From PC Mag: Almost exactly a year after its first Ryzen Threadripper processors burst into the somewhat stagnant market for high-performance desktop (HEDT) consumer CPUs, AMD is poised to give gamers, multimedia pros, and other bleeding edge-dwellers four new Threadripper chips with even better potential performance—and higher price tags on the peak models.
The top-of-the-line silicon in this new batch of four is the Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX, which boasts a gaudy 32 cores, 64 threads, and a 3GHz base clock frequency with boost potential of up to 4.2GHz. It will head up a new line of two "WX"-series processors in the line, distinct from the lesser "X" models. (The original Threadrippers, headed by the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X$798.00 at Amazon, were all classed as X chips.)
The 2990WX will set you back a cool $1,799, nearly double the price of the previous-generation 1950X flagship.
For all that extra cash, you get so much potential compute power that the Threadripper 2990WX is overkill for pretty much anyone other than people who need heaps and heaps of multi-threaded performance from their CPU. The comparison with the eponymous Tesla performance mode here is apt because you really will never use the 2990WX's full potential unless you are running software that eats up threads and cores; think 3D rendering, CAD design apps, pro design packages, and the like. It's definitely overkill for even the most demanding of PC games; if it's like 2017's Threadrippers, you will have to switch off a swath of the cores, in some cases, for optimal performance with some games.
View: Article @ Source Site
