Several weeks have gone since some rumors emerged online, suggesting that the processor family AMD Ryzen Threadripper was at the end of their lives. We would not have seen a third sequence of these CPUs to follow the first two described in 2017 and 2018 respectively, according to this data.
At the basis of this indiscretion, not verified by AMD, we discover a business introduction showing the multiple products that the business presently provides on the market with the exception of the family alternatives of Ryzen Threadripper. That's why we were led to believe that AMD had decided to prevent the growth of these processors, favoring those of the Ryzen third generation.
We instantly believed that these rumors were groundless; in the following weeks we further explored receiving confirmation that the Zen 2 architecture-based Ryzen Threadripper 3000 series processors will hit the market. This is likely to occur in the fourth quarter of 2019, and thus more than a year after the Ryzen Threadripper alternatives are now on the market.
Last week, during the presentations related to the debut of the GPU Navi-based Ryzen 3000 solutions and video cards, Lisa Su showed her range of solutions in one of the slides, including the Ryzen Threadripper processors. It makes little sense that the CEO of a company inserts a product into a presentation that has been effective on the market and is expected to have vanished, particularly if the plans are to continue to develop and sell.
The EPYC suggestions derive from the Ryzen Threadripper CPUs: the link socket and the physical sizes are the same. The distinctions are under the body: the memory controller is quad channel type and not 8 channels, with a total of 4 die 8 cores each, partially or totally activated depending on the version type.
For third-generation Ryzen Threadripper CPUs, it is evident to expect that AMD will continue to use the same design as the EPYC CPUs, which incorporate up to 8 Zen 2s each with 8 cores inside flanking the I / O chip with a chiplet layout in the new application. AMD will be offering up to 64 cores of the next generation EPYC CPU versions, indicated with the code name of Rome, as the maximum exploiting all the cores integrated in the 8 die.
Therefore, AMD will maintain the same design as the previous proposals with the Ryzen Threadripper 3000 proposals, in this case taking advantage of AMD's work on the second-generation EPYC proposals which will be debuting during the summer. Given the latest announcement of the Ryzen 3950X CPU, socket AM4 motherboard processor fitted with up to 16 cores, one might wonder whether it still makes sense for AMD to offer Ryzen Threadripper alternatives. For some very particular reasons, the response is certainly yes.
The first concerns the complete amount of cores: the second generation of Ryzen Threadripper AMD has already reached up to 32 cores with the top of the range designs, efficiently dividing the family up to 16 cores with the standard range and the WX range capable of pushing up to 32 cores. The second is the market success that the Ryzen Threadripper proposals have gathered in the workstation world: a high number of cores are a key element for this type of product, and precisely in this segment the Threadripper solutions represented a valid alternative to the HEDT range Intel CPUs.
How many cores will the top range proposition make accessible? These processors are currently reaching the maximum limit of 32 cores, which we think will be pushed forward further with the 3000 CPUs of the Ryzen Threadripper. We believe it is difficult to reach the 64 cores offered by AMD with the top-of - the-range EPYC CPUs of the Rome family, but the value of 48 cores seems more plausible given the typical needs of a modern workstation. In any case, nothing prevents taking advantage of all the available dies reaching 64 cores, at least on paper.
Obviously using all 8 of the 2 Zen die integrated in these processors would achieve this value. The memory controller will continue to be the DDR4 quad channel, with the option of mixing DDR4-3200 modules formally endorsed by the platform: this decision is related to the need to preserve compatibility with already on the market motherboards. Therefore, the platform will always be with socket TR4, likely based on new-generation chipsets to take advantage of PCI Express Gen 4.0 controllers without prejudice to compatibility with AMD X399 chipsets presently available on the market.
Having said that, with a Ryzen Threadripper processor with 64 cores inside, one may ask what AMD clock frequencies can be accomplished. We do not understand the response, but in view of the features of the Zen 2 architecture and the 7 nanometer manufacturing technology adopted by AMD, we are trying to create a forecast. With a TDP of 250 Watts, identical to that of the current WX proposals on the market, assuming a value of 3.5 GHz with all the cores exploited to 100 percent of their potential, it seems to us that AMD can think of reaching it. Just wait until Q4 2019 to see which Ryzen Threadripper AMD CPUs are going to be accessible on the market and whether our forecasts are going to demonstrate right.