AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X Review: Striking The Balance

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By Paul Alcorn
last updated

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Civilization VI AI Test

Civilization VI's AI test measures CPU performance in a turn-based strategy game and tends to favor per-core performance.

Our 4.1 GHz manually overclocked 2950X beat the PBO-enabled configuration by a slim margin, though even a stock 2950X outperformed AMD's tuned Threadripper 1950X.

Civilization VI Graphics Test

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A nice mixture of high clock rates and parallelism helped AMD in the Civilization VI graphics test. Threadripper 2950X profited handsomely from its PBO feature, while the 4.1 GHz overclock trailed AMD's stock configuration. That shouldn't be surprising, though: the 2950X has a 4.4 GHz boost frequency right out of the box.

The CPU benefited from its lofty ceiling during bursty activity, and this benchmark's 25-second run time allowed the 2950X to stay near its sweet spot.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III

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The 4.1 GHz all-core overclock effectively tied our configuration with PBO active. But the real story was Threadripper 2950X's nice speed-up compared to AMD's previous-gen Threadripper 1950X. The stock 2950X beat its predecessor by an average of 9 FPS, which is no small feat in this title. Intel's Core i7-8700K and tuned Core i9-7960X still dominated up top, though.

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Paul Alcorn
Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

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31 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Peter Martin
    nice
    Reply
  • djerinich
    see what are they not telling you is that you can actually run 2 maybe even 3 heavy tasks while getting no performance hit and still use your PC for gaming or whatever, now that's where the time savings and true potential of TR is! basically it replaces 3-4 computers that otherwise you'd need for same tasks. now that's a value.
    Reply
  • Peter Martin
    yeah, that is a very powerful processor. agreed.
    Reply
  • Hupiscratch
    Would love to see a high quality streaming test. With so many streaming channels nowadays, there is definitely people considering using these HEDT platforms for this.
    Reply
  • ElectrO_90
    So we all know what this CPU can do and know its ground breaking, and do some really great things. Even the verdict says its great but expensive?
    Anyway then it gets 4.5/10

    Another weird review with bias' throughout and a conclusion that doesn't make much sense.

    I know, I'm going to buy a F1 race car and compare it to a pickup truck just to prove that the F1 car is shit, because it can't carry my shopping.
    Reply
  • PaulAlcorn
    21358431 said:
    So we all know what this CPU can do and know its ground breaking, and do some really great things. Even the verdict says its great but expensive?
    Anyway then it gets 4.5/10

    Another weird review with bias' throughout and a conclusion that doesn't make much sense.

    I know, I'm going to buy a F1 race car and compare it to a pickup truck just to prove that the F1 car is shit, because it can't carry my shopping.

    Hey electrO_90, thanks for sounding off. The rating is actually a 4.5 out of 5 (nearly perfect). Perhaps it isn't displaying correctly in your region, but I see the rating correctly here. Are you reading on the US site?

    Reply
  • ElectrO_90
    If its 4.5/5 then forgive my rant - but it clearly says here
    https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/amd-ryzen-threadripper-2950x-2990wx-cpu,review-34562.html
    4.5/10 which is why I don't understand the answer.

    And under https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-threadripper-2950x-2990wx-cpu,5797.html
    it shows 4.5/5

    Reply
  • PaulAlcorn
    21358450 said:
    If its 4.5/5 then forgive my rant - but it clearly says here
    https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/amd-ryzen-threadripper-2950x-2990wx-cpu,review-34562.html
    4.5/10 which is why I don't understand the answer.

    And under https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-threadripper-2950x-2990wx-cpu,5797.html
    it shows 4.5/5

    Thanks for the heads-up, I'll report that to the relevant people.

    Reply
  • michael_732
    21358096 said:
    Ryzen Threadripper 2950X builds on all of the goodness offered by AMD's first-gen Threadripper processors. If you're looking to upgrade to an all-around crowd pleaser, Threadripper 2950X does not disappoint.

    AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X Review: Striking The Balance : Read more


    great review, on point and mirrors my experience. what i love about the 2950x is the fact you now have smaller boards (mATX) with TR4 and beefy vrms. it still isn't cheaper (by much) but you really have to look at each x399 mobo independently, regardless of your inclination, just because the vrm temps vary so widely across all models...even at the very top of the market..
    Reply
  • newsonline5000000
    ThreadRipper needs a ~$200 Motherboard to totally take the market from intel. X299 Motherboards can be found starting from $189

    Reply