(EDIT: We are now told that these pictures are of a mockup shared by AMD at a pre-E3 event, meaning these pictures aren't of the actual processor, or originally from the Reddit poster.)
A mysterious Redditor, reportedly from Russia, has shared photographs that claim to be AMD's soon-to-be-released Ryzen 9 3950X 16-core processor and its packaging.
The Ryzen 9 3950X is one of the most anticipated processor launches of the year. AMD officially revealed the Ryzen 9 3950X back in June for a September release.
The Ryzen 9 3950X is the granddaddy of AMD's Ryzen 3000-series, codename Matisse, desktop processor. Like the other Matisse parts, the Ryzen 9 3950X is made in the U.S. and Taiwan. This is because the compute chipsets are product of TSMC's groundbreaking 7nm FinFET manufacturing process, while the base I/O die is made produced with GlobalFoundries' 12nm node. The Ryzen 9 3950X rocks 16 cores, 32 threads and 64MB of L3 cache. The processor beats with a 3.5 GHz base clock and 4.7 GHz boost clock.
Digitec Galaxus AG, a Swiss IT, consumer electronics and telecommunication retailer, recently posted a listing saying the the Ryzen 9 3950X would hit shelves on September 30. However, the Swiss retailer has since changed the delivery date to unknown. Some might argue that the previous listed date could have been a placeholder only. However, Digitec is AMD's only Western European partner, so we think that the retailer's information is probably legit.
AMD has announced a plethora of 7nm products this year, and TSMC probably has its hands full. We suspect AMD is most likely still building up its Ryzen 9 3950X supply so that there are enough chips to go around. The Ryzen 9 3950X is expected to be a big gamechanger. after all. Its release will mark the first time we see a 16-core processor in the mainstream market.
