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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MrSpadge - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
I don't think AVX512 is going to matter much anytime soon. However, The 8 memory channels of EPYC could matter a lot for HPC.ElFenix - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
You guys need a 4k or maybe even 5k workload for transcoding - it's thread limited at 1080p so it becomes IPC and turbo limited. With x265 you can load up multiple 1080p handbrake instances on these high core count processors and they don't break a sweat.ElFenix - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
That should be *1080p spawns limited numbers of threads*T1beriu - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
>Europe is famed for its lack of air conditioning everywhereUK is a lot colder generally in the summer compared to the rest of Europe. I wouldn't generalize the lack of AC for the rest of Europe. AC is pretty common in my country.
jospoortvliet - Saturday, August 18, 2018 - link
Missing everywhere here in Germany... though after this insanely hot summer i bet that that will begin to change...powerincarnate - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
I didn't see a lot of gaming benchmarks, which I guess I understand, since these are more workstation cpus. It would be good to have seen both though to get a better idea of the overall qualities of the cpu as a multipurpose care.It seems from tomshardware benches that 7980xe, especially when overclocked, is best overall. AMD 2990wx obviously winning on the pure multi-threaded workstation stuff as long as it is not memory intensive.
It seems like the 2950x from both of these sites, is really the processor to get from the threadripper lineup.
it seems when gaming is taken to account, the best of both worlds is the 7900x
And for gaming, and when you factor price as well, the 8700k, 8086, and slightly behind, the 2700x are the cards to get.
Overall.... I'm a little disappointed in this release. Was much more impressed with the 2700x. It's likely since we didn't really get a true change in the manufacturing process or design of the chip, that the limitations of the 2990wx will probably be ironed out with Zen2 (this is Zen+ after all).
bill.rookard - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
Looking at it myself, yeah - these really aren't gaming CPUs by any stretch of the imagination, thus the lack of gaming benchmarks is perfectly understandable to me. As for the results of the benchmark results? I'm thinking the 2950x is the sweet spot. Lower power, lower latency, more power for the cores vs interconnects, and a much higher clockspeed makes it IMHO the better choice unless you have those fringe workloads which requires a bunch-o-cores.shendxx - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
this guy come from Toms that said 7900x is best for both world, lol, when the graph from toms show clearly even on gaming, 2950x is equal on Minimum FPS with 8700k and only lose 3 to 10 FPS On Average,apoclypse - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
I don't know. Gaming performance is the least thing I care about with this chip but that seems be all most tech press cares about, especially tech tubers. These chips are not for gaming. If anything these chips should be compared to Intel's Xeon line as it seems that is actually where AMD is aiming these at since they don't have a dedicated SKU for workstation chips like Intel. These are only marketed as HEDT chips because it gives AMD positive press, but if anything the ones who should be paying attention should be OEM high end workstation builders. In that regard Threadripper is more than compelling. It's higher clocked than Intel's Xeon chips, has more cores for less money, and still has all the pro level features that is needed for workstation level work.I think AMD should lean into that a bit more in their marketing but that stuff isn't sexy and it doesn't grab attention like marketing it towards rich and stupid "gamers", and the technorati who eat that stuff up.
This is a workstation chip period, and should be treated, tested and benchmarked as such, imo.
Icehawk - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
If only the tier 1 vendors would offer TR workstations... I really wanted to purchase a few for work to use as VM hosts but my only real option is Xeon currently. The 32 core monster would likely make for a great VM host for mid-weight usage.