All About Interwebz: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X 64-core monster CPU is real – and coming to ransack your wallet in 2020

AMD’s long-rumored 64-core Ryzen Threadripper processor has been confirmed, and will launch in 2020.

The chipmaker has officially revealed the existence of the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, and a few teaser spec details – although not the clocks, and certainly not the cost, although it’s no secret that it will be expensive.

As The Verge reports, AMD has confirmed it will launch the 3990X at some point in 2020, and the slide leaked by Videocardz (but now official) lets us know that the chip will have 288MB of cache on-board (in total) and a TDP of 280W. And obviously it has 64-cores (and 128-threads).

AMD vs Intel: which chipmaker does processors better?
Best AMD Ryzen laptops: top laptops with AMD CPUs inside
These are the best AMD processors

For comparison, the existing flagship 2990WX runs with a TDP of 250W and is a 32-core processor. That CPU retailed at $1,799 (£1,639, AU$2,679) when it launched, but given that the freshly revealed Ryzen Threadripper 3970X – the 3rd-gen 32-core model – is pitched at $1,999 (about £1,560, AU$2,900), we can expect the price to be considerably north of that. Possibly even twice as much?

Have no doubts about the fact that this will be a true wallet decimator for those mulling a future purchase.

Hollywood budget

It’s certainly a processor to put the high-end into HEDT, and the truth is, the sort of power levels available here are for a niche market and the likes of professional creators. Indeed, AMD is pitching the Threadripper 3990X at a target audience of ‘Hollywood creators’, and it’ll probably need a Hollywood budget, for that matter.

Still, it’s pretty cool to see AMD pushing the boundaries in terms of core counts in the high-end desktop arena, and the benefits of cutting-edge HEDT tech will, of course, eventually trickle down into consumer Ryzen products. Although that said, even ‘plain’ Ryzen 3000 offerings already have plenty of cores, if we’re honest; at least in terms of the average PC user or gamer.

It was previously rumored that AMD would tease the new 64-core Threadripper in November, so that has come to pass – and according to that speculation, a full reveal will happen in January (possibly early on at CES) with a launch later in the month.

While that launch schedule – as detailed by confidential documents provided by an inside source at AMD – could have been adjusted in the meantime, a full unveiling at CES sounds like a sensible (and obvious) plan for pushing the new flagship. Whether it will actually launch later in January seems more unlikely, but still, you never know…