Custom PC - UK (2020-02)

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corecounts.Othergameswetriedwerefine,though,and

switchingtoGameModeinRyzenMastersolvedthisproblem

too,buttheThreadripper 39 60Xperformsmoreconsistently

here.Theminimumof90fpsinFarCry5 usingGameMode

wassimilartotheRyzen9 3950X’sresult.

Wealsomanagedtooverclockthe3970Xto4.2GHzusinga

1.3Vvcore,whichis 150MHzlower thanwemanagedwiththe

Threadripper3960X,and300MHzlowerthanthestock

speedpeakboost.Overclockingimprovedmosttestresults,

butpowerconsumptionrocketedfrom451Wto615W.

Amazingly,though,thiswassimilartothe18-coreIntelCPU

andover200Wlowerthanitspredecessor.ThisCPUdoesget

hot,though,especiallywhenoverclocked.

Conclusion

ThankstotheZen2 architecture,a 7nmmanufacturing

processandhighboostfrequencies,theThreadripper3970X

is farmorecapableingamesandlightly-threadedtasksthan

itspredecessors,whiledeliveringmonumentalmulti-

threadedperformanceandexcellentefficiency.

Youwon’tseescalinginallsoftware,though,whichmeans

you’llhavetocarefullyweighupyouroptions.The

Threadripper3960Xoffersfarbettervaluetoo,withsimilar

performanceinmanytests,higheroverclockingheadroom,

andexcellentmulti-threadedperformance.Fora £600saving,

it’sa betteroptionunlessmoneyis noobject.If timeis money,

though,andyouneedtotearthroughthoserenderingtasksas

fastaspossible,theextracashwillbewellspentand,unlike

theThreadripper2990WX,theThreadripper3970Xis adeptin

everydaytasksandgamingtoo.

ANTONYLEATHER

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk

AMD THREADRIPPER

3970X

/£1,999 inc VAT

SOCKET TRX4 PROCESSOR

A

MD’s Threadripper 2990WX and 2970WX were,
thankfully for Intel, rather niche, thanks to several
issues at launch hindering performance. Various
tweaks led to improvements over the months, but they still
lack grunt in many tasks outside of workstation-class
applications, in part due to the way they’re configured.
With 3rd-gen Threadripper, though, AMD has connected all
the Core Chiplet Dies, which amount to 32 cores and 64
threads, to an I/O die, giving each die access to the memory
controllers and PCI-E bus. This setup should massively
improve performance, especially in games and lightly-
threaded tasks that benefit from lower latencies, plus you have
the improvements of the 7nm Zen 2 architecture as well.
The peak boost frequency has risen from 4.2GHz to 4.5GHz
for the Threadripper 3970X compared to the Threadripper
2990WX, and the L3 cache has doubled to 128MB too.
Meanwhile, an improved memory controller means the
Threadripper 3970X supports similarly fast memory to its
mainstream Ryzen siblings too (see p20 ).
Performance isn’t far short of the Ryzen 9 3950X in our
image editing test, despite the lower boost frequency, and
much faster than the Core i9-10980XE in this test too. What’s
more, even though Handbrake scales poorly above ten cores,
this test still revealed a stark difference between this CPU and
its predecessor, with the 3790X nearly doubling the
performance. Cinebench is where the 3970X really shines

OVERCLOCKED

+ Most powerful

desktop CPU ever

+ Blistering

multi-threaded

performance

+ Decent gaming

performance

OVERCOOKED

• Not much
  overclocking
  headroom


• Not many
  applications take
  full advantage of
  core count


• Requires
  significant cooling,
  especially once
  overclocked

VERDICT

A vastly superior CPU to its predecessor, with great all-

round performance and incredible multi-threaded grunt,

although it’s extremely expensive.

OVERALLSCORE

86 %

PERFORMANCE

46 / 50

FEATURES

15 / 15

VALUE

25 / 35

SPEC

Base frequency 3.7GHz

Max boost frequency 4.5GHz

Core Zen 2

Manufacturing process 7nm

Number of cores 32 x physical ( 64 threads)

IGP None

Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) Ye s

Cache 128MB L3 cache, 16MB L2 cache

Memory controller Quad-channel DDR4, up to 3200MHz

Packaging AMD Socket TRX

Thermal design power (TDP) 280W

Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost Overdrive, FMA3,

F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4,

SSE3, SSE2, SSE

ugh. Itproducedtwicethescoreof

Corei9-10980XEandit was8,

ntsaheadoftheRyzen 93950 X, withbyfarthe

tresultinBlendertoo.

We sawsomeslowframeratesoccasionallyinFarCry5,

ch according to AMD is a game that still struggles with high

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