AMD launches third generation Threadripper offering up to 32 cores and 64 threads for £1900

AMD claims up to 90 per cent improvement boost for third-generation Threadripper compared to Intel's $2,000 Core i9-9980XE

AMD has today unveiled its Threadripper workstation CPUs, the TR 3960X and the TR3970X.

However, while the first-generation Threadrippers surprised at the thread count and compute power for the price, the first two third-gen Threadrippers will cost £1,399 and £1,999, respectively - about £1,300 and £1900 including VAT.

The $1,399 TR3960X offers 24 cores and 48 threads with a base clock speed of 3.8GHz, capable of boosting to 4.5GHz. It has a large 140MB total cache. The $1999 TR3970X, meanwhile, offers 32 cores and 64 threads of workstation performance, running at a standard 3.7GHz, but also capable of boosting to 4.5GHz. It has a slightly larger cache at 144MB.

However, neither product will slot-in to existing TR4 motherboards. Instead, third generation Threadripper will require motherboards bearing the new TRX40 chipset and socket sTRX4. This, though, provides support for 88 PCIe 4.0 lanes enabling more devices to be connected to the motherboard without causing bottlenecks.

By comparison, third-generation Ryzen 9 3950X CPUs have a Level 3 cache of 64MB and 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes, while Intel's Core i9 10980XE has a 24.75MB cache and 48 PCIe 3.0 lanes.

Both Threadrippers are, of course, built on TSMC's 7nm process architecture.

This combination of features means that both Threadrippers offer substantially greater performance than Intel's $2,000 Core i9-9980XE, according to AMD's entirely impartial selection of benchmarks.

Specifically, 31 per cent and 43 per cent better running Chromium 78; 31 per cent and 36 per cent compiling Unreal Engine 4.23 workloads; and by 54 per cent and 90 per cent on AMD's favourite benchmark, Cinebench R20.

At the same time, AMD also unveiled the Athlon 3000G, a value Picasso APU (advanced processing unit - AMD speak for a CPU with integrated graphics). This pairs a 12nm Zen+ architecture core with last-generation Radeon Vega graphics. The attraction? The $49 asking price, which will weigh in at around £45 in the UK, including VAT.