The AMD Threadripper 2990WX 32-Core and 2950X 16-Core Review
by Dr. Ian Cutress on August 13, 2018 9:00 AM ESTTest Setup and Comparison Points
In our review kit from AMD, we were supplied with almost complete systems for testing. Inside the box of goods, AMD included:
- AMD Threadripper 2990WX (32C, 250W, $1799)
- AMD Threadripper 2950X (16C, 180W, $899)
- ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme motherboard, rev 2
- MSI X399 MEG Creation motherboard
- 4x8 GB of G.Skill FlareX DDR4-3200 14-14-14
- Wraith Ripper Cooler, co-developed with Cooler Master
- Enermax Liqtech 240 TR4 Liquid Cooler, rated to 500W
For our usual testing, we stick to the same power supplies, the same storage, ideally the same motherboard within a range of processors, and always use the latest BIOS. Despite AMD shipping us some reasonably fast memory, our standard policy is to test these systems at the maximum supported frequency as promoted by the processor manufacturer, or in this case DDR4-2933 for the new Threadripper 2000-series processors.
For our testing we compared the first generation Threadripper processors with the second generation parts. We also have the Intel 18-core Core i9-7980XE, some results from the Core i7-7900X (10-core), and also two mainstream processors, one Intel and one AMD. This is due to our new CPU testing suite, which takes effect today.
Due to an industry event occuring in the middle of our testing, we had to split some of the testing up and take 30 kg of kit half-way around the world to test in a hotel room during Flash Memory Summit. On the downside, it means there is some discontinuity in our testing, although not that much - on the plus side, the hardware tested in the hotel room had a good amount of air-conditioning to keep cool.
| AMD Test Setup | |||||
| CPUs | TR 2990WX | ASUS ROG Zenith | 0078 | Liqtech TR4 | 4x8GB DDR4-2933 |
| TR 2950X | ASUS ROG Zenith | 0078 | Liqtech TR4 | 4x8GB DDR4-2933 | |
| TR 1950X | ASUS X399-A Prime | 0806 | TRUE Cu | 4x4GB DDR4-2666 | |
| TR 1920X | ASUS ROG Zenith | 0078 | Liqtech TR4 | 4x8GB DDR4-2666 | |
| TR 1900X | ASUS X399-A Prime | 0806 | TRUE Cu | 4x4GB DDR4-2666 | |
| R7 2700X | ASUS Crosshair VI Hero | 0508 | Wraith Max | 4x8GB DDR4-2933 | |
| EPYC 7601 | GIGABYTE MZ31-AR0 | Fryzen | 8x128GB DDR4-2666 | ||
| GPU | Sapphire RX 460 2GB (CPU Tests) | ||||
| PSU | Corsair AX860i Corsair AX1200i |
||||
| SSD | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 x64 RS3 1709 Spectre and Meltdown Patched |
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The memory for our test suites was mostly G.Skill, with some Crucial. For the EPYC system, Micron sent us some LRDIMMs, so we fired up 1TB of memory to get all eight channels working.
On the Intel side, we are still getting up to speed on our testing.
| Intel Test Setup | |||||
| CPUs | i9-7980XE | ASRock X299 OC Formula | P1.40 | TRUE Cu | 4x8GB DDR4-2666 |
| i9-7900X | ASRock X299 OC Formula | P1.40 | TRUE Cu | 4x8GB DDR4-2666 | |
| i7-8700K | ASRock Z370 Gaming i7 | P1.70 | AR10-115XS | 4x4GB DDR4-2666 | |
| GPU | Sapphire RX 460 2GB (CPU Tests) | ||||
| PSU | Corsair AX860i Corsair AX1200i |
||||
| SSD | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 x64 RS3 1709 Spectre and Meltdown Patched |
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Over time we will be adding to our Intel CPUs tested.
Many thanks to...
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our multiple test beds. Some of this hardware is not in this test bed specifically, but is used in other testing.
Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX200 SSDs and to Micron for LRDIMMs. Crucial stepped up to the plate as our benchmark list grows larger with newer benchmarks and titles, and the 1TB MX200 units are strong performers. Based on Marvell's 88SS9189 controller and using Micron's 16nm 128Gbit MLC flash, these are 7mm high, 2.5-inch drives rated for 100K random read IOPs and 555/500 MB/s sequential read and write speeds. The 1TB models we are using here support TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 (eDrive) encryption and have a 320TB rated endurance with a three-year warranty.
