AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X (16 core, 32 threads) Review
AMD Ryzen Threadripper with up to 32 cores
Last year’s Threadripper Zen architecture APUs brought a decent performance bump on previous AMD chips. These first-generation chips were built on the 14 nm FinFET fabrication process and included the 1950X, which was the first 16-core consumer-grade AMD APU. AMD followed this in April 2018 with nine Ryzen processors built on the new Zen+ architecture, including the Ryzen 7 2700X and the Ryzen 5 2600X. Zen+ is built with 12 nm processes, which should bring significantly better performance with the same power consumption as last year’s Ryzen APUs. The new Threadripper APUs also benefit from improved cache latencies and turbo boost functionality. These second-generation chips implement Extended Frequency Range 2 (XFR2) and Precision Boost 2 (PBO), the combination of which should allow the APUs to graduate their clock frequencies as more cores are used. This should mean that these new APUs can maintain turbo clock speeds for longer than last year’s chips.
The second-generation AMD Ryzen Threadripper APUs will be available from the August 11, 2018. AMD will be releasing four Ryzen Threadripper models that are divided into two categories, the X series and the WX series. The X series is aimed at gamers while the WX series is designed with content creators and innovators in mind, with the former rated at up to 180 W thermal design power (TDP) and the latter up to 250 W TDP.
Prices start at $649, with the most expensive 32-core and 64-thread APU costing $1,799 at launch. The entry-level Threadripper APU is the Ryzen 2920X, which has 12 cores and 24 threads. This means that AMD has eliminated octa-core APUs from its Threadripper range, but the Ryzen 7 2700X fills this gap. Unfortunately, AMD has not released any budget options based on the X399 platform; last year’s Threadripper APUs should drop in price though.
The new Threadripper APUs come in stylish and elaborately designed packaging, which is impressive at first glance.
All APUs arrive without a heatsink. AMD and Cooler Master have collaborated to create the Wraith Ripper, a heatsink that is designed to cool up to 250W TDP APUs. The Wraith Ripper costs about 100 Euros (~$114).
Overview of the new AMD Ryzen Threadripper APUs
Model | Cores - Threads | Base Clock | Turbo clock | TDP | Launch Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2nd generation | |||||
Ryzen Threadripper 2920X | 12-24 | 3.5GHz | 4.3GHz | 180W | $649 |
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | 16-32 | 3.5GHz | 4.4GHz | 180W | $899 |
Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX | 24-48 | 3.0GHz | 4.2GHz | 250W | $1,299 |
Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX | 32-64 | 3.0GHz | 4.2GHz | 250W | $1,799 |
1st generation | |||||
Ryzen Threadripper 1900X | 8-16 | 3.5GHz | 4.2GHz | 180W | $549 |
Ryzen Threadripper 1920X | 12-24 | 3.5 GHz | 4.2 GHz | 180 Watt | €829 |
Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | 16-32 | 3.4 GHz | 4.2 GHz | 180 Watt | €1,039 |
AMD has supplied us with the following hardware for our benchmarks and tests:
- AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X APU
- ASUS ROG ZENITH EXTREME (BIOS 0064, Default Settings, XMP 1 for DDR4-3200
- 2 x G.Skill DIMM 16 GB DDR4-3200 kit (14-14-14-34)
- Wraith Ripper heatsink
- Enermax Liqtech TR4 240 - AIO liquid cooling
Additional hardware used in our test system:
- XFX AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
- Antec 1,200 W power supply
- ADATA SX910 512 GB
- Western Digital 2 TB USB 3.0 HDD
Processor benchmarks
We expected the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X to have excellent multithreaded performance because of its 16 cores, which is confirmed by benchmark scores. The 2950X is a clear improvement over the Threadripper 1950X and even outscores the 10-core Intel Core i9-7900X. Despite being similarly priced, the 2950X outperforms the Core i9-7900X in the Cinebench R15 multithread benchmark because of its superior core count. In practical terms, the 2950X performs about 45% better in multithreaded applications than the Core i9-7900X.
Unfortunately, the 2950X falls short on single-core performance. Our test APU is on par with the Ryzen 7 2700X and 10% behind the Core i9-7900X. AMD does not conceal this shortcoming either, with AMD presenting a similar comparison table in their product briefing. We have included their comparison tables above. These values were confirmed during our tests.
