Earlier this year, AMD released the 3rd generation of their Ryzen Threadripper PRO series, including what is being dubbed the most powerful desktop x86 processor ever, the 3995WX. Although the chip is similar in many ways to their flagship Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, it takes power and performance one step further.
How does the 3995WX compare?
While the 3995WX also boasts a beastly 64 cores and 128 threads and remains part of AMD’s Zen 2 architecture, there are a few notable differences to its 3990X predecessor. Firstly, its Base Clock sits at 2.7GHz and its Boost at 4.2GHz, as opposed to the 3990X’s 2.9GHz Base and 4.3GHz Boost. It also offers up to 292MB of combined cache rather than 288MB. However, it’s the chip’s promised PCIe lanes and memory channels that really take things to the next level.
Get the most out of PCIe and DDR4
The 3995WX still supports PCIe 4.0, but instead of the maximum 88 lanes available in the 3990X, the new PRO CPU offers an incredible 128 lanes! This is a huge boon for fulfilling large GPU and NVMe needs. Most importantly, though, the 3995WX has 8-channel DDR4 support, surpassing the 3990X’s quad-channel memory by a mile. By doubling the number of available channels, memory-intensive tasks can be better broken up, hugely improving throughput and performance as a result. This also means the chip is able to offer up to 2TB of RAM over and above the 3990X’s 1TB.
Go PRO in G2 PCs
Of course, the 3995WX’s release was also accompanied by the rest of the 3rd gen PRO series. Following on from the 3995WX’s 64-core lead, the 3975WX offers 32 cores and 64 threads, the 3955WX offers 16 cores and 32 threads, and finally the 3945WX has 12 cores and 24 threads. Importantly, to take full advantage of the WX PRO series, you will need to upgrade to AMD’s new workstation-grade WRX80 chipset, rather than the TRX40, of which there are currently limited options available.
We’re hoping to see a supporting motherboard become available in early 2021 and are in the process of evaluating options for integrating these chips into our rack mount PCs, so watch this space for news on availability. If you would like to know more about the Ryzen Threadripper PRO series and how you can take advantage of them in our products, get in touch.
