PC Perspective Reviews the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2920X and 2970WX

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cageymaru

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Ken Addison and the crew at PC Perspective have reviewed the new AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2920X and 2970WX. Glancing over the numbers, the $649 AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2920X with its 64 PCI-Express lanes seems to completely dominate the $579 Intel Core i9-9900K at productivity. When it comes to gaming at 1080p, the Intel i9-9900K seems to turn the tables in a few games as it takes off in performance, but in other games both the AMD and Intel stacks seem to be really close in performance. PC Perspective was enamored with the $1,299 AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX as an alternative to the $1,719 AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX. The testing also included the new AMD Dynamic Local Mode enabled within AMD's Ryzen Master desktop software. Very well done review and a must read!

One of the more exciting prospects of the launch of these last few second generation Threadripper CPUs today is the subsequent launch of AMD's Dynamic Local Mode. Applying only to the WX-series Threadripper CPUs, Dynamic Local Mode is a piece of software, acting as a Windows service, which aims to reallocate cores based on a given dynamic workload. Dynamic Local Mode is AMD's attempt to fix this issue, without having access to fix it at its core, the Windows Scheduler level. Instead, Dynamic Local Mode works in the background to shuffle around CPU and memory heavy processes to threads that have direct memory access. This feature can be enabled and disabled on the fly in the newest version of AMD's Ryzen Master desktop software.
 
I have a 9900K, which wont be going anywhere for my gaming rig, but I still want one of these even though I have almost no use for it.
 
I am getting the 1920X, the new 2920X dont sell over here just yet, but the 2950X and 2990WX are on the shelves.
Dont feel bad about getting the "old" one, it are a significant step up over what i have, but maybe in a few years i can score a cheap 32/64 CPU and slam that in my motherboard, but for now 12/24 are just fine.

The 2920X Vs 1920X are +2000 DKKr ( 350 USD ) and i cant afford that or the price of the 1950X that are +3000 DKkr and the 2950X that are +4000 Dkkr over the 1920X
 
It's a bit surprising that the 2920x max turbo boost is 4.3, when it was 4.4 on the 2950x.

You'd think that with fewer cores, there would be less heat, and thus room to drive each of the remaining cores a little harder...

I'm still hoping for something with fewer cores, higher clocks, yet still with quad channel RAM and 64 PCIe lanes.

2900x?
 
Side note:

I like what PCPer did with their "Review Disclosures" table at the bottom of page 1:

Review Terms and Disclosure
All Information as of the Date of Publication

- How product was obtained:
The product is on loan from AMD for the purpose of this review.

- What happens to the product after review:
The product remains the property of AMD but is on extended loan for future testing and product comparisons.

- Company involvement:
AMD had no control over the content of the review and was not consulted prior to publication.

- PC Perspective Compensation:
Neither PC Perspective nor any of its staff were paid or compensated in any way by AMD for this review.

- Advertising Disclosure:
AMD has purchased advertising at PC Perspective during the past twelve months.

- Affiliate links:
This article contains affiliate links to online retailers. PC Perspective may receive compensation for purchases through those links.
Click to expand...

I thought that was a nice touch.

Who knows, they may have been doing this forever, but I just noticed it. I don't read them much.
 
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Oldmodder said:
I am getting the 1920X, the new 2920X dont sell over here just yet, but the 2950X and 2990WX are on the shelves.
Dont feel bad about getting the "old" one, it are a significant step up over what i have, but maybe in a few years i can score a cheap 32/64 CPU and slam that in my motherboard, but for now 12/24 are just fine.

The 2920X Vs 1920X are +2000 DKKr ( 350 USD ) and i cant afford that or the price of the 1950X that are +3000 DKkr and the 2950X that are +4000 Dkkr over the 1920X
Click to expand...
With the 1920x going under $400 the 2920 really isn't attractive at all.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
It's a bit surprising that the 2920x max turbo boost is 4.3, when it was 4.4 on the 2950x.

You'd think that with fewer cores, there would be less heat, and thus room to drive each of the remaining cores a little harder...

I'm still hoping for something with fewer cores, higher clocks, yet still with quad channel RAM and 64 PCIe lanes.

2900x?
Click to expand...

So not like it was many years ago where there was often a very substantial clock difference between the tiers for CPU, if what I have read many times over is "true" that Threadripper and EPYC chips are "the best bin" then if only having a 100Mhz clock difference at max turbo shows this is "reasonably true" that these are likely hitting th edge of what they are capable of without blowing past TDP/Voltage and the like (especially when less cores to "feed") absolutely shows how picky they have had to bin test to get the "cream of the crop.

