AMD reveals 16-core monster Ryzen processor destined for ‘world’s fastest’ PCs

AMD has confirmed that it is bringing out a ‘Threadripper’ 16-core (32-thread) processor aimed at enthusiasts and high-end desktop PCs, promising blistering performance from the chip.

Jim Anderson, Senior VP and General Manager, Computing and Graphics at AMD, trumpeted the arrival of the monster processor at the firm’s financial analyst day.

Anderson said that: “Ryzen Threadripper is targeted at the absolute ultra high-end of performance in desktop.”

The slide that AMD shared was brief on details, simply showing the number of cores and threads of the flagship model, and stating that Threadripper chips would arrive in the summer, and that the range was “targeting the world’s fastest ultra-premium desktop systems”. No actual specs were mentioned save for the core-count.

Ryzen shine

We’ve heard plenty of rumors about Threadripper or Ryzen 9 CPUs before, of course, and indeed there was a major leak yesterday, which suggested that the 16-core flagship Ryzen 9 1998X will have a base clock of 3.5GHz (with boost to 3.9GHz) and a TDP of 155W.

That remains to be seen, but if true, it’s certainly a beefy base clock speed for a 16-core chip, and some equally impressive work on the power efficiency front.

It’ll certainly be a major worry for Intel in this case, particularly if AMD goes all-in with the pricing on these high-end processors, which seems likely to happen given that Ryzen chips have previously been pitched at an extremely competitive level.

Intel’s rumored Core i9 rival CPUs will be topped by the flagship 7920X which will reportedly have 12-cores (24-threads) and a TDP of 140W, again if leaked details are on the money. It will inevitably be eye-wateringly expensive, though, and this is where AMD may well win the battle for the attention – and the wallets – of enthusiast PC owners.

Whatever happens, the high-end CPU world is about to get a big shakeup which is only likely to be good news for those looking to buy a beefy multi-core chip for their premium desktop PC.

Also note that at the other end of the spectrum, AMD confirmed that budget Ryzen 3 processors would arrive in the third quarter of this year.

Via: PC World