AMD’s much-anticipated Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series, codenamed “Storm Peak,” is gearing up to challenge for a spot at the top of the list of best CPUs for workstations, with its release scheduled for November 21.
The excitement around this new CPU range is building, and it has already made waves in the tech world with some early benchmarking. In particular, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX, the 64-core flagship SKU, has undergone testing in Geekbench 6.
This provides us with valuable insights into how it compares to its predecessor, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX (known as “Chagall”), as well as the Xeon Platinum 8490H (“Sapphire Rapids”) processors.
The new Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX is based on a 5nm manufacturing process, an upgrade from the 7nm process used for the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX. Despite this change, it retains the impressive 64-core and 128-thread configuration.
Notably, AMD has made significant improvements in clock speeds. The Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX boasts a base clock of 3.2 GHz and a boost clock of 5.1 GHz. This represents an 18.5% boost in base clock and a 13.3% increase in boost clock compared to the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX. The cache system has also been tweaked, with Zen 4 doubling the L2 cache. Consequently, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX now features twice as much L2 cache as its predecessor. The L3 cache size, however, remains unchanged at 256MB.
These impressive upgrades come at a trade-off, primarily regarding power consumption. While the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX had a 280W TDP, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX saw a substantial bump to 350W, allowing up to 25% more power consumption. The Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX also introduces support for PCIe 5.0 and DDR5-5200 memory, a significant advancement over the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX’s PCIe 4.0 lanes and DDR4-3200 memory.
Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX Benchmarks
| Processor | Single-Core Score | Multi-Core Score |
|---|---|---|
| Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX | 2,599 | 24,780 |
| Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX | 2,033 | 20,105 |
| Xeon Platinum 8490H | 1,842 | 16,308 |
In our comparison, we’ll use the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX results, which are among the best available. These tests were conducted using a similar version of Geekbench 6 on a Windows 11 Pro 64-bit system. It’s worth noting that there is only one submission for the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX, discovered by Benchleaks. We’ll also include the Xeon Platinum 8490H submission, which aligns well with our criteria.
In terms of performance uplift, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX delivers an impressive 27.8% boost in single-core performance compared to the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX. The gain in multi-core performance is slightly lower but still noteworthy at 23.3%.
When pitted against the Xeon Platinum 8490H, Intel’s flagship Sapphire Rapids SKU, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7985WX showcases its strength with a remarkable 41.1% increase in single-core performance and a substantial 51.9% surge in multi-core performance.
However, it’s important to note that consumer workloads may not necessarily be the best benchmark for workstation-grade processors. While these initial benchmark results are promising, they provide only a glimpse of the CPUs’ capabilities. A comprehensive assessment of their performance will require in-depth reviews.
Therefore, we should exercise caution and wait for a thorough evaluation before determining which CPU reigns supreme in the world of workstations.
