AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X flexes as world's most powerful HEDT CPU by powering past all Xeon and EPYC chips on PassMark

Not too long ago, Threadripper PRO 7000 series processors hit PassMark and easily took the lead in the database’s CPU Mark benchmark suite table. Now the more retail-oriented AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X has appeared, and it has left the sort of mark that should be expected from a Team RED high-end desktop (HEDT) chip that has 64 cores and 128 threads of Zen 4 knowhow to call upon. The 7980X ended up with a mark of 137,775, which was enough to leave it in third position in the current CPU Mark chart and a long way ahead of anything Xeon-flavored.

In fact, the new AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X (now available on Amazon) is so powerful it also managed to outmuscle a flock of powerful EPYC server chips, despite the EPYC 9654 part having 96 cores and 192 threads of processing capabilities to call upon. The Threadripper 7980X has a base clock of 3.2 GHz while its boost clock can reach an impressive 5.1 GHz, which is quite the speed for a chip of this type. With a 256 MB L3 cache and a 350 W default TDP to rely on, it’s clear to see why AMD trumpets this particular Threadripper as the world’s most powerful HEDT chip.

Only a single sample of the Ryzen Threadripper 7980X has hit PassMark so far, so there is a high margin of error here, although results don’t tend to fluctuate too wildly on this particular benchmark site. In terms of comparing the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X with its nearest retail-targeted predecessor, the difference is astonishing. The Ryzen Threadripper 3990X was AMD’s last effort in this specific arena, and it is a Zen 2 chip from 2020. The difference between the 7980X’s result and that of the 3990X is +70.2%, with the same number of cores and threads to hand but a speed bump for the newer part. The Storm Peak chip is very powerful, but with an MSRP of US$4,999 it simply has to impress.