AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16-Core CPU Tipped For A September 30 Release
An online retailer in Switzerland may have revealed the release date for AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9 3950X processor. According the new product listing, the 16-core/32-thread beast is due to launch on in two and half weeks on September 30, 2019, based on "official info from AMD," if a Google translation of the text is accurate.
The Ryzen 9 3950X is an interesting chip, as its core and thread counts put it in high-end desktop (HEDT) territory. However, this is not a Threadripper CPU—AMD has yet to launch a new round of Threadripper processors based on its Zen 2 architecture (they're coming, though). Technically, the Ryzen 9 3950X is a mainstream desktop processor.
It's also an enthusiast SKU. AMD unveiled the monstrous chip at E3 in June, saying it rocks 16 cores and 32 threads of computing muscle clocked at 3.5GHz to 4.7GHz, along with a whopping 72MB of total cache. It also has a 105W TDP.
Later that same month, a user claimed to have achieved a 5.4GHz overclock on all 16 cores at 1.77 volts, on what was presumably an engineering sample. At that speed, it posted an Cinebench R15 score of 5,501 in the multi-core test. That is higher than the score observed during an AMD-sanctioned event, in which an overclocked Ryzen 9 3950X posted a multi-core score of 5,434 in Cinebench R15.
What about pricing? The Swiss retailer has the Ryzen 9 3950X listed for 999 Swiss francs. That works out to around $1,001 in US currency.
While pricing may vary by territory, the Ryzen 9 3950X is not likely to go that high in the US, unless there is a shortage or some price gouging going on. AMD already revealed that the Ryzen 9 3950X will launch sometime in September for $749 (MSRP).
The Ryzen 9 3950X is not exactly cheap, though $749 is pretty reasonable for the specs. To put the price into perspective, AMD's second generation Threadipper 2950X with 16 cores and 32 threads launched at $899 last year.
For the most part, Intel still holds an advantage in IPC (instructions per clock) performance, as we saw in our shootout between a Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900K. However, in multi-threaded workloads, AMD has a clear advantage at several price points, because it simply offers more cores and threads per dollar than Intel's lineup.
