Lenovo and AMD Launch Threadripper Pro CPU To Take on Intel Xeon (cnet.com)
- Reference: 0133358086
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/20/07/14/186207/lenovo-and-amd-launch-threadripper-pro-cpu-to-take-on-intel-xeon
- Source link: https://www.cnet.com/news/lenovo-and-amd-launch-threadripper-pro-cpu-to-take-on-intel-xeon/
> The CPU comes in four variants: 3945WX (12 cores, with the fastest single-core speeds), 3955WX (16 cores), 3975WX (32 cores) and 3995WX (64 cores). At the moment, to achieve core counts that high with the Intel Xeon, you have to use multiple CPUs. They all come with some of the perks of AMD's architecture, including support for PCI Gen4 -- in this case, up to 128 lanes. And the Pro versions add support for more types of memory, notably RDIMM and LRDIMM, over the high-end consumer-focused Threadripper, plus 8 memory channels vs. 4, which lets it support up to 2TB of memory. On the downside, while AMD supports faster internal transfers than Intel via PCI 4, it doesn't offer any high-speed external data transfer capabilities a la Thunderbolt 3. And in fact, the ThinkStation P620's fastest connections are USB 3.2 Gen 2 and 10Gb Ethernet.
[1] https://www.cnet.com/news/lenovo-and-amd-launch-threadripper-pro-cpu-to-take-on-intel-xeon/
I hate CPU names (Score:1, Flamebait)
> The CPU comes in four variants: 3945WX (12 cores, with the fastest single-core speeds), 3955WX (16 cores), 3975WX (32 cores) and 3995WX (64 cores).
Why do companies keep using confusing and obscure names for their products?
It's called the Ryzen Threadripper Pro, so the acronym would be RTP and thus the names should have been RTP12, RTP16, RTP32 and RTP64. Maybe add a number after R to denote which Ryzen generation they are.
"AMD R3TP64" doesn't sound any worst than "AMD 3995WX" but at least with R3TP64 the l
Re: (Score:3)
Your lineup "RTP12, RTP16, RTP32, RTP64" may work fine today. But what are you going to call the variant of RTP32 that is binned for higher clock speed or more cache?
I sympathize with you. The model numbers of CPUs (especially Intel) are overwhelming. But when they are made in many different fabs and production processes, with varying yields (causing all kinds of combinations of cache and #cores), for desktop, laptop, workstation, low-power versus performance, different socket types, it's hard to come with
Re: (Score:1)
>> Why do companies keep using confusing and obscure names for their products?
>>
>> Same reason intel started using names like Pentium. The older "names" like 80486DX2 66 weren't covered by trademark or patent as they were just part numbers and other companies could use the same ones for their equivalents.
motherboard? (Score:2)
Finally they have registered DIMM support. Next up, motherboards?
This is a great step and eats into the remaining niches Intel had an edge in. About the only thing left after this is funky machines with more than two sockets.
Re: (Score:2)
> This is a great step and eats into the remaining niches Intel had an edge in.
The consumer market for CPUs doesn't turn much of a profit. The server market is where AMD ate Intel's lunch.
Socket SP3 ? (Score:2)
Actual link to the [1]P620 specs [thinkstation-specs.com]
Interesting that the description for the socket reads:
> Socket Type: Socket-SP3 (SM-LGA)
Are there any estimates for how these new CPUs compare to the current gen. when they arrive in the fall?
* 12 cores: 3945WX vs R9 3900X @ 3.8 GHz
* 16 cores: 3955WX vs R9 3950X @ 3.5 GHz
* 24 core: ??? vs TR 3960X @ 3.8 GHz
* 32 cores: 3975WX vs TR 3970X @ 3.7 GHz
* 64 cores: 3995WX vs TR 3990X @2.9 GHz
--
A man cutting his balls off doesn't make him a smart woman -- it makes him a dumb man for focus
[1] https://thinkstation-specs.com/thinkstation/p620/
Must be doing really well. (Score:3)
If AMD is giving attention to desktop workstations then they must be selling server chips like hotcakes. The consumer market has thin profit margins so if they are willing to put in the effort to push a high-end workstation chips then they are either selling server chips quickly or are desperate to sell anything. Considering Intel has been hemorrhaging since Meltdown was found and the slow trickle of Spectre flaws, I'm willing to be AMD is doing quite well.
