Possible AMD Threadripper 3000-Series Castle Peak 16-Core CPU Appears

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By Zhiye Liu
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Hardware leaker TUM_APISAK has unearthed a UserBenchmark result of an unidentified AMD 16-core processor. Judging by its specifications, the chip appears to be one of AMD's upcoming Threadripper 3000-series processors (codenamed Castle Peak).

(Image credit: AMD)

In a recent sitdown with AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su, she reiterated the company's commitment to the HEDT market and implicitly hinted that the chipmaker is preparing its third-generation Threadripper chips. Su didn't reveal a concrete launch date for the new multi-core monsters. However, if AMD follows recent norms, it could release them next month. Looking back at Threadripper's history, we can recognize a fairly consistent pattern. AMD launched the first-and second-generation Threadripper processors in August 2017 and 2018, respectively. There's a good chance AMD could continue that trend.

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Row 0 - Cell 0 Price (USD)Cores / ThreadsTDPBase ClockBoost ClockL3 CachePCIe LanesMemory Support
*AMD 100-000000011-12?16 / 32?3.6 GHz4.0 GHz???
AMD Threadripper 2950X$89916 / 32180W3.5 GHz4.4 GHz32MBPCIe 3.0 x64Quad DDR4-2933
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X$74916 / 32105W3.5 GHz4.7 GHz64MBPCIe 4.0 x24Dual DDR4-3200

*Specifications in the table are unconfirmed

(Image credit: UserBenchmark)

Ryzen Threadripper 3000-series processors will use AMD's latest Zen 2 processor microarchitecture, so they will probably come out of TSMC's 7nm FinFET stove and support the PCIe 4.0 interface. The new parts will likely work on existing X399-based motherboards through a BIOS update. However, AMD might introduce a new chipset to take advantage of the PCIe 4.0 functionality.

The leaked AMD 100-000000011-12 sample has the OPN (Ordering Part Number) in the codename, which implies the specifications are very close to what we can expect from the final product. UserBenchmark detects the processor with 16 cores, 32 threads, 3.6 GHz base clock and 4.05 GHz average boost clock. The benchmark identifies the system as AMD Sharkstooth and recognizes the motherboard with an SP3r2 (TR4) socket with quad-channel memory support.

Although UserBenchmark isn't our preferred benchmark tool, some valuable data proves useful. The unknown part is seemingly up to 11% faster than the current Threadripper 2950X in single-core and quad-core tests. When it comes to multi-core workloads, the chip performs up to 18% faster than second-gen Threadripper.

On the other hand, the AMD 100-000000011-12's performance is on par with the Ryzen 9 3900X when it comes to single-core and quad-core workloads. As expected, the Threadripper sample beats the Ryzen 9 3900X by up to 35% in multi-core workloads.

The Threadripper 3000-series lineup will be an exciting lineup for sure. We can't wait to see what AMD has up its sleeves.

Zhiye Liu
Zhiye Liu
RAM Reviewer and News Editor

Zhiye Liu is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

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4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • vrtechie
    Just pointing out, the 3950x is not $399, its $749.
    Reply
  • xrodney
    This looks very unlikely.
    Given that TR can have 80-100% higher TDP compared to desktop, there is no way it should be at 700MHz lower clock than equivalent desktop CPU.

    They would have to use total trash chiplets to clock lower than 1st generation zen cores.
    Reply
  • TJ Hooker
    xrodney said:
    This looks very unlikely.
    Given that TR can have 80-100% higher TDP compared to desktop, there is no way it should be at 700MHz lower clock than equivalent desktop CPU.

    They would have to use total trash chiplets to clock lower than 1st generation zen cores.
    The average turbo reported in userbenchmark is going to be significantly lower than the max rated boost clock. E.g. for the 3900X it's typically around 4-4.1 GHz, in contrast to the rated 4.6 GHz max boost. Given that the 3950X has 33% more cores but the same TDP as the 3900X, I'd expect the heavily threaded boost clocks to be lower than that. So the 16C TR could still end up having higher real world boost clocks than the 3950X even if these results are more or less valid.
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    However, if AMD follows recent norms, it could release them next month. Looking back at Threadripper's history, we can recognize a fairly consistent pattern. AMD launched the first-and second-generation Threadripper processors in August 2017 and 2018, respectively. There's a good chance AMD could continue that trend.
    On the other hand, the Ryzen 3000-series desktop processors launched a few months later in the year than their 1000 and 2000-series counterparts. The first generation Ryzen processors launched in March and April of 2017, with Threadripper coming several months later in August. The second generation came in April of 2018, with some Threadripper processors coming in August, and others in October. Third generation Ryzen didn't come until July, so if Threadripper again comes several months after the AM4 parts, we might potentially be looking at a release sometime around November.

    Plus, I can't see AMD launching their as-yet unannounced Threadripper processors prior to launching their already announced 3950X for the AM4 platform, which is set to come out in September. And perhaps most worth considering, AMD hasn't even launched their Epyc 2 server processors yet, and it seems almost certain that those will come before Threadripper, seeing as Threadripper is pretty much just a cut-down Epyc. Epyc previously launched a couple months after the AM4 processors, and a couple months before Threadripper. AMD announced that Epyc would be coming in the 3rd quarter, but hasn't said anything about a release window for Threadripper, meaning we are probably looking at a release closer to the end of the year, in the 4th quarter. An August release seems rather unlikely.
    Reply