Conclusion

Final Words 

Pinnacle Ridge (ZEN+) brought Threadripper what they needed, better yields on 12nm offered them the ability to lower voltage a bit, thus increasing the clock frequency. The conundrum of it all is simple, I did not expect a 32- and 24-core part but they did release it. More viable for the majority of us is the 8-core Ryzen is all we need. As you have been able to see, you can game fine with the 2970X, however, this is not a gaming processor whatsoever, it's not intended to be that. Game mode locks down 6 cores and 12 threads at roughly 4 GHz, it's a trick that enables you to game. If you are a gamer and need just that, really, get yourself a nice Ryzen 6 or 8-core processor and please do save yourself a lot of money. However, for the ones who need to perform video editing or developers that need to virtualize multiple containers, well that's where this is a golden CPU as it offers a great balance of both worlds (gaming/pro workloads). Never, ever has any consumer been able to purchase a 12, 16, 24 or let alone a 32-core processor in this price range as that was exclusive to a very expensive server market. For content creation, virtualization, animation, video editing, modeling, and raytraced rendering the answer is a 2970WX or 2990WX.

Performance

If the software supports 48 threads, there's nothing stopping this processor ripping threads and spitting out serious numbers. The base clock is nice and, if all threads are used, you'll see something like 3.5~3.9 GHz on all cores. With a few threads, that's a 4.2 GHz under the condition that you properly cool the processor. You can tweak all cores to ~4.1 GHz of course, but remember that will increase power consumption severely and doesn't necessarily bring in heaps of extra performance. 

I am happy to report that, with a mere BIOS update and the motherboard tested, we really did not run into any significant enough issues. The memory compatibility and stability was truly good. If you pick your memory right, you will not have any issues as the initial Ryzen releases have already removed the launch issues. In the BIOS simply enable the XMP SPD profile and you'll boot straight into Windows with your new timings and frequency. Current memories that work on Gen2 Ryzen will work just as well on Threadripper. The new Dynamic memory toggle works well and helps to assign the best memory mode where required while switching unnoticed in the OS.

Gaming 

Game performance then; at defaults, you'll not be charmed, many games will not even startup with 48 threads fired off at them. Switching towards game mode enabled six cores and twelve threads, which helps. Overall the numbers did disappoint a bit, however as mentioned before, the WX is not about gaming but you can do so by hitting that gaming switch and still get to play games at very decent framerates. 

The Memory

We mentioned DDR4 memory a couple of times already; the latest AGESA based BIOSes have improved a lot in the past year. Threadripper fully supports 3200, even 3466 MHz, the same stuff we've been recommending for a year now. 3200 MHz is a non-issue with the right memory, we recommend 2933 MHz or better if you plan to do some gaming. Obviously, with quad-channel, you could go a little slower as you gain more bandwidth. Please do check your motherboard QVL list for recommended memory. If you do not need ECC memory, we can recommend the G.Skill FlareX memory as used, we never have any issues with it. Pop it in, enable XMP and you're up and running. Whether you like to use it in local or distributed mode, I'll leave up to you.

The Tweak

We reached 4100 MHz stable on all 24 cores with just an LCS cooler was accomplished in mere seconds of BIOS tweaking. However, the XFR2 functionality is so refined that at defaults the four 4.2 GHz bins make this the faster option overall for today's software. Yeah, that Turbo to 4.2 GHz is pretty good, however, the second you use more than 4 threads, it'll start to throttle down towards that base clock in gradual linear steps. The good thing is that if you cool this processor down well enough with, say, the LCS kit we used today, your base clock will still hover in the 3.7~3.9 GHz range thanks to XFR2. And that as well remains impressive for something with sixteen cores. As shown, manually I achieved 4100 MHz on all cores but needed ~1.45 volts in the BIOS. Be advised though, tweaking creates more heat and thus make sure you have enough cooling. We surely recommend some form of liquid cooling. Obviously, tweaking will increase your power consumption (when the PC is stressed), please do keep that in mind at all times.

The conclusion

The rabbit that AMD pulled out of its head with Threadripper never ceases to amaze me, even despite a very narrow target audience and demographic, sales wise. The newer Pinnacle ridge based CPU dies at 12nm bring in a bit of a speed bump and I've stated it already if this is prolonged with 7nm production enabling AMD to get closer to that 5 GHz marker, then Intel has some serious challenges ahead. For the regular gamer and consumer, I cannot deny however that Threadripper 2970WX is a tough sell, for the joe average or the regular PC Gamer, this setup makes little sense. But the WX series wasn't intended for gaming or your regular DIY PC, that's what Ryzen 2600x/2700x is covering. Threadripper is for the professionals, the developers and video crunchers that need 32 or 24 core to fire off at serious workloads. Anything with 8 up to 16 cores is plenty sufficient of course. However, 48 threads available and a boost on four threads to 4.2 GHz nothing less than impressive. 

It remains difficult to find logical reasoning for the Threadripper series, as AMD went so loud and fast in just one year. We're at the end of 2018, and 32 cores / 64 threads are available in the consumer space since August at prices that I won't call cheap but do call in reach for many. The WX series serves a specific audience, the ones that hyper-task, stream, render 3D content and make videos. Combined with X399 the sky is the limit and your connectivity virtuous. With Threadripper you get choices, your choices are 12, 16, 24 or 32 cores with that amount doubled in threads. AMD continuously delivers and impresses, and once again I have to mention that these WX processors are just brilliant stuff if you have a need for it, even for the really small install base it is intended for. It is a very unique product series. And while out of reach and unneeded for the 98% of us, it deserves our Guru3D top pick.

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