Please note: We conducted our benchmarks with the Wraith Ripper heatsink. Using AIO cooling would tease out a bit more performance without overclocking.
Performance Rating - Percent | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X -1! | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K -2! | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X -3! | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X -4! |
Cinebench R15 | |
CPU Single 64Bit | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
CPU Multi 64Bit | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X |
Blender - v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X |
wPrime 2.10 | |
32m | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
1024m | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X |
X264 HD Benchmark 4.0 | |
Pass 1 | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
Pass 2 | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X |
WinRAR - Result | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X |
TrueCrypt | |
AES Mean 100MB | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
Twofish Mean 100MB | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
Serpent Mean 100MB | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X |
Geekbench 4.4 | |
64 Bit Single-Core Score | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
64 Bit Multi-Core Score | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X |
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance Physics | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X |
* ... smaller is better
We have little to say on throttling, simply because there wasn’t any. Our test APU performed consistently in a loop of the Cinebench R15 multithreaded benchmark. The Wraith Ripper performed well too and kept the 2950X sufficiently cool throughout.
Gaming Performance
Typically, games benefit from better single core performance than a higher core count, which is where the new Zen+ architecture comes in. Overall performance has been greatly improved thanks to various cache latency changes and better turbo performance. Unfortunately, we cannot make an objective judgment as to the 2950X’s gaming performance because most games can only take advantage of a maximum of four or eight cores. AMD has sought to overcome this with a game mode option in their Ryzen Master Utility, which activates only eight of the 16 cores. This generally improves performance by around 8% in games. We left our test APU at default settings for our benchmarks.
Overall, the 2950X offers solid gaming performance when paired with an AMD Radeon RX Vega 64. The Vega 64 is a performance bottleneck though, particularly at high resolutions like 4K. The 2950X is 9% off the Ryzen 7 2700X in our benchmarks, but only because games currently cannot take advantage of the 2950X’s 16 cores.
While AMD classes the X series as gaming APUs, they extend this to simultaneous streaming and 3D rendering. So, the 2950X is ideal for those who game but also have streaming services like Twitch running in the background. The 2950X is simply unbeatable in this regard.
Performance Rating - Percent | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile -47! | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 -3! | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal -44! | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) -43! | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 -3! | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) -47! | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) -47! | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) -47! | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) -47! |
BioShock Infinite | |
1280x720 Very Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1366x768 Medium Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1920x1080 Ultra Preset, DX11 (DDOF) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Rise of the Tomb Raider | |
1024x768 Lowest Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1366x768 Medium Preset AF:2x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Preset AA:FX AF:4x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Battlefield 1 | |
1280x720 Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1366x768 Medium Preset AA:FX | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Preset AA:T | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Battlefield 4 | |
1024x768 Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1366x768 Medium Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Assassin´s Creed Origins | |
1280x720 Very Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1920x1080 Medium Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 Ultra High Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark | |
1280x720 Lite Quality | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1920x1080 Standard Quality | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Quality | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Star Wars Battlefront 2 | |
1280x720 Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1920x1080 Medium Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 Ultra Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Deus Ex Mankind Divided | |
1280x720 Low Preset AF:1x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1366x768 Medium Preset AF:2x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Preset AF:4x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Far Cry Primal | |
1920x1080 Medium Preset AA:SM | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Preset AA:SM | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
For Honor | |
1280x720 Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Preset AA:T AF:8x | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Ghost Recon Wildlands | |
