AMD piles pressure on Xeon with Ryzen Threadripper Pro CPUs: Higher clocks, more memory
AMD has introduced its new family of processors designed for the so-called extreme workstations as well as performance enthusiasts with deep pockets.
AMD’s new Ryzen Threadripper Pro CPU family offers high core counts, SKUs with high clocks and features one comes to expect from AMD’s Pro line.
Perhaps, the most important improvement of the new processors is support for up to 2TB of DDR4 memory.
AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro
AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3900WX-series family of CPUs includes five models: the 64-core Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3995WX, the 32-core Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3975WX, the 16-core Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3955WX, and the 12-core Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3945WX.
The first three CPUs feature slightly higher max boost clocks when compared to AMD’s existing Ryzen Threadripper 3900-series products, whereas the remaining two feature a ‘moderate’ core count, but rather high frequencies to offer unbeatable per-core performance.
All of AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3900WX-sereis processors support up to 2 TB of DDR4 memory using various types of DRAM modules, a capability important for memory intensive workloads like rendering or data analytics. Traditionally for Threadrippers, the new CPUs also feature 128 PCIe lanes for high-end graphics cards, compute accelerators, and storage devices.
With its 3rd Generation Ryzen Threadripper processors featuring up to 64 cores, AMD clearly commands the high-end desktop and extreme workstations world. Meanwhile, these CPUs do not address the small, but very lucrative market of traditional workstations that have requirements beyond raw performance. By launching its Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000-series processors, AMD not only addresses needs of leading makers of workstations and their business customers, but actually sets a new bar for this class of machines.
Just like AMD’s Ryzen Pro chips, the new Ryzen Threadripper Pro WX-series processors bring such features as an integrated TrustZone security processor, Transparent Secure Memory Encryption (TSME), Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, per-Application security for select applications, content protection, and DASH manageability.
With enhanced security and manageability, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3900WX CPUs will be welcomed by business and corporate users with performance demands that have had to stick to Intel’s Xeon W-series because of Intel’s vPro set of capabilities and some other improvements.
To fully support security and remote management capabilities, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro chips use a new platform based on AMD’s TRX40 chipset, but with certain enhancements on the motherboard design level (e.g., mandatory TPM 2.0 chip).
Enhanced performance and capabilities come at a price. The new AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro processors will cost more than their ‘non-Pro’ counterparts.