Is rendering videos or animations a bit slow? Then AMD brings a solution onto the market with the new Threadripper Pro 7000 WX series. A variety of threads and cores tailored to desktops provide a lot of computing power, but this also requires a significant TDP.

AMD introduces a new processor series aimed at workstations where massive performance is the focus: Threadripper Pro 7000 WX. Anyone who remembers previous iterations of the Threadripper series knows that AMD isn’t exactly going for subtlety with this lineup. The huge CPUs have a large number of computing cores, a high clock speed and a TDP that is impressive.

In total, AMD is introducing six new chips under the professional Threadripper banner:

As you can see, the Threadripper Pro 7995WX is the top of the range. The specifications read like those of a high-performance server chip with 96 cores and a boost clock speed of 5.1 GHz. The TDP of 350 watts is not surprising for this chip, although it is noticeable that the smaller brothers have the same TDP.

Zen 4

AMD states that the Threadripper Pro 7985WX with 64 computing cores performs 21 percent to even 46 percent better, depending on the load, than the previous generation Threadripper Pro 5995WX with the same number of cores. This is a nice performance gain thanks to the architecture.

For these new chips, AMD is relying on the Zen 4 architecture, which also powers the latest server and laptop chips. In terms of instructions per clock cycle, Zen 4 already offers an improvement of 12 percent compared to Zen 3.

The new processors also support DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 over 128 lanes. The Pro label means the CPUs have some useful additional features, including a range of security and management options tailored to large enterprises.

For heavy jobs

AMD expects the chips to power high-performance workstations across industries. Media and entertainment are of course an important target group, as the number of cores and their high clock speed theoretically enable short rendering work. The same applies to architecture, where plaster plays an important role. In the design and manufacturing industries, the chip promises good performance in anything related to simulation, assuming of course that the workload is CPU-centric.

Of course, AMD also mentions Intel in its announcement. The chip manufacturer sees the Intel Xeon W-3400 as the ideal challenger for its Threadripper Pro 7000 WX. A comparison between the two looks good for AMD: The Threadripper has more computing cores, a higher clock speed, more than three times as much L3 cache and a handful of additional PCIe lanes. Intel’s Xeon W series was briefly the champion at launch, but on paper AMD is making up for all the damage with the introduction of these Threadrippers.

Without Pro

AMD is also releasing some Threadripper chips that aren’t exclusively aimed at the business market. These derivatives do not contain the security and management features of the Pro series and are available in slightly less extreme configurations but follow the same philosophy.

As you can see, these chips are a little more manageable, although they are still enormous powerhouses. This can also be seen on the price tag. In the US, the recommended retail price for the most powerful chip is $4,999. If you want the light version with 24 cores, you will still pay $1,499 for the CPU alone.