MSI video reveals flagship 64-core/128-thread Ryzen Threadripper 3990X

Yesterday, AMD officially unveiled two processors for its new TRX40 platform. The 32-core, 64-thread Ryzen Threadripper 3970X currently stands as the company's flagship CPU. However, if today's reports are accurate, it won't hold that title for long.

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

MSI, one of the largest motherboard manufacturers, posted a video demonstration of its TRX40 Creator motherboard on its YouTube channel. In the video, a company representative accidentally (or deliberately) showed off an unknown 64-core, 128-thread chip.

The Windows 10 Task Manager window revealed this: 8 rows down and 16 columns across ultimately indicated 128 logical threads.

It's logical to assume a 64-core, 128-thread EPYC server processor was installed instead of a Ryzen Threadripper. However, MSI's official website states that the TRX40 Creator board does not support EPYC CPUs:

⤢ ВІДКРИТИ

So much speculation already surrounds the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X that the processor must exist, at least as engineering samples. Why isn't AMD launching it alongside its lower-end CPUs? The answer is quite simple: poor power efficiency and thermal output. Consider this: if a 32-core chip draws around 280 watts, it's not hard to imagine the power requirements of a relatively high-frequency 64-core processor. AMD is waiting until it has enough highly successful 7nm dies to saturate the market with 64-core CPUs.

The chipmaker needs to fit twice as many cores into the same TDP envelope; otherwise, most cooling systems won't be able to handle AMD's top-tier processor.

Given all of the above, don't expect an announcement for the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X anytime soon.