AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985X Processor
The AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985X processor is reportedly being tested on the 'Boulder Gulch' platform, and we've got some early — and potentially very exciting — performance numbers to share with you. The caveat here is that these numbers come from an unofficial source and may not accurately represent the potential of the upcoming Threadripper CPUs.
Interesting Takeaways
Coming directly from the unofficial 'Boulder City' leaker on Twitter, the numbers themselves pertain to workstation-oriented Ryzen Threadripper Pro processors and not high-end desktop-bound CPUs. Still, there are a number of interesting takeaways from this information that we'll break down for you below.
Benchmarks
We've got Agisoft Metashape 1.8.5 benchmarks courtesy of the 'Boulder Gulch' system, which features a 64-core CPU, 256GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and an Nvidia RTX A5000 graphics card.
Roughly translated, the numbers imply that the system is able to complete the benchmark in approximately 20 seconds, which equates to a speed of 28,253. This would place the system at around 9,000 points ahead of the Threadripper 2970X's score (19 seconds), meaning the 7985X is around twice as fast as its predecessor.
Of course, this is where things get a little tricky. We know that AMD's next-generation Ryzen Threadripper Pro CPUs will feature an eight-channel DDR5-5600 memory subsystem, whereas their EPYC Genoa counterparts use a 12-channel subsystem. The leaked benchmarks above, however, imply that the upcoming Threadripper processors only use eight channels despite the extra two channels on offer from their Genoa counterparts.
This discrepancy could simply be due to the fact that the leaked information pertains to workstation-oriented Ryzen Threadripper Pro processors and not high-end desktop-bound CPUs. It could also be that the official launch isn't too far off and that the actual products will have different specifications.
Nonetheless, if the numbers above are to be taken at face value, they imply that the Threadripper Pro 7985X is capable of 358.4 GB/s of DDR5-5600 bandwidth, giving it a theoretical edge over the 12-channel Genoa counterpart. This bandwidth is spread across a total of 64 cores, meaning each core is allocated 5.6 GB/s, whereas the 12-channel Genoa chip only has 4.8 GB/s per core.
This is only part of the story, however, as the leaked benchmark above uses DDR4-3200, whereas the Threadripper 2970X uses DDR4-2666. This by itself explains most of the discrepancy, as the slower memory speeds force the processor to use slower channels. When the 2970X does use eight channels, it does so at a much faster 204.8 GB/s peak memory bandwidth.
There are a number of reasons why AMD may have opted for an eight-channel memory subsystem. Not only is it a cost-saving measure, but the EPYC Genoa and Threadripper Pro 7985X processors are both physically limited to four channels.
