To some of you, it may feel like it's only been a few months since AMD took the HEDT market by storm. That's because it was only a few months ago when AMD took the performance crown with the launch of their Threadripper 3000 series processors. Apparently having the fastest HEDT processor wasn't good enough for AMD, and the lack of competition in this market meant they had to become their own competitor. Enter the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, AMD's proof that you can solve all of your problems by throwing more cores at it!
In this review, we will be going over the various features of the new Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, how it performs against AMD's last generation flagship and it's performance relative to the current consumer processing kings on both the Red & Blue teams. Feel free to use the hyperlinks below to skip to various sections of this review. Without further ado, let's get this show started!
Threadripper 3000 Series Pricing & Specifications
AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 3960X
AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 3970X
AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 3990X
Price
$1399
$1999
$3990
Cores/Threads
24C/48T
32C/64T
64C/128T
Base/Boost Clocks
3.8GHz / 4.5GHz
3.7GHz / 4.5GHz
2.9GHz / 4.3GHz
Cache Quantity
12MB L2 Cache
128MB L3 Cache
16MB L2 Cache
32MB L2 Cache
256MB L3 Cache
TDP
280W
CCD Configuration
4x 6-core CCDs
4x 8-core CCDs
8x 8-core CCDs
Transistor Count(s)
~3.9 billion per CCD
~8.34 billion for IOD
Die Size(s)
74mm² per CCD
416mm² per IOD
Lithography>
7nm for CCDs (TSMC)
12nm for IOD (GloFo)
Socket Compatibility
Socket sTRX4 (LGA 4094)
Required Chipset
AMD TRX40 (15W peak TDP / 14nm GloFo)
Core Architecture
AMD Zen 2
CPPC2 Fastest Cores
2x in CCD4
Socket Power Infrastructure
280W PPT, 300A EDC, 215A TDC
This review will focus specifically on the Threadripper 3990X, however it’s important to understand exactly where it sits in the rest of the Threadripper 3000 product stack. AMD is offering a 24 core, 48 thread 3960X as the entry level processor for this platform. Next, we have the 32 core, 64 thread 3970X which sits in the middle of the stack. Prior to the launch of the 3990X, it was the king of HEDT and still offers insane performance for its asking price. Lastly, we have the main event, the Threadripper 3990X. Boasting 64 cores, 128 threads and a massive 256MB cache, it’s unlike anything on the market.
Zen 2 Architecture Overview
Looking at the numbers on paper, it’s easy to see why the 3rd generation Threadripper CPU’s are dominating the HEDT market, but it’s important to understand exactly why, and how AMD managed to pull it off. One of the key areas to their success was the topology of their 3rd generation Ryzen processors. As with the previous Ryzen generations, AMD is using an MCM or Multi-Chip Module design over the single, more traditional monolithic die. The biggest difference with this generation of Ryzen processors is that AMD has moved their central IO functions off the processor die, and on to its own I/O die.
Image courtesy of AMD
As you can see in the image above, there are multiple CCD’s or Core Chiplet Die’s that contain the Zen 2 CPU cores and their respective L3 caches. All of this is connected to a central I/O die that is responsible for providing each CCD access to PCIe lanes and system memory. You will likely notice that there are multiple memory controllers on this I/O die, and that everything is weaved together by small blocks marked with the infinity symbol ∞. This symbol represents AMD’s Infinity Fabric, a high-speed interconnect through which all these dies are woven together. This unique design also allows AMD to scale their processors in a very dynamic manner as they can simply pick and choose each CCD configuration for their processors. It also allows AMD to improve their yield rates and reduce waste by using the dies that didn’t perform to their original standards in a different capacity.
The current 3rd generation Threadripper product stack is a great example of this in effect. For an example, let’s say AMD designed a 32 core Threadripper with a 4x 8-core CCD configuration. Let’s also say that in the process of picking out the best 8-core dies, they noticed that some of the cores were unable to meet the standards that they designated for this 32-core processor. Instead of throwing the dies away and wasting silicon, AMD can modify the dies and design a 4x 6-core CCD configuration to create a 24 core Threadripper. The improved yields and waste reduction aside, this also plays an important role in filling a void in a market. Without this practice, you may end up with a wider product stack with a wider gap of prices and nothing to fit in between, making it difficult for consumers to find the best product for their budget. This is also true for the 3990X, which is made up of the very same dies used in AMD's EPYC server lineup of processors.
TRX-40 Chipset Features
Now that we’ve covered the history of the Ryzen architectures and the internal design of the new Threadripper processors, it’s time to discuss the platform. Even the best processors in the world can be detrimental to your workflow and user experience without a strong, feature-rich chipset to make use of the processing power. Luckily the TRX40 chipset offers some of best cutting-edge features on the market.