Which kind of inversely shows that the 2950x is "the best" for this generation of TR so far, is the "creme de la creme"

Upper limit of what Ryzen (all types) are capable of without killing themselves in the process to get the clocks and TDP within reasonable limits, unfortunately for everyone (Intel included) physics only allow so much "headroom" when it comes to how fast you can go without chugging back lots of extra power and pushing a bunch of heat for a "small amount" of gain, up to X results are near linear, but hit X results are anything but linear (much more power/heat for small gain)

It would be nice to have something that has the 64 lanes running at higher clock with less cores, though this shows current limitations...if it were Nv they could probably figure how to give less, jack the clock speeds and make you think it is more because they screw with software so it "appears" faster then it is, but this is CPU world and so vastly different limitations apply.

LMAO.
 
This gives me hope for the Ryzen 7 2800X, assuming it ever sees the light of day.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
It's a bit surprising that the 2920x max turbo boost is 4.3, when it was 4.4 on the 2950x.

You'd think that with fewer cores, there would be less heat, and thus room to drive each of the remaining cores a little harder...

I'm still hoping for something with fewer cores, higher clocks, yet still with quad channel RAM and 64 PCIe lanes.

2900x?
Click to expand...

It's just product stratification. Can't have the cheaper 2920 upsetting the 2950 in single core benches now can you?
Both should OC similarly with the cherry picked TR dies.
 
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I gotta ask. Outside of say, content creation, and some sort of software development (Compiling, VMs, etc). Whats the use of so many cores for the at home person?
 
Private_Ops said:
I gotta ask. Outside of say, content creation, and some sort of software development (Compiling, VMs, etc). Whats the use of so many cores for the at home person?
Click to expand...

The same use any car with more than 300 horsepower has.
 
Private_Ops said:
I gotta ask. Outside of say, content creation, and some sort of software development (Compiling, VMs, etc). Whats the use of so many cores for the at home person?
Click to expand...
Home home, none. Home/work, plenty. I would love some for photogrammetry.
 
300 BHP car ???? thats elitist / top percentile, or just really bad with finances, kind of car.
I have never owned a car with over 130 BHP, and the current one only have 60.

300 BHP in a factory car i assume will set you back at least 400.000 DKKr, or more than a normal person make in a year. my most expensive car set me back 218.000 DKkr, and that was on reduced taxes and so only able to fit 2 persons in a mid range SUV
 
Oldmodder said:
300 BHP car ???? thats elitist / top percentile, or just really bad with finances, kind of car.
I have never owned a car with over 130 BHP, and the current one only have 60.

300 BHP in a factory car i assume will set you back at least 400.000 DKKr, or more than a normal person make in a year. my most expensive car set me back 218.000 DKkr, and that was on reduced taxes and so only able to fit 2 persons in a mid range SUV
Click to expand...

300 HP cars are fairly common in the US and some aren't terribly expensive. I think my car is just over 300 HP.
 
Oldmodder said:
300 BHP car ???? thats elitist / top percentile, or just really bad with finances, kind of car.
I have never owned a car with over 130 BHP, and the current one only have 60.

300 BHP in a factory car i assume will set you back at least 400.000 DKKr, or more than a normal person make in a year. my most expensive car set me back 218.000 DKkr, and that was on reduced taxes and so only able to fit 2 persons in a mid range SUV
Click to expand...

all depends on where you live.. 300bhp+ cars are pretty common here in the US, in europe it really depends on where you live rural vs city or if your country has retarded ass taxes on cars or if fuel prices are stupid high.

Private_Ops said:
I gotta ask. Outside of say, content creation, and some sort of software development (Compiling, VMs, etc). Whats the use of so many cores for the at home person?
Click to expand...

some of us use our extra cores to run distributed computing stuff when we aren't using them for personal stuff.
 
Private_Ops said:
I gotta ask. Outside of say, content creation, and some sort of software development (Compiling, VMs, etc). Whats the use of so many cores for the at home person?
Click to expand...

Encoding (Plex, ripping), rendering (after effects, CAD, BIM, 3D modeling), gaming, being able to set affinity, longevity of the system overall. If you don't need the cores now, then you most likely won't need them later. Everything is progressing towards becoming multi-threaded beyond 4 threads. Just makes sense if you plan on doing anything outside of basic desktop tasks and gaming to get as many cores as you can afford.

