The AMD Threadripper 2 CPU Review: The 24-Core 2970WX and 12-Core 2920X Tested
by Ian Cutress on October 29, 2018 9:00 AM ESTTest Bed and Setup
As per our processor testing policy, we take a premium category motherboard suitable for the socket, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the manufacturer's maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
| Test Setup | |||||
| AMD TR4 | TR2 2970WX TR2 2920X |
ASUS ROG X399 Zenith |
1501 | Enermax Liqtech TR4 |
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 4x8GB DDR4-2933 |
| TR2 2990WX TR2 2950X |
ASUS ROG X399 Zenith |
0508 | Enermax Liqtech TR4 |
G.Skill FlareX 4x8GB DDR4-2933 |
|
| TR 1950X TR 1920X |
ASUS ROG X399 Zenith |
0508 | Enermax | G.Skill FlareX 4x8GB DDR4-2666 |
|
| TR 1900X | ASUS X399-A Prime |
0407 | Enermax Liqtech TR4 |
Crucial Ballistix 4x4GB DDR4-2666 |
|
| AMD EPYC | EPYC 7601 | GIGABYTE MZ31-AR0 |
F07 | Gamerstorm Fryzen |
Micron LRDIMM 8x128GB DDR4-2666 |
| AMD 2000 | R7 2700X | ASRock X370 Gaming K4 |
P4.80 | Wraith Max* | G.Skill SniperX 2x8 GB DDR4-2933 |
| Intel HEDT | i9-7980XE i9-7960X i9-7940X i9-7920X i9-7900X i7-7820X i7-7800X |
ASRock X299 OC Formula |
P1.40 | TRUE Copper |
Crucial Ballistix 4x4GB DDR4-2666 |
| Intel 9th Gen | i9-9900K | ASRock Z370 Gaming i7 |
P1.70 | TRUE Copper |
Crucial Ballistix 4x4GB DDR4-2666 |
| GPU | Sapphire RX 460 2GB (CPU Tests) MSI GTX 1080 Gaming 8G (Gaming Tests) |
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| PSU | Corsair AX860i Corsair AX1200i |
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| SSD | Crucial MX200 1TB | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 x64 RS3 1709 Spectre and Meltdown Patched |
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| *VRM Supplimented with SST-FHP141-VF 173 CFM fans | |||||
All of AMD’s Threadripper 2 processors are unlocked, allowing users to push the frequency and voltage higher for extra performance. Due to time constraints, we will hopefully examine this in a later review.
Many thanks to...
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our multiple test beds. Some of this hardware is not in this test bed specifically, but is used in other testing.
| Hardware Providers | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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 |
 |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Silverstone Fans |
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snowranger13 - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
On the AMD SKUs slide you show Ryzen 7 2700X has 16 PCI-E lanes. It actually has 20 (16 to PCI-E slots + 4 to 1x M.2)Ian Cutress - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Only 16 for graphics use. We've had this discussion many times before. Technically the silicon has 32.Nioktefe - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Many motherboards can use that 4 additionnal lanes as classic pci-ehttps://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B450%20Pro4/index.as...
mapesdhs - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Sure, but not for SLI. It's best for clarity's sake to exclude chipset PCIe in the lane count, otherwise we'll have no end of PR spin madness.Ratman6161 - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Ummm...there are lots of uses for more PCIe besides SLI ! Remember that while people do play games on these platforms, it would not make any sense to buy one of these for the purpose of playing games. You buy it for work and if it happens to game OK then great.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - link
Is it guaranteed to be wired up to a physical slot?No?
then it is optional, and advertising it as being guaranteed available for expansion would be false advertising.
TechnicallyLogic - Thursday, February 28, 2019 - link
By that logic, Intel CPUs have no PCIE slots, as there are LGA 1151 Mini STX motherboards with no x16 slot at all. I think a good compromise would be to list the CPU as having 16+4 PCIE slots.Yorgos - Friday, November 2, 2018 - link
for clarity's sake they should report the 9900k at 250Watt TDP.selective clarity is purch media's approach, though.
2700x has 20 pcie lanes, period. if some motherboard manufacturers use it for nvme or as an extra x4 pcie slot, it's not up to debate for a "journalist" to include it or exclude it, it's fucking there.
unless the money are good ofc... everyone has their price.
TheGiantRat - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Technically the silicon of each die has total of 128 PCI-E lanes. Each die on Ryzen Threadripper and Epyc has 64 lanes for external buses and 64 lanes for IF. Therefore, the total is 128 lanes. They just have it limited to 20 lanes for consumer grade CPUs.atragorn - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Why are the epyc scores so low across the board? I dont expect it to game well but it was at the bottom or close to it for everything it seemed