Base clock increased and decreased? (Score:2)
Looks like the WX got a slight performance bump on the low end but a decrease on the high end??? Level1Tech has this [1]video [youtu.be] where they give some specs:
* 12 cores: 3945WX @ 4.0 GHz vs R9 3900X @ 3.8 GHz
* 16 cores: 3955WX @ 3.9 Hhz vs R9 3950X @ 3.5 GHz
* 24 core: n/a vs TR 3960X @ 3.8 GHz
* 32 cores: 3975WX @3.5 GHz vs TR 3970X @ 3.7 GHz
* 64 cores: 3995WX @2.7 GHz vs TR 3990X @2.9 GHz
Something to be cautious about as pointed out by one of the comments on YouTube: Lenovo the company that has been caught multipl
[1] https://youtu.be/0g743FW0h_k?t=68
Thunderbolt 3 available as add-in card (Score:4, Interesting)
You can now buy add in cards to support Thunderbolt 3 on an AMD system now. The upcoming USB 4 variant of thunderbolt 3 will also soon be available as an add-in.
Re: (Score:1)
I'm using one with an "old" 3990X-based system and Ubuntu 20.04, with openzfs running cross-platform RAID with a Mac. The 3990X is a beast! I almost wish I'd waited for the 3995, because the 3990X is limited to 256GB.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm all-AMD myself but TB3 on an add-on card will be slower than Intel's integrated solution due to having to go trough a PCIE bridge.
Re: (Score:3)
> I'm all-AMD myself but TB3 on an add-on card will be slower than Intel's integrated solution due to having to go trough a PCIE bridge.
TB3 and TB4 both have 40 Gb/s signalling rates. That's 2.5 lanes of PCIe gen4. Aside from some small latency penalty for the TB - PCIe interface, there's plenty of bandwidth available with a PCIe Gen4 x4 card.
You could have 3 TB3/4 ports at full capacity with an x8 card.
Re: (Score:1)
I get higher RAID0 throughput (6 SSDs) on the 3990X with TB3 add-in card than with the same array attached to a 2019 Mac Pro.
Re: (Score:2)
Or simply get one of the available PCIe 4.0 Nvme SSD's for your AMD rig. I've got one on my "lowly" Ryzen 9 3900x (only 24 threads) and get read speeds of about 4G/sec from a single 2TB flash device.
Best,
what about a Thinkpad? (Score:2)
i would love a Threadripper powered thinkpad,
Dear Santa, i been a good boy all year, and i want a Thinkpad with a Threadripper CPU
They also need an desktop class one like xeon E3! (Score:2)
They also need an desktop class one like xeon E3!
Or very least we need desktop socket amd boards with IPMI and ecc.
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't the desktop version be the Threadripper?
Why would a desktop board need ECC or IPMI? Those are workstation and server class options that make no real sense on the desktop.
Re: They also need an desktop class one like xeon (Score:2)
The E3 is a sweet spot for a compute node in cluster. Granted, IPMI is not necessary, but it is handy when troubleshooting.
Re: (Score:2)
A workstation is often a desktop, just a high level desktop.
3990 and 3995 are both threadrippers, the difference is that the 3995 have more memory buses and can address more memory, so less of a bottleneck when handling memory-intense operations. Not every application needs a higher memory bandwidth so the 3990 is enough for a lot of high end.
I'm just waiting for someone to put together a gaming rig with the 3995WX when it comes out - just because they can.
Re: (Score:2)
I can see ECC on the desktop, but not IPMI. Why would you need that?
Re: (Score:2)
And why would you like to have that security hole?
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think that the options are as broad as with low end Xeons; but there are at least a few. The [1]X470D4U [asrockrack.com] supports Ryzen CPUs, up to 128GB of RAM(including ECC, non-ECC also supported) and has full IPMI/BMC; and there's the X470D4U2-2T which is pretty much the same thing except with dual 10GbE rather than dual GbE.
They also have some IPMI-equipped Threadripper options; like the X399D8A-2T.
[1] https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=X470D4U#Specifications