another great review on a fantastic product. the 2920x is a winner @ $650. especially as it runs cooler than the 9900k and doubles up the thread count. this price point used to be a killer one for Intel's Haswell HEDT's... which imho, were the last Intel HEDT's worth buying (i had one for both variations of X99). i made the change to the 1950x, was blown away and then got the 2950x on a smaller form factor. after Intel gimped the Xeon compatibility i had zero interest, especially as it ruined the budget multi-core workstation in their line up. tellingly, AMD kept ecc compatibility.

tunejunky:

another great review on a fantastic product. the 2920x is a winner @ $650. especially as it runs cooler than the 9900k and doubles up the thread count. this price point used to be a killer one for Intel's Haswell HEDT's... which imho, were the last Intel HEDT's worth buying (i had one for both variations of X99). i made the change to the 1950x, was blown away and then got the 2950x on a smaller form factor. after Intel gimped the Xeon compatibility i had zero interest, especially as it ruined the budget multi-core workstation in their line up. tellingly, AMD kept ecc compatibility.

Yes, I was really impressed how cool can 2950x run even with Noctua air cooler @ low RPM, was expecting that cooler get hot rather quickly but instead it got just warm. But still cant wait for water block delivery as its nearly incompatible with waterblocks on GPU, being in way for fittings outlet. Had to use 3rd PCIe slot to barely fit it in.

Arbie:

I realize you're writing for enthusiasts, are turning out a huge amount of quality technical material, and in a second language (!). But often you go a little too fast. For example:

"Overall the numbers did disappoint a bit compared to what Coffee lake Gen9 is oozing out, however, it has to be said that we are using an RTX 2080 Ti, there's just no GPU limitation."

Your "however" is misplaced and confusing because the second phrase doesn't mitigate the first; if anything it supports it. But you don't note that the second point relates only to the 1080p results - those at higher resolutions are clearly GPU limited. In all, a broken sentence that brings the reader to a halt. Those who already know what you're trying to say will ignore it, and those who don't will be mystified. I point this out not to criticize, but to help you stay at the high standards you typically achieve.

That's nitpicking, I understood it fine. Occasionally there are typos or 'hiccups' in some articles here (& elsewhere on other sites), but this is not one of them - grammatical nitpicking is not worth it, and even if I was gonna grammatically nitpick, that sentence is fine. (Don't respond to me saying I'm grammatically wrong, I know what your view point is, and this is not a forum for talking grammar). On topic of the Threadripper reviews: awesome CPUs for production tasks, but not for gaming, passable for gaming, but only as an aside, better choices for gaming CPUs. Impressive stuff from AMD, but do people really need these CPUs, I reckon it's a small market.

You forgot to compare it to the 1920X.

Great review as always , great read. More cores for less $$$$ 😀

xrodney:

Yes, I was really impressed how cool can 2950x run even with Noctua air cooler @ low RPM, was expecting that cooler get hot rather quickly but instead it got just warm. But still cant wait for water block delivery as its nearly incompatible with waterblocks on GPU, being in way for fittings outlet. Had to use 3rd PCIe slot to barely fit it in.

i was burned with the EK (1st version) waterblock...which i still have...and my issues were luckily cleared up on this forum because until then i thought i'd lost out on the silicon lottery (w/high temps). i've been told that EK has since cleaned up the issues...which is good as i really, really want to buy the EK monoblock (TR4 Asrock) especially as i've gone mATX (Taichi)...but as you know the price is steep and i'm still digesting the hit from 3x M.2 (nvme) 1tb.

Nice review. (In a strong American accent) Good Job. Awesome.

tunejunky:

i was burned with the EK (1st version) waterblock...which i still have...and my issues were luckily cleared up on this forum because until then i thought i'd lost out on the silicon lottery (w/high temps). i've been told that EK has since cleaned up the issues...which is good as i really, really want to buy the EK monoblock (TR4 Asrock) especially as i've gone mATX (Taichi)...but as you know the price is steep and i'm still digesting the hit from 3x M.2 (nvme) 1tb.

I was disappointed by many issues with AM4 monoblock for C6H, bad contact with VRM, high CPU temps, nickel plating flaking off.... I bought MSI MEG x399 Creation for which EK already confirmed that they wont be making mono-block and this board does not even need it. Anyway this was 3rd time i got issues with EK WB so... I am getting Watercool Heatkiller 4 Pro which is together with XSPC Raystorm Neo, best block you can buy. http://shop.watercool.de/WebRoot/Sage/Shops/WatercooleK/59ED/EE61/1E55/3087/99B2/0A0C/05BA/0D32/Heatkiller_IV_for_Threadripper_Copper_Nickel_1.jpg

xrodney:

I was disappointed by many issues with AM4 monoblock for C6H, bad contact with VRM, high CPU temps, nickel plating flaking off.... I bought MSI MEG x399 Creation for which EK already confirmed that they wont be making mono-block and this board does not even need it. Anyway this was 3rd time i got issues with EK WB so... I am getting Watercool Heatkiller 4 Pro which is together with XSPC Raystorm Neo, best block you can buy. http://shop.watercool.de/WebRoot/Sage/Shops/WatercooleK/59ED/EE61/1E55/3087/99B2/0A0C/05BA/0D32/Heatkiller_IV_for_Threadripper_Copper_Nickel_1.jpg

hey man thanks for the heads-up. Asrock has the same VRMs on both x399 Taichi (ATX, mATX) and they tested the best on temps and operating range. i needed/ wanted a smaller rig and went mATX...just was paranoid about airflow in the Corsair Crystal 280, which is actually excellent. i'll take your advice and just go with a fan over the VRM and buy the Heatkiller 4

DeskStar:

Maybe I am missing something here, but isn't the stock boost clock of the 2920x 4.3Ghz? "OCing" to a 4.1-4.2Ghz clock doesn't seem that fabulous if I am correct here....

I don't believe 4.3ghz is an all-core boost