1280x720 Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 Very High Preset AA:T AF:8x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Kingdom Come: Deliverance | |
1280x720 Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1920x1080 Medium Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 Ultra High Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
The Division | |
1280x720 Low Preset AF:1x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1366x768 Medium Preset AF:4x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Preset AF:8x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
The Witcher 3 | |
1024x768 Low Graphics & Postprocessing | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
1366x768 Medium Graphics & Postprocessing | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Watch Dogs 2 | |
1280x720 Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1366x768 Medium Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 High Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
F1 2017 | |
1280x720 Ultra Low Preset | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 Ultra High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Far Cry 5 | |
1280x720 Low Preset AA:T | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal | |
1920x1080 Medium Preset AA:T | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal | |
3840x2160 Ultra Preset AA:T | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
The Crew 2 | |
3840x2160 Ultra Preset | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1280x720 Low Preset | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
1920x1080 Medium Preset | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 |
Threadripper 2950X
low | med. | high | ultra | 4K | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BioShock Infinite (2013) | 297.3 | 254.7 | 233.3 | 163 | |
Battlefield 4 (2013) | 191.8 | 188 | 190 | 136.3 | 73.4 |
The Witcher 3 (2015) | 298.7 | 220 | 136.8 | 80.9 | 49.7 |
Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | 258.9 | 189.7 | 120.5 | 105.7 | 51.2 |
Far Cry Primal (2016) | 97 | 87 | 79 | 74 | 50 |
The Division (2016) | 205.1 | 174.7 | 122.7 | 98.9 | 50.3 |
Deus Ex Mankind Divided (2016) | 112.8 | 107.9 | 97.3 | 53.3 | 35.5 |
Battlefield 1 (2016) | 173 | 162 | 150.4 | 135.6 | 61.2 |
Watch Dogs 2 (2016) | 99.3 | 88 | 82.1 | 68.5 | 37.8 |
For Honor (2017) | 142.8 | 139.9 | 139.8 | 127.7 | 49.5 |
Ghost Recon Wildlands (2017) | 113.5 | 85.4 | 82.9 | 52.6 | 36.2 |
F1 2017 (2017) | 189 | 178 | 161 | 129 | 55 |
Assassin´s Creed Origins (2017) | 81 | 76 | 75 | 67 | 34 |
Call of Duty WWII (2017) | 187.2 | 184.9 | 122.9 | 115.5 | 61.1 |
Need for Speed Payback (2017) | 121.9 | 115.3 | 113 | 110.4 | 49.6 |
Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2017) | 193.7 | 146.7 | 124.2 | 107.6 | 36.5 |
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 143 | 88.1 | 59.8 | 28 | |
Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018) | 121.4 | 111.3 | 86 | 67.3 | 27.1 |
Far Cry 5 (2018) | 100 | 90 | 86 | 80 | 45 |
The Crew 2 (2018) | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 42.3 |
Application Performance
The 2950X performs exceptionally well in PCMark 10 and is clearly ahead of the Core i9-7900X. By contrast, our test APU is only 4% ahead of the Ryzen 7 2700X in these benchmarks. Overall, our 2950X test system is fast and latency free.
AMD also offers its StoreMI tool for free for all X399 motherboards following the launch of its new Threadripper APUs. StoreMI combines the advantages of an SSD and an HDD by generating a drive from two physical drives and 2 GB RAM. The tool then analyses user behavior and stores frequently used programs on this faster virtual drive for improved system performance.
PCMark 10 - Score | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K |
PCMark 8 | |
Work Score Accelerated v2 | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X | |
Creative Score Accelerated v2 | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
Home Score Accelerated v2 | |
Intel Core i9-7900X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | |
Intel Core i7-8700K | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X |
Emissions
Our test APU performed well during our stress tests. The Wraith Ripper easily cooled the 180 W APU, which should be expected as the heatsink supports up to 250 W chips. We ran our stress tests without putting our test system in a case. APU core temperature reached 64 °C in this test scenario with the air-cooled Wraith Ripper. The APU operated at between 3.7 and 3.8 GHz during our stress tests, which is exactly what AMD promises.
We would recommend pairing such a strong APU with liquid cooling for best overall performance. AMD provided us with the Enermax Liqtech 240 for our testing, which delivered an overall better experience than the Wraith Ripper. While the APU still reached 62 °C under load, fan noise is considerably lower at idle when using the Liqtech 240 rather than the Wraith Ripper.
Temperatures - CPU Temperature Prime95 | |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X |
Heatsinks
All new Threadripper APUs come without a heatsink. AMD has provided us with the air-cooler Cooler Master Wraith Ripper and the liquid-cooled Enermax Liqtech 240 for our tests.
Before we go any further, both heatsinks performed well throughout testing. Starting with the Wraith Ripper, this cooler is equipped with a 120 mm fan and RGB lighting. The size of the Wraith Ripper should not be underestimated though. The Wraith Ripper blocked the first PCIe slot on the ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme's motherboard and made installing RAM modules tricky. The modules provided to us still fitted, but there isn’t enough clearance to use RAM modules with large RGB heat spreaders.