Oldmodder said:
300 BHP car ???? thats elitist / top percentile, or just really bad with finances, kind of car.
I have never owned a car with over 130 BHP, and the current one only have 60.

300 BHP in a factory car i assume will set you back at least 400.000 DKKr, or more than a normal person make in a year. my most expensive car set me back 218.000 DKkr, and that was on reduced taxes and so only able to fit 2 persons in a mid range SUV
Click to expand...

I won't own a vehicle with less than 400 BHP any more. Not sure where you live, but it sounds like I won't ever move there.
 
What I'm gathering from this review is that the 2920X is the better choice for gaming. Which is fine with me since it also happens to be the cheapest model available.
 
Oldmodder said:
300 BHP car ???? thats elitist / top percentile, or just really bad with finances, kind of car.
I have never owned a car with over 130 BHP, and the current one only have 60.

300 BHP in a factory car i assume will set you back at least 400.000 DKKr, or more than a normal person make in a year. my most expensive car set me back 218.000 DKkr, and that was on reduced taxes and so only able to fit 2 persons in a mid range SUV
Click to expand...


Denmark has a tax system that cannot be compared to others, so it's not really relevant.
My wifes prius is like 90.000 USD in denmark, but 48.000 USD in norway.
 
Oldmodder said:
300 BHP car ???? thats elitist / top percentile, or just really bad with finances, kind of car.
I have never owned a car with over 130 BHP, and the current one only have 60.

300 BHP in a factory car i assume will set you back at least 400.000 DKKr, or more than a normal person make in a year. my most expensive car set me back 218.000 DKkr, and that was on reduced taxes and so only able to fit 2 persons in a mid range SUV
Click to expand...
Freedom units, please.
 
The 2920 and 2950 seem the most appealing to me.

Maybe one day.... (sigh)
 
Oldmodder said:
300 BHP car ???? thats elitist / top percentile, or just really bad with finances, kind of car.
I have never owned a car with over 130 BHP, and the current one only have 60.

300 BHP in a factory car i assume will set you back at least 400.000 DKKr, or more than a normal person make in a year. my most expensive car set me back 218.000 DKkr, and that was on reduced taxes and so only able to fit 2 persons in a mid range SUV
Click to expand...

For some strange reason cars in Denmark have always been outrageously expensive compared to other markets, even the direct neighbors in Scandinavia. On the flip side, here in the U.S.cars tend to be cheaper than in other markets, both due to lower taxes and fees, and due to more competitive price pressures. A very high portion of both new and used cars (90+%?) are purchased in the U.S. utilizing easily obtainable auto loans.

The lowest end cars you ever see around here are Toyota Corolla's (U.S.) Base model has 168hp) and Honda Civic's (U.S. base model has 158hp). I know Toyota has some tiny subcompact models like the Yaris (U.S. base model has 106hp) but I don't think I've ever seen one of these little things on the road, and for good reason. Driving something this tiny here would be positively frightening.


Now, personally I don't believe in buying new cars. It is a foolish way to take a depreciation hit.

My current daily driver is a 2009 Volvo S80 T6 AWD with almost 300hp. I paid $20,000 USD (~130k DKK?) for it used with ~50k miles (~80,000 km) on it in 2013, and there are much cheaper cars on the market with this kind of power.

I don't personally feel I need 300hp, but I do feel that any car I buy has to be able to accelerate 0-60mpg (0-100km/h) in less than 7 seconds. Any slower than this, and it just doesn't feel safe to me. I need to be able to accelerate up to highway speeds on on ramps, and safely pass on the highway.

My Volvo accomplishes this in about 6.5s. For a lighter car, this may not require almost 300hp, but for a 4016lb (1820kg) car with AWD this is what it takes.