AMD was the first to bring PCIe 4.0 to consumers with the launch of the Ryzen 3000 series processors, and they made sure to provide plenty of PCIe 4.0 lanes with their Threadripper CPU’s and TRX40 chipset. With the CPU boasting 64 PCIe 4.0 lanes and the TRX40 chipset offering up to 24, that is a combined total of up to 88 PCIe 4.0 lanes, 72 of which is usable. It’s important to keep in mind that these lanes offer twice as much bandwidth as PCIe 3.0. For larger render farms requiring multiple PCIe x16 GPU’s or massive high-speed data centers that require a large array of NVMe drives, this platform has you covered.
USB 10Gbps
USB 480Mbps
SATA 6Gbps
PCIe 4.0 Lanes
Usable/Total
AMD TRX40 Chipset
Up to 8
Up to 4
Up to 12
16/24
3rd Gen Threadripper
0
56/64
Total Platform I/O
Up to 20
72/88
Now that we understand the platform features, it’s time to move on to our testing.
System Configuration & Testing Methodology
The primary goal of this review is to illustrate the performance of the Threadripper 3990X in the areas that it was designed to be used in. With that in mind, we understand that we will get the inevitable “Can it run Minesweeper!?” question and believe me, we intend to answer that question and more. For that reason alone, we will be adding additional systems to our test suites to represent both AMD’s best consumer CPU, Intel’s best consumer CPU and AMD’s previous flagship. The test systems and their configurations are listed below. For pricing and availability of each component, click their respective hyperlinks.
Components
System 1 (TR 3990X)
System 2 (R9 3950X)
System 3 (i9 9900K)
System 4 (TR 2990WX)
Processor
Threadripper 3990X
Ryzen 9 3950X
Core i9 9900K
Threadripper 2990WX
Motherboard
ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha TRX40
ASRock X570 Taichi
ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 6
ASUS ROG Strix X399-E Gaming
Memory
128GB DDR4 3200 C16 (4x32GB)
32GB DDR4 3200 C16 (2x16GB)
16GB DDR4 3200 C16 (2x8GB)
64GB DDR4 3600 C16 (4x16GB)
Power Supply
EVGA SuperNOVA 1600W Titanium
PowerSpec 850W Gold PSX850GFM
Thermaltake ToughPower 850W Gold
Chassis
Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL ROG Edition
MAINGEAR Vybe RGB Tempered Glass
Thermaltake Versa H21
Cooling Solution
EKWB Custom Loop w/ Distribution Plate
Bitspower Custom Loop w/ Distribution Plate
Corsair H100i Pro
Graphics Card
EVGA RTX 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming
EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Black
Zotac RTX 2080 Ti AMP!
ASUS RTX 2080 ti Turbo
Storage
Samsung 970 EVO+ 1TB NVMe SSD (2x1TB)
Inland Performance 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe
Intel 660P 1TB NVMe SSD
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 1909
Graphics Driver Ver.
WHQL 441.87
To Overclock… Or not? That is the question…
The answer to this question is likely “No”, thanks in part to AMD’s Precision Boost Overdrive. This feature will allow the processor to automatically sense its thermal and power overhead and adjust its clock speeds and voltage requirements accordingly to perform best in its current workload. If you look back at our benchmark results, you can see that there are hefty gains when enabling PBO for multi-threaded workloads.
The biggest constraint when overclocking is going to be thermals. PBO already increases thermals substantially over stock clocks, something we will touch upon in the next section, however overclocking takes that even further. Simply dialing in 1.3v and 4.1ghz, we managed to hit 93C during a Cinebench C20 run on a custom loop with dual 360mm radiators. To make matters worse, the overclocked performance was not far off from what PBO delivered, and the overclocked results consumed much more power. If you are going to be doing any kind of overclocking, I would advise sticking to memory overclocking and letting PBO handle the rest. Do keep in mind that ANY form of overclocking will void your warranty, so proceed at your own risk.
Conclusion & Final Thoughts
I think AMD hit the nail on the head here. While you technically can game on this processor, it’s not a gaming processor. This processor is designed with real intense work in mind. VFX studios, data centers that need copious amounts of PCIe lanes, even large VM farms that can utilize the many cores that the 3990X has to offer. If you are looking for a gaming processor, the Ryzen 9 3950X and Core i9 9900K are better suited for that task.
If work is your primary concern, and you spend several hours or even days waiting for computational tasks to complete, then the 3990X might just be the right processor for your needs.
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