AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9000 Platform
For this, we are using the ASUS Pro WS TRX50 SAGE WIFI again. This is a platform we use on a daily basis in the studio, so it is one that we are very familiar with.
One of the new features of this generation is the DDR5-6400 support. Here you can see the G.Skill ECC RDIMM modules. With only 4-channel memory and 1DPC, we only get four DIMMs. As a result, there are options for easy 4x 64GB ECC RDIMMs and 256GB, but for those overclocking, there is a good chance of using only 96GB to 192GB. When you consider that 16-core AM5 systems have two-channel memory and 2DPC operation, quadrupling the cores does not necessarily mean you get to scale the memory capacity as much. We also used both V-Color DDR5-7200 192GB ECC Kit and a new DDR5-8000 ECC RDIMM kit that we will cover soon on STH.
Of course, in the platform we get an array of SSDs. We used 4TB WD Black SN850X SSDs here as data drives.
Of course, you also get more PCIe lanes with the TRX50 platform, so you can connect GPUs and high-speed networking.
This was the test platform with the Radeon Pro W7700 in it. We also used a NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada and a NVIDIA RTX 5090 in the system.
Compared to the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX, as an example, the newer generation Threadripper platforms are great low-drama platforms, just like the old Intel Xeon E5 workstation platforms we tested years ago.
Key Lessons Learned
Pricing is significant, and that matters. At $4999, the AMD Threadripper 9980X is twice the price of the Threadripper 9970X while also offering twice the cores. Then again, that is where we are these days. A top-end workstation GPU is in the $8000-9000 range these days, and that is each. High-end NICs start at around $1000 if you want a 400GbE NIC to put into a PCIe Gen5 x16 slot. For a huge portion of our audience, the gap between the lower-end AM5 parts and the HEDT-focused parts is enormous, and potentially not worthwhile.
There is also a part of me that wishes these CPUs had the AMD EPYC 8004 “Siena” memory and I/O footprint. 6 channels of DDR5 and 96 PCIe Gen5 lanes would be spectacular with higher-TDP Zen 5 cores. The other thing that would do, especially with DDR5-6400 support, is to make it very hard for the Xeon W-3000 series to compete. Of course, 8-channel memory is not just about the channels, but also the capacity, and that is where Xeon still can win versus the HEDT Threadripper.
At the same time, the Threadripper 7000 series was ahead of the Intel Xeon competition. If we then add roughly 15-25% performance, then it is still ahead, just by a bit more margin. That leads me to say that this is one where I would recommend the Threadripper 9000 over the Threadripper 7000 today onwards.
In Taipei earlier this year, I also asked AMD something along the lines of “why release the Threadripper 9000 series since the Threadripper 7000 series was already highly competitive?” The answer I got was multi-pronged. Perhaps the answers that resonated most were that AMD needed to move its line to Zen 5 (where is the EPYC 8005?) and that it needed to give OEMs a new product to sell customers. Both are fair.
Final Words
Let us get really controversial here. If you already have a Threadripper 7000 series, I would find it hard to recommend pulling a chip to upgrade to the same core count Threadripper 9000, even if you can put it in the same system. The Threadripper 9980X is a simply stellar part. We had enough time with the parts that I used the Threadripper 9970X and the 9980X in systems setup virtually identically (including DDR5-8000 overclocks.) There were a few times when I thought that the 32-core with the higher base clock and two AI Pro R9700’s would be what I would pick for ~$5000. 32 cores is a decent amount still.
Still, the Threadripper 9000 series goes beyond just the core counts. Having ECC memory and plenty of PCIe Gen5 bandwidth is a great combination in a modern system. That said, these chips are not cheap. At $5000 MSRP and with 64 cores, I still see this as more of a platform for those who need it. That is a lot of money to spend on a CPU if you are not generating revenue from it or are not utilizing it for more than as a glorified gaming CPU. For those who simply want a great HEDT CPU without having to get into the Threadripper Pro 9000 WX series, then the Threadripper 9980X is a great part.
Still better… Yeah, if you’ve got the money for it. I suspect almost nobody will have this kind of money, so these probably won’t sell very many units. Just my hunch, though.
AMD’s Zen 5 desktop parts were initially released with MSRPs that led to swift price cuts and bundle deals to prop up weaker than expected sales. AMD’s RDNA 4 consumer GPUs were initially released with MSRPs that led to swift price ‘rebates’ and weaker than expected sales (AMD actually lost market share to nvidia in the consumer GPU space).
AMD’s Epyc and Instinct parts can be priced at levels where hobbyists don’t purchase them new, because they are obviously intended for enterprise use where budgets are much larger.
So which category is AMD trying to put the Threadripper line-up in? I think it would be reasonable for the high core count Threadrippers to be in the ‘can be priced such that they are targeted at enterprise budgets’ category and the low core count Threadrippers to be in the ‘should be priced such that they are targeted at hobbyist budgets’ category. But unfortunately, it seems that even the low core count Threadrippers are way too expensive.
For many tasks memory bandwidth is the bottleneck. Apple targeted three marketing niches with their M4, M4 Pro and M4 Max processors, each having roughly double the bandwidth of the previous. The Ryzen, Ryzen Threadripper and Ryzen Threadripper Pro WX follow the same memory-bandwidth-doubling pattern for x86 desktops.
While number of PCIe lanes and core counts also vary, it would be interesting to see a head-to-head comparison between the Apple and AMD lineups focusing on memory bandwidth and how that affects different types of computing applications.
I want this for my workstation so badly. With the sheer amount of computation I and need processing power this will help push me over the edge to get one at least before the year is out. I’ll drop down to the lower 9970x pro as i need to still buy RAM for this beast.
This will last me for the next 3 years to make my accountant happy :D
This Threadripper 9980X and 9970X article seems very price/performance focused, which is excellent, but a couple of paragraphs mentioning the (for example) EPYC 4585PX, would be better.
That processor is only $700 (with half the performance and a third the cost, with half the power consumption). A savings great enough to pay for the whole system, along with the three R9700s.