This second-generation Ryzen Threadripper takes the best of the first iteration and fixes minor flaws. The result is a chip with particularly interesting application performance – significantly above the 7th generation Core i9s. And while it doesn’t match the best Intel chips in gaming, it gets close enough to it that we don’t really care. We are nevertheless disappointed by the small practical difference that we note between this Threadripper 2990WX and its predecessor, the Thredripper 2950X. To choose between the two, you might as well take the cheaper one.

General Info

AMD recovered in 2017 by offering a successful and finally competitive CPU architecture. The company continues its momentum and offers the second revision of its Ryzen Threadripper chips by adding some small retouching and improved engraving finesse. What to increase the number of hearts on certain references which aim, finally, more the professional sector than the informed users.

Performance

The Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX model has 32 cores and has SMT, therefore, allowing 64 threads to be displayed on its counter. The SMT is a system similar to Intel’s HT (Hyper-threading) and allows performance to be optimized in certain types of applications (audio/video/rendering in particular). The base frequency is 3 GHz and it is possible to reach 4.2 GHz via the Boost mode. Its thermal envelope is 250 watts. Considering the number of cores of this chip, it turns out to be slower in many consumer software.

The Ryzen Threadripper 2950X model has 16 cores and has SMT, therefore, allowing 32 threads to be displayed on its counter. The SMT is a system similar to Intel’s HT (Hyper-threading) and allows performance to be optimized in certain types of applications (audio/video/rendering in particular). The base frequency is 3.5 GHz and it is possible to reach 4.4 GHz via the Boost mode. Its thermal envelope is 180 watts.

Memory Support

Benchmarks

Conclusion!

Threadripper 2990WX

This second-generation Ryzen Threadripper takes the best of the first iteration and fixes minor flaws. AMD is now in a position to produce a 32-core / 64-thread chip, but this is clearly not for everyone. Advanced users – the famous “power users” or “enthusiasts” – are therefore not the target, which turns out to be the professional world of video editing, rendering and 3D modelling. In this type of application, the performance is simply bluffing, AMD managing to leave far behind the best chip from Intel at the time of this writing, the Core i9-7980XE.

Threadripper 2950X

This second-generation Ryzen Threadripper takes the best of the first iteration and fixes minor flaws. The result is a chip with particularly interesting application performance – significantly above the 7th generation Core i9s. And while it doesn’t match the best Intel chips in gaming, it gets close enough to it that we don’t really care. We are nevertheless disappointed by the small practical difference that we note between this Threadripper 2950X and its predecessor, the Thredripper 1950X. To choose between the two, you might as well take the cheaper one.

The Core i9-10900K is a high-end processor that knows how to take advantage of its 10 cores to offer high-end service in the application field. It is also a solution of choice for gamers equipped with high-end graphics cards, aided by its high frequencies. 

The Core i9-9900K excels in the application field and is formidable in games; where the second generation Ryzen are ahead. In absolute terms, it is therefore an excellent processor, and this, even if Intel has not offered anything new from an architectural point of view, since 2015. However, check the pricing position at the time of release.

General Info

	Intel Core i9-10900K	Intel Core i9-9900K
Price	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE
CPU Model	i9-10900K	i9-9900K
Manufacturing Process	14 nm	14 nm
Maximum CPU Configuration	1S	1S
Number of PCIe Lanes	16 Lanes	16 Lanes
Unlocked	Yes	Yes
Weight	88.45 g	99.79 g
Release date	8 October 2018	30 April 2020

The Core i9-10900K model has 10 cores and has Hyperthreading; it, therefore, displays 20 threads on its counter. The base frequency is 3.7 GHz and it is possible to reach 5.2 GHz on 2 cores in some cases. Via its Velocity Boost technology, it can grab an additional 100 MHz and reach 5.3 GHz on one core and 4.9 GHz on all cores as soon as its temperature is controlled – a high-end cooler or a water cooling system AiO is then recommended.

