AMD Ryzen Threadripper release date, news and features: everything you need to know

Last year, AMD released its Ryzen line of processors, but it didn’t stop there. Later in August 2017, AMD launched three impressively overclockable high-end desktop CPUs – named ‘Threadripper’.

However, AMD wasn’t sitting on its hands after releasing the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X, one of the fastest processors on the market when it launched. AMD has since followed up with the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X and 2990WX that have dethroned it. AMD has also come out and suggested that bitcoin miners use Threadripper processors for cryptocurrency mining, to save cash on future upgrades, due to the insane compute power of Threadripper chips.

And with AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2nd Generation, we’re getting much faster performance than we expected – creating a wider performance gap than what we saw when Ryzen 2nd Generation succeeded AMD Ryzen. This is thanks to the higher core counts, at the very least.

So, here’s everything you need to know about AMD Ryzen Threadripper – from the release date to prices, even performance. And, as always, be sure to keep this article bookmarked, as we’ll update it with any new information that comes our way.

Cut to the chase

What is it? AMD’s uber-powerful 8-, 12- and 16-core processors
When is it out? Available as of August 10, 2017
What will it cost? Starts at $549 (about £420, AU$690)

AMD Ryzen Threadripper release date

AMD Ryzen Threadripper first two processors the 1950X and 1920X arrived on August 10, 2017. While AMD’s entry level Ryzen Threadripper 1900X came out a few weeks later on August 31, 2017.

And, it looks like AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2nd Generation is going to follow in the first’s footsteps – the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990X launches on August 13, 2018 with the rest of the high-end CPUs following in the coming months. AMD isn’t going to slow down, either, AMD is planning on supporting Threadripper with new chips until at least 2020, according to some leaks.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper price

At long last, we now have firm details on what price the AMD Ryzen Threadrippers will release at. They’re not cheap, but you can expect to pay less for more performance than you would get with a comparable Intel chip. The prices of all the AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors as they launched are as follows.

Ryzen Threadripper 1900X: $549 (£449, AU$749)
Ryzen Threadripper 1920X: $799 (£689, AU$1,069)
Ryzen Threadripper 1950X: $999 (£999, AU$1,439)

As for the competition, Intel’s closest competitor to the 1950X, the Core i9-7960X will set you back a whopping $1,699 (around £1,315, AU$2,200). The Threadripper 1900X’s closest octa-core competitor from Intel is the Core i7-7820X at a much more reasonable $599 (£529, AU$869).

AMD Ryzen Threadripper specs and power

AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors absolutely destroyed everything else on the market when they first hit the streets. This is thanks to their insane core counts and multi-threaded performance. It wasn’t until Skylake-X hit the street that Intel got a leg up, and even then the price-to-performance ratio just wasn’t there. The specs for the Ryzen Threadripper chips are as follows:

Ryzen Threadripper 1900X: 8-cores, 16-threads; 3.8GHz base, 4.0GHz boost
Ryzen Threadripper 1920X: 12-cores, 24-threads; 3.5GHz base, 4.0GHz boost
Ryzen Threadripper 1950X: 16-cores, 32-threads; 3.4GHz base, 4.0GHz boost

To put this into perspective, the Intel Core i9-7960X has packs the same 16-cores and 32-threads as the Threadripper 1950X and so on and so forth with the Intel Core i9-7920X vs Threadripper 1920X and Intel Core i7-7820X vs Threadripper 1900X we've setup.

However, now that the Ryzen 2nd Generation has made it to market, you can find about 10% better performance in the Threadripper 2950X – with a lower price tag. Making it a great option for aspiring PC enthusiasts.

The Threadripper series uses AMD’s SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) technology found in other Ryzen chips. Finally, the Ryzen Threadripper series processors uses a TP3 socket, which is a modified variant of the SP3 socket originally designed for AMD’s beefy server chips that go up to 32-cores.