With AMD recently confirming wider availability of the Threadripper Pro, distributors have rushed to start selling the first Threadripper 5995WX online. The 64-core monster CPU was unveiled back in March 2022, alongside a 32-core and a 24-core part with Lenovo and Dell having announced workstations based on this new Zen 3 processor family.
A search online for the ThreadRipper Pro 5995WX brought up two interesting results. The first was from channel specialist Connection, which lists the item as being temporarily OOS with a sticker price of $7359.95 (you can also lease it for $211.69 per month but that might not be a good idea given that processor prices at the high end do not depreciate fast enough to justify leasing).
The second is Alibaba, where Chinese server specialist Shenzhen Chengdaxin Technology is selling the part for as low as $5,000, a 33% discount compared to its aforementioned US rival. Sadly, you will need to go through a KYC (know your customer) process before buying the part.
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000 SKU | Cores / Threads | Frequency (Boost / Base) | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX | 64 / 128 | Up to 4.5 / 2.7 GHz | 280W |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5975WX | 32 / 64 | Up to 4.5 / 3.6 GHz | 280W |
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5965WX | 24 / 48 | Up to 4.5 / 3.8 GHz | 280W |
Sticker shock
The previous Threadripper Pro, the 3995WX, was released back in July 2020, and carried a suggested retail price of just $5,500.
The price hike has not been accompanied (as was the case for the previous generation) with a doubling of the core count, probably because applications that ThreadRipper Pro targets wouldn’t make the most of 128-cores (or 256-threads). That remains the exclusivity of the EPYC range, which targets cloud computing, hyperscalers and data centers.
The 5995WX has a base speed of 2.7GHz, 256MB L3 cache and supports up to 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes; it has a TDP of 280W and a maximum clock speed of 4.5GHz which is the same across all the new Threadripper Pro processors.
You should be able to use motherboards with an WRX80 chipset and the sWRX8 socket to host the new parts; just bear in mind that you may need a firmware update. The same applies for existing workstations out there.
