As a processor, the AMD Threadripper 1950X is AMD's flagship prosumer processor, designed for users who are multi/mega-tasking, have specialized workloads that can take advantage of the many cores high end processors offer. On paper, it has near feature parity with similar Intel processors with potentially a lot more cores for a lot less money. So, really the question we all want to know is.... How is it?
In practice its great for my workloads. I fit the "Megatasker" profile as well as have some programs that I frequently use that scale well with many cores. So trans-coding video via x265, while testing virtual machines for work, while controlling home automation, web browsing, and some gaming on the side make for a buttery smooth experience no matter what I throw at the system.
Its good points:
--- Many many many cores taunt you to find workloads it cant handle.
--- The ability to run ECC (Error correction Code) memory adds a level of system stability formerly only available in server class processors.
--- Having so many PCI-E lanes that you don't need to worry about starving your networking, storage or graphics devices regardless of configuration.
--- Performance per $ that can outstrip the competition in relevant workloads.
--- Soldered IHS. It might seem a stretch to list this, but from investigations into thermal performance vs power consumption this can play a very big difference in why AMD can seemingly push more cores at faster clocks. They have an effective way of transferring waste heat from cores to IHS to the HSF/Cooler. AKA: They didn't cheap out on the thermal packaging - The enthusiast crowd thanks you, AMD.
Its neutral points:
--- This isnt the CPU for you if you are a casual user, a hard core gamer, or are not sure if your workloads would benefit from a >4 Core CPU.
--- The AMD (Ry)zen architecture is fairly new, so there are optimizations that are taking place so meet these new processors - this simply means that what you read about performance today will improve over time - all things considered. It isn't something that is a guarantee for every application, but nor is it a bad thing. When Zen first came out overclockers had a rough time with memory compatibility at stock speeds - now we have memory compatibility up to DDR4-3600 - things like this are expected to improve as well as software improvements. Again they are not guarantees so as to put this as a positive, but performance of these processors will grow a little bit over time as the ecosystem and programmers learn to optimize for it..
--- Power hungry. Of course a HEDT processor will pull a lot of power. It isnt good or bad, it is what it is. Just ensure your power supply, case and cooling system are appropriately sized for the thermals. Overclocking (if that's your thing) is a different story... See below:
The Bad Points:
--- Single threaded performance will trail comparable Intel processors - Intel still has a 10-15% advantage in IPC (but you arent buying this processor for single threaded workloads are you?)
--- Lacking AVX512 support (yes, AVX-512 is a mess right now with many (Partial) implementations and very little software that uses it to advantage - if you have such software, why are you looking at this, then? ;) )
--- The 1950X is pushing its own thermal envelopes at stock speeds with rational cooling. 16 Cores at 3.4-4.2 Ghz is really impressive - but sometimes the 1950X's little brother the 1920X (the 12 Core Threadripper) manages better thermals, better clocks (Less thermal throttling), and higher performance in some workloads.This seems to demonstrate that the 1950X wont have a lot of headroom for rational overclocking taken as a whole, and the need to size any threadripper system for abundant cooling- doing so will prevent thermal issues from such a high powered processor.. When we do overclock we see power consumption go through the roof - even when simply raising Memory frequencies can add an additional 30W of power consumption. If you are an overclocker and this is your hobby - there is a challenge here for you - bring a big power supply, and a lot of cooling.
Overall - Threadripper is a great "Halo" product from AMD that likely isnt for the majority of people out there - but it is an excellent choice for those who have a workload that matches its strengths. It also seems to be helping anyone who has noticed the stagnation of x86/x64 platform stagnation - Intel is now on high alert, and we see 6-core consumer chips imminent, price reductions for Intel HEDT processors, and this will only benifit us all in the long run.
| Processor | 4 GHz ryzen_threadripper_1950x |
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