The AMD Threadripper 2 CPU Review: The 24-Core 2970WX and 12-Core 2920X Tested
by Ian Cutress on October 29, 2018 9:00 AM ESTTest Bed and Setup
As per our processor testing policy, we take a premium category motherboard suitable for the socket, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the manufacturer's maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
| Test Setup | |||||
| AMD TR4 | TR2 2970WX TR2 2920X |
ASUS ROG X399 Zenith |
1501 | Enermax Liqtech TR4 |
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 4x8GB DDR4-2933 |
| TR2 2990WX TR2 2950X |
ASUS ROG X399 Zenith |
0508 | Enermax Liqtech TR4 |
G.Skill FlareX 4x8GB DDR4-2933 |
|
| TR 1950X TR 1920X |
ASUS ROG X399 Zenith |
0508 | Enermax | G.Skill FlareX 4x8GB DDR4-2666 |
|
| TR 1900X | ASUS X399-A Prime |
0407 | Enermax Liqtech TR4 |
Crucial Ballistix 4x4GB DDR4-2666 |
|
| AMD EPYC | EPYC 7601 | GIGABYTE MZ31-AR0 |
F07 | Gamerstorm Fryzen |
Micron LRDIMM 8x128GB DDR4-2666 |
| AMD 2000 | R7 2700X | ASRock X370 Gaming K4 |
P4.80 | Wraith Max* | G.Skill SniperX 2x8 GB DDR4-2933 |
| Intel HEDT | i9-7980XE i9-7960X i9-7940X i9-7920X i9-7900X i7-7820X i7-7800X |
ASRock X299 OC Formula |
P1.40 | TRUE Copper |
Crucial Ballistix 4x4GB DDR4-2666 |
| Intel 9th Gen | i9-9900K | ASRock Z370 Gaming i7 |
P1.70 | TRUE Copper |
Crucial Ballistix 4x4GB DDR4-2666 |
| GPU | Sapphire RX 460 2GB (CPU Tests) MSI GTX 1080 Gaming 8G (Gaming Tests) |
||||
| PSU | Corsair AX860i Corsair AX1200i |
||||
| SSD | Crucial MX200 1TB | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 x64 RS3 1709 Spectre and Meltdown Patched |
||||
| *VRM Supplimented with SST-FHP141-VF 173 CFM fans | |||||
All of AMD’s Threadripper 2 processors are unlocked, allowing users to push the frequency and voltage higher for extra performance. Due to time constraints, we will hopefully examine this in a later review.
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.
| Hardware Providers | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Silverstone Fans |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
69 Comments
View All Comments
euler007 - Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - link
For gaming a 8600k will beat the 2700x and is priced 16% less than a 2700x (just checked newegg prices).Stuka87 - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Hey guys, just a quick correction, World of Tanks has been using the Encore engine for six months now. So its not an unreleased engine. But it is a great engine, incredible performance for the graphics that it offers.Great article otherwise.
br83taylor - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Can you clarify if your benchmarks are with PBO enabled or disabled?hoohoo - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Civ 6 - the slowest paced strategy game ever, now rendered at high frame rates!hansmuff - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Just my personal wish list:Can you make 1080p the new 720p, drop 720p altogether, but add in1440p? I feel that's a pretty common resolution these days, and affordable high-frequency screens with FreeSync and G-SYNC are available. I think it would mean more to people than the mostly artificial 720p.
nevcairiel - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
720p may not have many real-world usecases anymore, however it does clearly show CPU performance scaling in games while removing most GPU bottlenecks entirely. Its definitely an interesting metric on that alone.mapesdhs - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
People argue this one a lot; some will say 720p is so unrealistic that what's the point? It shows differences at a resolution that virtually nobody uses, so who cares? Anyone buying this class of hw is far more likely to be gaming at least at 1080p and more likely 1440p or higher. Others say by using a low resolution it allows the test to be used as a psuedo CPU test, but it's hard to escape the criticism that such testing is still not real-world in any useful sense. Interesting from a technical perspective perhaps, but not *useful* when it comes to making a purchasing decision.GreenReaper - Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - link
It helps if you plan to keep the CPU around for when you buy your next video card, which might *then* be CPU-limited when running 1440p. You're basically finding what happens when the CPU is the bottleneck, which it might be in the future. For example, people who upgraded i7-3770K systems with modern video cards. AMD chips of that era (e.g. FX-8370) haven't held up so well.At the same time, if you plan to hand down the system to someone else and get a new one in three year's time, or repurpose it as a home server, the future potential may not matter to you at all.
SLVR - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Why no 9900K power consumption figures?mapesdhs - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
The IR radiation off the chip melted the power meter. ;)