AMD Threadripper Pro Review: An Upgrade Over Regular Threadripper?

[harlan4096]

Since the launch of AMD’s Threadripper Pro platform, the desire to see what eight channels of memory brings to compute over the regular quad-channel Threadripper has been an intriguing prospect. Threadripper Pro is effectively a faster version of AMD’s EPYC, limited for single CPU workstation use, but also heralds a full 280 W TDP to match the frequencies of the standard Threadripper line. There is a 37% price premium from Threadripper to Threadripper Pro, which allows for ECC memory support, double the PCIe lanes, and double the memory bandwidth. In this review, we’re comparing every member of both platforms that is commercially available.

Threadripper Pro: Born of NeedWhen AMD embarked upon its journey with the new Ryzen portfolio, the delineation of where each product sat in the traditional market has not always been entirely clear. The first generation Ryzen was earmarked for standard consumers, however the top of the line Ryzen 7 1800X, with eight cores, competed against Intel’s high-end desktop market. The Zen 2-based portfolio saw the mainstream Ryzen go to 16 cores, pushing past Intel’s best 18-core HEDT processor at the time in most tests. That Zen 2-based Ryzen 9 3950X was still classified as a ‘mainstream platform’ processor, as it only had 24 PCIe lanes and dual-channel memory, sufficient for mainstream users but not enough for workstation markets. These mainstream processors were also limited to 105W TDP.

At the other end of the scale was AMD EPYC, with the first generation EPYC 7601 having 32 cores, and the second generation EPYC 7742 having 64 cores, up to 225W TDP. These share the same LGA4094 socket, have eight channels of memory, full ECC support, and 128 PCIe lanes (first PCIe 3.0, then PCIe 4.0), with dual-socket support. For workstation users interested in EPYC, AMD launched single socket ‘P’ versions. These offered the same features, at around 200 TDP, losing some performance to the regular non-P versions.

AMD then launched Threadripper, a high-end desktop version of EPYC that went all the way up to 280 W for peak frequency and performance. Threadripper sat above Ryzen with 64 PCIe lanes and quad channel memory, enabling mainstream users that wanted a bit more to get a bit more. However workstation users noted that while 280 W was great, it lacked official ECC memory support, and compared to EPYC, sometimes the reduced memory channel support and reduced PCIe compared to EPYC stopped Threadripper being adopted.

So enter Threadripper Pro, which sits between Threadripper and EPYC, and in this instance, very much more on the EPYC side. Threadripper Pro has almost all the features of AMD’s EPYC platform, but in a 280W thermal envelope. It has eight channels of memory support, all 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes, and can support ECC. The only downside to EPYC is that it can only be used in single socket systems, and the peak memory support is halved (from 4 TB to 2 TB). Threadripper Pro also comes at a small price premium as well.

AMD Comparison
AnandTech Ryzen Threadripper Threadripper Pro Enterprise EPYC

---

Cores 6-16 32-64 12-64 16-64
Architecture Zen 3 Zen 2 Zen 2 Zen 3
1P Flagship R9 5950X TR 3990X TR Pro 3995WX EPYC 7713P
MSRP $799 $3990 $5490 $5010
TDP 105 W 280 W 280 W 225 W
Base Freq 3400 MHz 2900 MHz 2700 MHz 2000 MHz
Turbo Freq 4900 MHz 4300 MHz 4200 MHz 3675 MHz
Socket AM4 sTRX40 sTRX4: WRX80 SP3
L3 Cache 64 MB 256 MB 256 MB 256 MB
DRAM 2 x DDR4-3200 4 x DDR4-3200 8 x DDR4-3200 8 x DDR4-3200
DRAM Capacity 128 GB 256 GB 2 TB, ECC 4 TB, ECC
PCIe 4.0 x20 + chipset 4.0 x56 + chipset 4.0 x120 + chipset 4.0 x128
Pro Features No No Yes Yes
One of the biggest pulls for Threadripper and Threadripper Pro has been any market that typically uses high-speed workstations and can scale their workloads. Speaking to a local OEM, the demand for Threadripper and Threadripper Pro from the visual effects industry has been off the charts, where these companies are ripping out their old infrastructure and replacing anew with AMD. This has also been spurned by the recent pandemic, where these studios want to keep the expensive hardware onsite and allow their artists to work from home via remote access.
Threadripper Pro CPUs: Four Models, Three at RetailWhen TR Pro launched in 2020, the processors were a Lenovo exclusive for the P620 workstation. The deal between Lenovo and AMD was not disclosed, however it would appear that the exclusivity deal ran for six months, from September to February, with the processors being made retail available on March 2nd.
...

Continue Reading