Is there a server CPU that compares to the Threadripper in both price/performance?

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IamSpartacus

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Mar 14, 2016
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I'm curious if there is any server grade (Xeon or EPYC) CPU that can compare to the Threadripper 16-core/32 thread models (1st or 2nd gen) in terms of performance and price. Every Xeon (either Workstation or Scalable) I see that has a clock speed anywhere near the Threadripper win the 12-16 core/24-32 thread range is incredibly expensive.

So if someone is just after high core count, high clock speed, and high PCIe lane availability, I'm showing zero competitors to the Threadripper.

Can someone prove me wrong because I'd love to explore other options that can be used on server motherboard platforms since Threadripper has none.
 

altano

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Sep 3, 2011
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The ASRock Rack X470D4U supports AM4 CPUs including the coming Ryzen 3000 series processors, which AMD has already hinted will do more than 8 cores (unlike the current 2000 series peaking at 8). And the clocks will obviously be high since the only public demo they’ve done pitted their demo cpu against a Core i7 9900k.

Perhaps, whenever that comes out, it’ll be the value server setup with high cores and clocks you’re looking for?
 

IamSpartacus

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Mar 14, 2016
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The ASRock Rack X470D4U supports AM4 CPUs including the coming Ryzen 3000 series processors, which AMD has already hinted will do more than 8 cores (unlike the current 2000 series peaking at 8). And the clocks will obviously be high since the only public demo they’ve done pitted their demo cpu against a Core i7 9900k.

Perhaps, whenever that comes out, it’ll be the value server setup with high cores and clocks you’re looking for?
I am aware of that ASRock board, though I didn't know that the Ryzen 3000 series may have higher core counts so that will indeed be interesting to watch.
 

BoredSysadmin

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Mar 2, 2019
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I am aware of that ASRock board, though I didn't know that the Ryzen 3000 series may have higher core counts so that will indeed be interesting to watch.
Rumour has it that Ryzen/Threadripper 3000 or Gen 2 Zen architecture will scale up to 64 cores
 

altano

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Rumour has it that Ryzen/Threadripper 3000 or Gen 2 Zen architecture will scale up to 64 cores
Those are just dumb rumors though. Why not up it to 128 cores at that point? This is all that we actually know:

It seems likely we will see up to 16 cores and 32 threads with Ryzen 3000. AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su hinted as much when talking about the chiplet design.

"Some people may have noticed on the package some extra room," Dr. Su told PCWorld. "There is some extra room on that package and I think you might expect we will have more than eight cores."

So, Zen 2 will definitely scale beyond 8 cores, though whether it reaches 16 cores remains to be seen. That said, there have been various leaks and rumors pointing to a couple of 16-core/32-thread Ryzen 3000 series processors.
- AMD Ryzen 3000 release date, price, specs, and everything we know | PC Gamer
 

ttabbal

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Mar 10, 2016
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I haven't seen anything close. I looked around when I was building a workstation and decided to grab one of the firesale 1920x chips for $350.

A server board for TR would be really welcome for homelab types. Hopefully the gen 3 Epyc boosts the clock a bit, it's the only reason I didn't really consider a lower end Epyc for the workstation build. At the normal prices, the price difference gets pretty close. But workstation tasks aren't as thread friendly as most server workloads are and the higher clocks help a lot for those.

Sadly, normal Ryzen was out for me as I needed more lanes.
 

BoredSysadmin

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Those are just dumb rumors though. Why not up it to 128 cores at that point? This is all that we actually know:
- AMD Ryzen 3000 release date, price, specs, and everything we know | PC Gamer
I'm truly sorry that you have to rely on PC Games for your Semi leaks and previews, but WE actually know a bit more than PC Games does:
AMD Ryzen 3000 CPUs Specs and Prices Leaked Online By Retailer
(Should have highlighted HEDT section, but given zen2 Epyc part is confirmed to have 64 cores, it's not a dumb guess to assume TR part to have the same amount of cores)
Specifically:
 

altano

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I'm truly sorry that you have to rely on PC Games for your Semi leaks and previews, ...
wccftech is just a garbage rumor mill that makes money off of clickbait, baseless rumors. BUT, having said that, even your link says Ryzen 3000 is going to cap out at 16 cores.

The 64 cores is for Epyc and HEDT (Threadripper).
 

BoredSysadmin

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wccftech is just a garbage rumor mill that makes money off of clickbait, baseless rumors. BUT, having said that, even your link says Ryzen 3000 is going to cap out at 16 cores.

The 64 cores is for Epyc and HEDT (Threadripper).
I'll let history decide if wccftech is garbage or not, but the op specifically asked about TR, not regular Ryzen.
I don't see how even today 16 cores could be effectively utilized on mid range desktop except to build a budget cad workstation
 

altano

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Oh I see the source of confusion,
@BoredSysadmin. There are no Threadripper server boards for sale right now, only the ASRock Rack AM4 board that takes Ryzen. The piece that's missing is that there are no high-core-count Ryzen CPUs (yet) so I was speculating that the coming Ryzen 3000 CPUs might fill that hole. If 64-core Threadripper CPUs came out that would be awesome but there would still be no server boards for them.