AMD is revamping its lineup of Ryzen Threadripper CPUs. The Threadripper Pro 5000 WX chips offer a multitude of threads and are aimed at workstations.
AMD launches Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000 WX. Nearly two years after the launch of Threadripper 3000 Pro, that series thus gets a follow-up. The chips are built on the Zen 3 architecture (not Zen 3+ on which Ryzen’s latest mobile chips are built). That offers more instructions per clock cycle compared to Zen 2 in Threadripper 3000 Pro and also provides higher clock speeds.
The chips sit between the AMD Ryzen lineup for classic desktops and laptops along one side, and AMD Epyc for servers on the other. AMD is building Threadripper Pro 5000 WX specifically for workstations. AMD puts its chips primarily against Intel’s Xeon W processors, but also compares with the Xeon Platinum 8280 in its own benchmarks. These should show that Threadripper Pro 5000 WX is 20 percent to 200 percent faster than comparable Intel chips, depending on the type of workload.
Five new chips
AMD is launching five new processors. All support DDR4 across eight channels, have a TDP of 280 watts and get a turbo boost frequency of 4.5 GHz. The chips further get 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995 WX is the pater familias with 64 cores and 128 threads. The base clock speed is 2.7 GHz and AMD feeds the compute cores with 256 MB of L3 cache.
| CPU | Cores/Threads | Clock speed/Turbo (GHz) | L3 cache (MB) |
| 5995WX | 64/128 | 2,7/4,5 | 256 |
| 5975WX | 32/64 | 3,6/4,5 | 128 |
| 5965WX | 24/48 | 3,8/4,5 | 128 |
| 5955WX | 16/32 | 4,0/4,5 | 64 |
| 5945WX | 12/24 | 4,1/4,5 | 64 |
AMD is not staring blindly at the thread aspect of Threadripper and at the bottom of the spectrum also offers a chip with relatively modest specifications in that area. The Threadripper Pro 5945WX has 12 cores with 24 threads, but retains the same support for DDR4-3200 over eight channels. That chip is intended for workloads where memory outweighs pure computing power.
OEM only
Want to buy the chips to assemble your own workstation? Then you’re out of luck. AMD sells the processors only through OEM systems. Lenovo is the launch partner for that. The PC giant provides a new ThinkStation P620 in which the new Threadrippers are available. AMD does not otherwise communicate prices for its chips.