mainstream markets. White today AMD is announcing their Threadripper 3000 platform with 24-core and 32-core processors, the other part of AMD’s announcement today is that yes, they will be selling 64-core hardware to the masses, in the form of the Threadripper 3990X.
AMD isn’t giving too many details away just yet. As we predicted, there was room at the top of AMD’s naming strategy to expose more Threadripper hardware: one does not simply stop as the 3970X being the most powerful processor, and the 3990X will certainly take the mantle. AMD is announcing today that the 3990X will have 64 cores, 128 threads, and will have the full 256 MB of L3 cache.
The 3990X will be the high-end desktop equivalent of the EPYC 7742. This means that inside it will have eight chiplets, each with 8 cores enabled. This is compared to the 3960X/3970X being announced today, with 24 and 32 cores respectively, which only have four chiplets. We can tell that the four chiplet designs are that way by the L3 cache: when only four chiplets are active, it has 128 MB of L3 cache, however with all eight chiplets, the 3990X will have 256 MB of L3 cache. That’s a sizeable processor, and seemingly unthinkable for a consumer part. However, as we’ve learned from AMD since introducing Ryzen, they like to go aggressive and offer some level of parity between consumer and enterprise hardware.
One thing that will differentiate the 3990X from the EPYC hardware will be memory and PCIe count. We fully expect (although not confirmed) that the 3990X will have quad channel memory and 64 PCIe 4.0 lanes, compared to EPYC which has eight channel memory and 128 PCIe lanes. AMD has also confirmed that the 3990X will have a TDP above and beyond the EPYC 7742's, with the 3990X coming in at 280W TDP. If this seems familiar, then this is the same TDP as the 24-core and 32-core Threadripper parts. As a result, we do expect the per-core frequency of the 3990X to be higher than the EPYC, but lower than the other Threadrippers.
In our testing of the 3970X 32-core hardware, we saw that in the 280W TDP we had around 75W reserved for non-core activities, and 205W for the cores. Non-core activities in this instance means PCIe, Infinity Fabric, and memory channels. Moving up to the 3990X means double the IF connections, but the others stay the same. So even if that means we reserve 100W for non-core activities, that leaves 180 W for 64 cores, or around 3 W each per core when at full load. Based on what we know about Zen 2 frequency scaling with power, around 6 W per core gives 4.0 GHz, so 3 W per core should offer low-to-mid 3.0 GHz all-core frequencies.
This prediction actually fits well: AMD’s 240 W EPYC 7742 is a 2.35 GHz base, 3.2 GHz turbo, so we should expect frequencies north of that. There’s also the EPYC 7H12, a new part recently announced to cater for the high frequency market. Like the 3990X, it also has a 280W TDP, but a 2.6 GHz base frequency, and a 3.3 GHz turbo. There is no official pricing on the 7H12 as yet.
AMD HEDT SKUs | |||||||
AnandTech | Cores/ Threads |
Base/ Turbo |
L3 | DRAM 1DPC |
PCIe | TDP | SRP |
Third Generation Threadripper | |||||||
TR 3990X | 64 / 128 | 2.6+ / 3.3+ ? | 256 MB | 4 x ? | 64 ? | 280 W | arm |
TR 3980X ?* | 48 / 96 ? | ? | 256 MB | 4 x ? | 64 ? | 280 W ? | leg |
TR 3970X | 32 / 64 | 3.7 / 4.5 | 128 MB | 4x3200 | 64 | 280 W | $1999 |
TR 3960X | 24 / 48 | 3.8 / 4.5 | 128 MB | 4x3200 | 64 | 280 W | $1399 |
Second Generation Threadripper | |||||||
TR 2990WX | 32 / 64 | 3.0 / 4.2 | 64 MB | 4x2933 | 64 | 250 W | $1799 |
TR 2970WX | 24 / 48 | 3.0 / 4.2 | 64 MB | 4x2933 | 64 | 250 W | $1299 |
TR 2950X | 16 / 32 | 3.5 / 4.4 | 32 MB | 4x2933 | 64 | 180 W | $899 |
TR 2920X | 12 / 24 | 3.5 / 4.3 | 32 MB | 4x2933 | 64 | 180 W | $649 |
Ryzen 3000 | |||||||
Ryzen 9 3950X | 16 / 32 | 3.5 / 4.7 | 32 MB | 2x3200 | 24 | 105 W | $749 |
* TR 3980X is a theorized part due to a hole in AMD's naming. Specifications are guesses based on trends and potential hardware support. |
AMD is set to launch the Threadripper 3990X in 2020. Unfortunately we don’t get any more info than that at this time, but if we consider the 24-core 3960X at $1399, the 32-core 3970X at $1999, I can easily see this processor being at least $3999, if not more. The EPYC 7742 has an MSRP of $6950, and the 7H12 is higher than that, so the 3990X is going to cost a pretty penny by comparison.
Related Reading
- AMD Q4: 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X, Threadripper Up To 32-Core 3970X, Coming November 25th
- Details About 3rd Generation Ryzen Threadripper Appear: 24 and 32 Cores, Up to 280 W
- TRX40 Chipset For Upcoming AMD Ryzen Threadripper Listed
- Spotted at Computex: A Ryzen PC in a Threadripper RETAIL box
- Computer Upgrade King Shows Off a Compact 32-Core Ryzen Threadripper PC
- AMD’s New 280W 64-Core Rome CPU: The EPYC 7H12
- AMD Rome Second Generation EPYC Review: 2x 64-core Benchmarked
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Eastman - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
Apple has backed the wrong pony for their Mac Pro. They should've gone with AMD. Imagine a Mac Pro with 64 cores...Kishoreshack - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
How many kidney's do I need to sell?huhwhat? - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
4Hruodgar - Wednesday, November 27, 2019 - link
LOLextide - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
I'm calling it at $2499 / $2999 : 3980X / 3990Xris1989 - Tuesday, November 26, 2019 - link
To low, it's $600 from 24 to 32 cores, assuming that the 3980X would be a 48 core CPU it should be around $2800 to $3000, the 64 core should around $4000 since usually the top model always has a premium price.Kishoreshack - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
Type F to pay respect to IntelRIP INTEL
ilkhan - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
As much as "wow, yay, 64 cores", I'd really prefer a cheaper entry price to the TR3 boards. Put out an 8-core with a $100 markup over a 3800X and you'd find more people willing to jump to the TR3 platform.DanNeely - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
short of someone making a crippled board that's not likely. All the extra PCIe lanes and DDR slots require more PCB layers to connect everything; PCIe4 needing much more stringent manufacturing to send signals over the length of a mobo only makes things worse (this is the same reason why x570 boards are significantly more expensive than x470).nandnandnand - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
It's a delicate balance.*A lot of people don't really need Threadripper and their needs are met by 3900X and 3950X.
*You could use older Threadrippers. They can't be upgraded to the new ones due to the socket change, and the quad-die variants like 2990WX see massive performance drops in some scenarios. But price drops could make it worth it.
*You could use 8-core Epyc. Entry level Epyc 7232P is around $500. I don't know about the motherboards. At least you can get 8-channel memory and a lot of PCIe lanes this way.
I don't think the 8-core 1900X Threadripper was very popular, but I don't have a source for that. If it is true, AMD wants to reduce the overlap to prevent that from happening again (and make more money, of course).