AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X

Ryzen Threadripper 2950X builds on all of the goodness offered by AMD's first-gen Ryzen Threadripper processors, addressing some of our concerns in the process. If you're looking to upgrade from an older CPU to an all-around crowd pleaser, Threadripper 2950X does not disappoint.

A stunning high-end CPU for content creators that offers superb value for money, but make sure you pair it with fast memory for best results.

Skip the pricey Intel Skylake-X CPUs and even AMD’s new WX-series. Price-to-performance, you won’t find a better value out of a high-end desktop processor than the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X.

The 2950X Threadripper is an evolutionary processor. It takes everything that we loved about the 1950X and makes it just a little bit better. The 2950X is good for the overclocking enthusiast, but much like we saw with the Ryzen 7 2700X, depending on your needs, AMD's Precision Boost 2 is likely going to take care of that in the overclocking department. The 2950X is good for all of us that like to play our games at night and use our computers for HEDT computing during the day.

With incremental improvements to multi-threaded performance, thermal management, and overclocking, the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X makes AMD's flagship consumer CPU lineup even better than it was before.

At the very least it makes Intel's 18-core even worse value than it was pitched against the Threadripper 1950X and coupled with some faster memory, it would likely boost its performance further still. In summary then, the Threadripper 2950X is an excellent successor to the 1950X and is faster across the board. The 2990WX is awesomely fast in workstation applications, but outside of these, the Threadripper 2950X is a much better bet.

The Core i9-7900X clearly cannot compete with the Threadripper 2950X at $900, and we doubt those two extra cores you get by paying $1000 for the i9-7920X will make much of a difference. Perhaps the best way forward for Intel would be to snap out of its arrogance and price the i9-7900X at $700 (competitive to the Threadripper 2920X), and get the i9-7920X below the Threadripper 2950X. Perhaps, the 14-core i9-7940X could be offered at $1000. We doubt Intel will make the right choice, and so for prosumers, the Threadripper 2950X takes the crown.

Whatever your choice is, you'll love your Threadripper PC, whether that is 12, 16, 24 or 32 cores. But for the demographic of this website, the 2590X somehow makes sense, as it could be the best match in application compatibility and gaming. AMD continuously manages to ooze out products that impress, even while there's no real need for them we do have to say kudos as this is brilliant stuff. Yeah, for those that need that x-factor in their PC, this might be a great opportunity. It is a unique product and, out of reach for the 90% of us, this as well is a top pick.

Would I put this in my rig? Hell yeah. This is perfect for me. I don’t care if I lose 5 FPS on my 1440p monitor, down from 150 to 145, since I’ve normally got G-sync on my 144Hz monitor anyway, but halving my render times and having that much extra capacity to do things while I render, edit or export is just a dream come true. Highly, highly recommended.

The Threadripper 2950X is a winner no matter which way you slice it, in our opinion. The enhanced boost algo in Zen+, the relative maturity of the overall platform, competitive pricing, and strong performance with a wide variety of workloads make the Threadripper 2950X a very intriguing option for enthusiasts.