AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X and 1920X 2020 Latest Updated Review
AMD designed its Threadripper processors for anyone able to utilize lots of cores and tons of PCIe connectivity. Think content creators, heavy multi-taskers, and software developers.
AMD’s Gamer Mode does seem to help bring back gaming performance by disabling one complex and routing all memory to just one.
Overview
AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 1950X put a feather in the cap of its high-end desktop aspirations. The company’s new line-up challenges Intel’s best efforts.
But, as usual, some of the best value in AMD’s product stack is found in the mid-range models.
Ryzen Threadripper 1920X comes arms with 12 physical cores and SMT, enabling 24 concurrent threads fed by 38MB of cache, a quad-channel memory controller
New Socket, New Motherboards
Again, similar to Intel’s HEDT platform, AMD is launching the X399 platform alongside Threadripper to provide the necessary tools.
The large TR4 socket and all of its pins gives quad-channel memory with two DIMMs per channel, along with up to 60 PCIe lanes for add-in cards (Video cards, NICs, SSDs, etc).
These motherboards currently support the two Threadripper CPUs , one more CPU to be launched at the end of the month, and another CPU that has been leaked but not announced
AMD’s Threadripper 1920X offers a great price point for a beefy 12 cores and 24 threads, and while you lose four cores compared to the high end Threadripper 1950X, it comes at a $200 savings.
Meet Ryzen Threadripper 1920X
AMD designed its Threadripper processors for anyone able to utilize lots of cores and tons of PCIe connectivity.
Think content creators, heavy multi-taskers, and software developers.
The 12C/24T Threadripper 1920X features a 3.5 GHz base clock, which is just 100 MHz higher than the 16C/32T 1950X.
Surprisingly, the two chips share the same 3.7 GHz boost frequency for heavily-threaded workloads and a four-core 4 GHz setting for less taxing tasks.
If your cooler is robust enough, both processors also enable a four-core 4.2 GHz XFR ceiling.
Like all of AMD’s Ryzen processors, the 1920X utilizes two quad-core complexes combined into a single Zeppelin die.
Two Zeppelin dies, tied together using the Infinity Fabric interconnect into a multi-chip module, come together to create Threadripper CPUs wielding 16 physical cores.
What we Liked
- Offers more performance, uses less power and runs cooler than the Core i9-7900X
- While liquid cooling is a must, Theadripper is easier to tame than Skylake-X
- Brings competition back to HEDT
- Amazing multi-core performance
- Plenty of PCIe lanes
What we Didn’t Like
- Middling single-core performance
- Overclocking remains limited
- Game mode and Creator mode confusion
- Power draw is very high, albeit sometimes justifiable on a performance per Watt metric
Specifications
AMD’s Threadripper 1950X, 1920X, and other Thread Rippler CPUs are made up of two CPU Core Complexes (CCX). Each of the CCXs inside the 1950X is configured with 4+4 cores, while the 1920X is 3+3
In the end, you get two silicon dies in a configuration such as (4+4) + (4+4).
Each of the dies is configured horizontally from the other, and two dud dies sit next to the working dies to balance out pressure from heat sink coolers.
Both CPUs have a 180W TDP and 32MB of total L3 cache. L2 cache is 8MB in the 1950X and 6MB in the 1920X. The 1950X has a base clock of 3.4GHz while the 1920X has a base of 3.5GHz.
Both CPUs have an all core boost frequency of 3.7GHz, a four core boost up to 4.0GHz, and a 4.2GHz XFR boost on four cores if thermal headroom is here.
Ryzen Threadripper gaming performance
For all the good stuff we saw on the CPU-centric testing, if you’ve read all the 
earlier Ryzen coverage, you can probably already guess that Threadripper doesn’t really change the formula.
Other than a few games now having tuned builds that run better on Ryzen, in general Intel wins the gaming tests.
Of course, this is at 1080p ultra quality, using a AMD Ryzen —which honestly isn’t that far off what I’d expect any gamer considering Threadripper or Core i9 to be running.
Anyway, a slower GPU would show far less difference, and running at 1440p or 4K would also narrow the gap.
But if you want maximum gaming performance, AMD still has some work to do.
Compatibility and Hardware
The performance of the processors themselves is an important factor to consider before buying, but it’s hardly the only factor.
Your processor and chipset determine what kind of hardware you can use in your computer. And this is one of the areas where the AMD Ryzen excel.
If you remember back to the beginning of our article, both Threadripper CPUs support 64 PCIe lanes.
With both storage and graphics heavily migrating towards AMD Ryzen , this is important for high end computers.
With Intel boards, Quad SLI systems come with a disadvantage.
You can either run two cards in X16 mode, or you can run four cards in X8 mode. This means that the added benefit of two more cards comes at the expense of crippling your original two.
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