AMD Threadripper 2920X

Twelve cores of pure unadulterated joy

WHEN THE FIRST SAMPLES of the early Threadripper processors ventured out into the wilds of the technology journo landscape, we were blown away. The high-end desktop processors were unlike anything we’d ever seen. They were incredible, with 16 cores and 32 threads, all for a little under a grand. AMD had slapped Intel’s high-end CPUs in the face, and made them take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. We’d expected as much. The Infinity Fabric design, the modular core complexes, the EPYC server arsenal—it was all lining up to create a perfect storm in which these high-end consumer parts could make some serious headway into the market.

The thing is, they weren’t perfect. They had their niggles. Memory compatibility, latency issues, slow single-core clock speeds—the Threadripper lineup was hardly bereft of problems. If plugand-play was the name of the game, Intel was still king, and the Core i97900X—although 12 threads down in comparison—still provided the best option for the high-end, power-hungry, plug-and-play enthusiast.

A year later, and like a good cheese, the Zen architecture has finally begun to mature. Threadripper 2, or “Plus,” or whatever the marketing types want to call it, has arrived. With it, a round of optimizations has followed, addressing that pesky memory latency issue. Has it made a difference? Absolutely. Throughout our Threadripper 2 testing, we encountered minimal issues in that department. The BIOS bugs and memory latency problems that plagued the platform upon launch are now a thing of the past. To put that into perspective, our Threadripper 2920X scored a solid 62.5ns memory response time. Intel’s Core i9-7980XE, on the other hand? 88ns. The Threadripper 1950X today? 87.6ns. When we tested it originally? Over 100ns. That’s a staggering improvement over the course of a year, and with Zen 2 featuring an even better memory design, it’s definitely going to be one to watch.

LIVING THE DREAM

Memory aside, all of this pushes the 2920X closer toward being that plug-andplay part we dreamed of back in 2017. Its 12 cores and 24 threads provide a fantastic base for streaming, rendering, and gaming. You don’t even have to worry about setting up Ryzen’s “game mode” to ensure your memory is operating correctly in game, either. On top of that, temps are incredible. Under our 240mm full-cover AIO, our review sample topped out at 60 C under load, and even after bumping up all 12 cores to 4.3GHz (1.42V), the most we saw was 72 C. That’s simply insane.

The competition, ironically, comes from AMD’s own lineup. In particular, the previous-generation Threadripper 1950X. The 2920X costs $650; you can now pick up a 1950X for $55 less. That’s four more cores for less than half the price of this reviewer’s weekly groceries; Zak loves yogurt (and if you don’t get that reference, he’s leaving the mag). You do lose out on that bumped-up single-core performance, and those sweet memory optimizations, but when it comes to multithreaded rendering, you’re in for a treat. In reality, you have two processors aimed at two separate audiences, with two different specifications, which, although they kinda compete with each other, they also kinda don’t.

When AMD set out to bring Threadripper 2 to market, its PRs told us it had two different parts: the WX, for workstation professionals, designed as a no-holds-barred memory rendering monster; and the X, for gamers, enthusiasts, and streamers. At first, we didn’t believe them. After all, despite its niggles, the first gen was fine for both, and marketing speak is usually just that: marketing. Now? Well, it’s nothing if not impressive to continually see AMD deliver on its CPU promises. –ZAK STOREY