On a separate note, the weight of a test system is a whopping 3.6 kg.
The Enermax Liqtech 240 cools the APU more effectively and works more quietly than the Wraith Ripper. The liquid cooler is plug and play and does not obstruct either the PCIe slot on the ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme's motherboard or the RAM modules. We would recommend this heatsink over the Wraith Ripper if you have room in your case.
Power Consumption
The 2950X is not designed to be a power-efficient APU with its 180 W maximum TDP. The APU is relatively economic in idle though, with our test APU averaging 83 W. This is only 9 W higher than the Ryzen 7 2700X. This rises to 262 W during Cinebench R15 multi and to a maximum of 269 W during a Prime95 stress test.
We also looked at the power consumption of our entire test system. Our test system averaged 410 W while running The Witcher 3. There are a few caveats here though. Firstly, it is worth considering the power consumption of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64. Secondly, we conducted this test with the Liqtech 240 heatsink cooling the APU. Finally, we did not connect our test system to a display during this test.
Power Consumption | |
Cinebench R15 Multi (external Monitor) | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X | |
1920x1080 The Witcher 3 ultra (external Monitor) | |
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X |
* ... smaller is better
Overclocking
Overclocking remains an option for getting the most out of hardware, and the 2950X is an easy APU to overclock. We managed to overclock our test APU to 4.2 GHz across all cores with the Liqtech 240. Core temperatures reached 74 °C under load, but we could not achieve stable clock speeds beyond 4.2 GHz.
Our test APU scored 3,585 points in Cinebench R15 multi when overclocked, which is 475 points higher than it scored at stock speeds. Our test APU scored two points fewer in the Cinebench R15 single-core benchmark than it did at stock speeds. This is more likely to be regular fluctuations in results than overclocking resulting in worse single-core performance.
Manually overclocking the 2950X disables both XFR2 and PBO. This is a major downside as the APU can only reach 4.4 GHz with XFR2 enabled.
Another factor to consider when overclocking is the increased power consumption. Power consumption increases by around 120 W when running Prime95, for example. Overall, our test APU averages 390 W under load when overclocked. This is incredibly high and something that we would advise against doing unless you can properly cool the APU.
Please note: All attempts at overclocking are at your own risk and voids any manufacturer warranty. AMD Ryzen Master Utility displays a corresponding warning message before allowing you to overclock your APU.
Verdict
AMD has now released its new series of Threadripper APUs following its Zen+ architecture refresh of its other Ryzen APUs this spring. All four of the new Threadripper APUs are based on the 12 nm FinFET manufacturing process and bring a series of improvements over their predecessors. AMD has not only increased clock speeds but also ramped up core count too; the 24 and 32-core WX series chips are real workhorse workstation APUs.
The new top APU for enthusiasts and gamers is the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X, which succeeds the Threadripper 1950X APU. The 2950X is a 16-core chip with 32 simultaneous threads and a 180 W maximum TDP. AMD has increased the clock speed between generations too and implemented both XFR2 and PBO to better regulate turbo clock speeds under load. The 2950X automatically adapts clock speeds in 25 MHz increments for more precise clock speed adjustments.
Overall, the 2950X works is a strong performer in both games and in wider applications. AMD has priced the 2950X attractively and offers significantly more performance than the Intel Core i9-7900X for the same money.
The second generation of AMD Ryzen Threadripper APUs is considerably more powerful than their predecessors. AMD has brought the first consumer level 32-core processors to the market, chips which have only previously been found in servers. These new APUs, specifically the Threadripper 2950X, have a strong price-to-performance ratio that puts Intel under serious pressure.
AMD has a well-known upgrade policy that has a good reputation. If you already own an X399 motherboard, then you can upgrade to the latest generation of Threadripper APUs with just a BIOS update. This even applies to the 250 W WX series Threadripper APUs.
Those who cannot or will not do without the power of 16 cores will be rewarded with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X, particularly because of its performance in multithreaded optimized applications. Intel currently offers no comparable CPU at this price with this level of performance, which is why the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X gets a clear recommendation from us.