Further Reading: AnandTech's Crucial MX200 (250 GB, 500 GB & 1TB) Review
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU. The AX1200i was the first power supply to offer digital control and management via Corsair's Link system, but under the hood it commands a 1200W rating at 50C with 80 PLUS Platinum certification. This allows for a minimum 89-92% efficiency at 115V and 90-94% at 230V. The AX1200i is completely modular, running the larger 200mm design, with a dual ball bearing 140mm fan to assist high-performance use. The AX1200i is designed to be a workhorse, with up to 8 PCIe connectors for suitable four-way GPU setups. The AX1200i also comes with a Zero RPM mode for the fan, which due to the design allows the fan to be switched off when the power supply is under 30% load.
Further Reading: AnandTech's Corsair AX1500i Power Supply Review
Thank you to G.Skill for providing us with memory. G.Skill has been a long-time supporter of AnandTech over the years, for testing beyond our CPU and motherboard memory reviews. We've reported on their high capacity and high-frequency kits, and every year at Computex G.Skill holds a world overclocking tournament with liquid nitrogen right on the show floor.
Further Reading: AnandTech's Memory Scaling on Haswell Review, with G.Skill DDR3-3000
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Lolimaster - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
I don't really see a point OCing the 2990WX, it seems quite efficient at stock setting with an average of 170w fully loaded, why go all the way to 400w+ for just 30% extra performance, it already destroys the 2950X/7980XE OCed to hell beyond repair.Lolimaster - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
Threadripper 2990WX = Raid Bossyeeeeman - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
Amazing performance from AMDs part. If you want to see a real review of 2990WX from a reviewer who understands how this CPU will be used, please check https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&...mapesdhs - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
Figured it would be those guys. 8) I talked to them way back when they started using C-ray for testing, after the original benchmark author handed it over to me for general public usage, though it's kinda spread all over the place since then. Yes, they did a good writeup. It's amusing when elsewhere one will see someone say something like, these CPUs are not best for gaming! Well, oh my, what a surprise, I could never have guessed. :DIn the future though, who knows. Fancy a full D-day simulator with thousands of players? 10 to 20 years from now, CPUs like this might be the norm.
eva02langley - Tuesday, August 14, 2018 - link
It is exactly what I said. If we don't have a proper test bed for a unique product like this, then the results we are going to provide are not going to be representative of the true potential of a CPU like this.Sites will need to update their benchmarks suites, or propose new review systems.
Gideon - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
Great article overall. The Fabric Power part was the most interesting one! Though you might want to check The Stilt's comments regarding that:https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/2990wx-review...
and:
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/2990wx-review...
Icehawk - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
Ian, for in progress articles can they please be labelled that way? I would rather wait for the article to be complete than read just a few pages and have to check back hoping it has been updated.mapesdhs - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
Ian, can you add C-ray to the multithreaded testing mix please? Becoming quite a popular test these days as it can scale to hundreds of threads. Just run at 8K res using the sphract scene file with a deep recursion depth (at least 8), to give a test that's complicated enough to last a decent amount of time and push out to main RAM a fair bit aswell.abufrejoval - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
Ok, I understand it we are all enjoying this pay-back moment: Intel getting it on the nose for trying to starve AMD and Nvidia by putting chipsets and GPUs into surplus transistors from process shrinks, transistors that couldn’t do anything meaningful for Excel (thing is: Spreadsheets would actually be ideal for multi-cores even GPGPU, you just need to rewrite them completely…)But actually, this article does its best to prepare y’all for the worst: Twice the cores won’t be twice the value, not this time around, nor the next… or the one after that.
Please take a moment and consider the stark future ahead of us: From now on PCs will be worse than middle class smartphones with ten cores, where it’s cheaper to cut & paste more cores than to think of something useful.
KAlmquist - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
I'm not sure AMD would have bothered with the 2990WX if it weren't for the Intel Core i9 7980XE. With 18 cores, the 7980XE beats the 16 core Threadripper 2950X pretty much across the board. On the other hand, if you running software that scales well across lots of cores--and you probably are if you're considering shelling out the money for a 7980XE--the 32 core 2990WX will be faster, for about $100 less.These are niche processors; I doubt either of them will sell in enough volume to make a significant difference to the bottom line at Intel or AMD. My guess is that both the 2990WX and the 7980XE were released more for the bragging rights than for the sales revenue they will produce.