The Core i9-9900K model has 8 cores and has Hyper-threading; it, therefore, displays 16 threads on its counter. The base frequency is 3.6 GHz and it is possible to reach 5 GHz on 2 cores in some cases.

Performance

Memory Support

Integrated Graphics

Benchmarks

Overall benchmark performance

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Passmark

The Ryzen 9 with highly desired processors, the focus of all the reviews today, because they bring the performance of the large workstations of a few years ago. Now having a processor with more than 20 threads is relatively inexpensive, it can be achieved with domestic material and it is also achieved with surprising levels of performance that improve the experience of both the creator, the player, the programmer, or any other type of user.

In this generation, the Ryzen 9 5900X model with 12 cores and 24 threads from AMD maintains its dual CCD design, without the need for CCX within the CCDs, using only six cores per CCD connected to an IOD through the AMD Infinity Fabric interface. A design that maintains the cache size, but significantly improves the processor in any application even without the need to change the manufacturing process.

General Info

The Ryzen 9 5900X’s design is different from the two models around it, the Ryzen 7 5800X and the mighty Ryzen 9 5950X. These two processors use one or two full CCDs, the Ryzen 9 5900X uses two CCDs, but each of them only has 6 cores enabled. This is done by selecting packages where two of the cores are in poor condition or are simply disabled for commercial reasons.

With this design, the second-level cache remains at 512KB per core, which makes a total of 6MB of second-level cache available to the processor. What we will find is double the third-level cache that we would have in a single CCD design and the same that we will find in the 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X, with a total of 64MB of cache distributed between both CCDs.

Its base frequency is 3.7GHz, less than the Ryzen 7 5800X, but its turbo frequency goes up to 4.8GHz, 100MHz more than the Ryzen 7. This makes it a faster processor both in applications that take advantage of many cores and in the They are not prepared to take advantage of the level of parallel processing of these units with huge numbers of cores available.

The feature of this generation is that it does not touch connective elements such as the 12nm IOD, which remains the same as in the previous Zen2 generation, which allows AMD to offer compatibility of these processors with current chipsets and also the chiplet structure of the processor. what they have their advantage, such as the compatibility already mentioned, but also their counterpart, that we will not see processors with more than 16 cores, two CCD + one IOD, in this generation.

Performance

This generation’s memory control unit is also similar to the previous one with support for dual-channel DDR4 memory with the ability to mount up to 128GB of capacity in four banks. Like the previous generation, even more, these processors greatly appreciate the fast and low latency memories since many lower buses (such as the Infinite Fabric or the UMC) and internals of the processor work based on the real frequency of the memory. The faster, and with better latency, the faster the processor. The Ryzen is demanding with the RAM yes, they choose expensive memory, but they return it with perfectly noticeable performance increases.

The IOD is the same that AMD used for the entire Ryzen 3000 generation, with a 12nm manufacturing process, so we will have 24 PCI Express 4.0 lanes of which 16 are dedicated to high-performance graphics card connectivity, the others eight are dedicated to other connectivity such as the four lines used by the chipsets of this series. The price is 569.90 Euros, interesting.

The Ryzen 7 5800X we had some initial scare with the temperatures in the case of the Ryzen 9 5900X, this everything has gone smoothly, although the overclocking capacity, unfortunately, does not differ much from what we have already seen in the rest of the models. AMD is the one in charge of taking advantage of these processors and the user, unless he does not add some very advanced cooling system, will not be able to do much more to increase the sustained frequencies of the processor.

Memory Support

Integrated Graphics

Benchmarks

Conclusion!

The new Ryzen 9 5900X was designed by and to destroy its competition. There is no Intel home processor in this mid-range to outshine it. It has more cores for lower prices than the Core i9-10900K, adds two cores, and eats it with potatoes in all tests. AMD has a winning micro that also has a reasonable price achievable for those looking for a PC around 1200 USD with solvent graphics behind.

For those who want something really powerful at home or at work with a reasonable investment. Many cores, all very fast, controlled consumption, price content, and compatibility with the current architecture.