Don't assume Denmark is representative of the rest of the world. It isn't. UNless you are buying a small efficiency vehicle, most vehicles sold in the U.S. are 200hp+ and many are 300hp+. I don't think I've seen a modern car in the U.S. with less than 140hp. I'm no wealthy elitist, just an average engineer, but here is my car history:

- 1997 Mercury Sable LS (200hp) (cheap college beater, paid ~$2,000 in 2002)
- 2001 Saab 9-5 Aero 5-spd Manual (230hp) (Paid $20,000 in 2003)
- 2004 Saab 9-5 Aero 5-spd Manual (250hp) (Paid $14,000 in 2008)
- 2011 Saab 9-5 Turbo4 6-spd Manual (220hp) (Paid way too much, only new car I ever bought)
- 2009 Volvo S80 T6 AWD (286hp) (Paid $20,000 in 2013)
- 2000 Volvo V70 Wagon (168hp) (Paid $3,000 in 2018 to use as a backup and transportation vehicle)


Just because I was curious, I went on Ford's webpage and looked at brand new Mustang's. The cheapest base model costs $26k, and comes with a 310hp engine. Similarly a Dodge Challenger with 305hp can be had for $ and a 27k Chevy Camaro with a 335hp engine can be had for ~$28k. Negotiate the price a little and get a special promotion 0% loan for a typical 48 months, and this brand new 310hp car is yours for under $500 per month.

You could probably get a 3-4 year old similar model with 30-40k miles on it (still with that new car smell) for almost half of that.

That's not elitist money. That's average working class guy money.

The world isn't Denmark. Denmark is a rather extreme case. (the U.S. is probably on the other extreme)
 
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Zarathustra[H] said:
For some strange reason cars in Denmark have always been outrageously expensive compared to other markets, even the direct neighbors in Scandinavia. On the flip side, here in the U.S.cars tend to be cheaper than in other markets, both due to lower taxes and fees, and due to more competitive price pressures. A very high portion of both new and used cars (90+%?) are purchased in the U.S. utilizing easily obtainable auto loans.

The lowest end cars you ever see around here are Toyota Corolla's (U.S.) Base model has 168hp) and Honda Civic's (U.S. base model has 158hp). I know Toyota has some tiny subcompact models like the Yaris (U.S. base model has 106hp) but I don't think I've ever seen one of these little things on the road, and for good reason. Driving something this tiny here would be positively frightening.


Now, personally I don't believe in buying new cars. It is a foolish way to take a depreciation hit.

My current daily driver is a 2009 Volvo S80 T6 AWD with almost 300hp. I paid $20,000 USD (~130k DKK?) for it used with ~50k miles (~80,000 km) on it in 2013, and there are much cheaper cars on the market with this kind of power.

I don't personally feel I need 300hp, but I do feel that any car I buy has to be able to accelerate 0-60mpg (0-100km/h) in less than 7 seconds. Any slower than this, and it just doesn't feel safe to me. I need to be able to accelerate up to highway speeds on on ramps, and safely pass on the highway.

My Volvo accomplishes this in about 6.5s. For a lighter car, this may not require almost 300hp, but for a 4016lb (1820kg) car with AWD this is what it takes.

Don't assume Denmark is representative of the rest of the world. It isn't. UNless you are buying a small efficiency vehicle, most vehicles sold in the U.S. are 200hp+ and many are 300hp+. I don't think I've seen a modern car in the U.S. with less than 140hp. I'm no wealthy elitist, just an average engineer, but here is my car history:

- 1997 Mercury Sable LS (200hp) (cheap college beater, paid ~$2,000 in 2002)
- 2001 Saab 9-5 Aero 5-spd Manual (230hp) (Paid $20,000 in 2003)
- 2004 Saab 9-5 Aero 5-spd Manual (250hp) (Paid $14,000 in 2008)
- 2011 Saab 9-5 Turbo4 6-spd Manual (220hp) (Paid way too much, only new car I ever bought)
- 2009 Volvo S80 T6 AWD (286hp) (Paid $20,000 in 2013)
- 2000 Volvo V70 Wagon (168hp) (Paid $3,000 in 2018 to use as a backup and transportation vehicle)


Just because I was curious, I went on Ford's webpage and looked at brand new Mustang's. The cheapest base model costs $26k, and comes with a 310hp engine. Similarly a Dodge Challenger with 305hp can be had for $ and a 27k Chevy Camaro with a 335hp engine can be had for ~$28k. Negotiate the price a little and get a special promotion 0% loan for a typical 48 months, and this brand new 310hp car is yours for under $500 per month.

You could probably get a 3-4 year old similar model with 30-40k miles on it (still with that new car smell) for almost half of that.

That's not elitist money. That's average working class guy money.

The world isn't Denmark. Denmark is a rather extreme case. (the U.S. is probably on the other extreme)
Click to expand...

And on that note, how the hell did we get from Threadripper to the price of 300hp cars in Denmark, again? :p
 
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