Introduction: A Benchmark of Four Processors Valued at 130，000 Yuan
Looking back to 2017， AMD processors were struggling across various segments， with a market share that was， frankly， difficult to observe. It’s remarkable that in just eight years， AMD has not only achieved comprehensive performance leadership from servers to workstations and desktops to laptops， but has also aggressively captured market share， leaving Intel struggling to keep pace.
This resurgence is particularly evident in the extremely high-end server and data center CPU market， where AMD EPYC processors have demonstrably outperformed their competitors. Building upon this success， the ThreadRipper processors， derived from the EPYC line， have established an unshakeable position and reputation. From their inception， aptly nicknamed “The Shredder” by enthusiasts， they have indeed torn through the competition， directly leading to the discontinuation of Intel’s Core X series.
Despite this dominance， the ThreadRipper series has consistently avoided incremental， “toothpaste-tube” like updates. Instead， each generation has seen significant leaps in performance， with increasing core counts and ever-stronger capabilities. Today， AMD unveils the ThreadRipper 9000 series processors， based on the new Zen 5 architecture， poised to become the most exceptional products ever for the HEDT (High-End Desktop) enthusiast platform.
Let’s delve into the technical innovations introduced with the Zen 5 architecture:
1. Enhanced Arithmetic Logic Units (ALUs):
Leveraging its increasingly mature design capabilities， AMD engineers have significantly increased the pipeline width of the Zen 5 cores. The Reorder Buffer (ROB) has been expanded from 320 entries to 448 entries， a 40% increase. This wider pipeline allows the Zen 5 cores to accommodate a greater number of ALUs and Address Generation Units (AGUs).
While the Zen 4 architecture featured 4 ALUs and 3 AGUs per integer execution unit， Zen 5 boosts these figures to 6 ALUs and 4 AGUs respectively. The critical ALU count has seen a substantial 50% increase compared to the previous generation， meaning Zen 5 cores can process more instructions within the same clock cycle.
2. Improved Scheduler Throughput:
The Zen 4 architecture utilized a 3×24 integrated ALU/AGU scheduler along with a separate 1×24 ALU scheduler， totaling 96 execution ports. Zen 5， however， features an 88-ALU scheduler and a 56-AGU scheduler， theoretically offering a 50% increase in computational throughput and significantly enhancing integer arithmetic efficiency.
3. Faster L1/L2 Cache:
Zen 5’s primary cache improvement is in the L1 Data Cache， which has been upgraded from 8-way associative 32KB in Zen 4 to 12-way associative 48KB. Furthermore， the maximum bandwidth to the L1 cache and floating-point units has been doubled compared to the previous generation， along with improved data prefetching.
The L2 cache capacity remains unchanged at 1MB per core; however， the link channels have doubled from 8-way to 16-way， effectively doubling the L2 bandwidth. This enhanced L1/L2 cache performance allows Zen 5 cores to maintain more consistent peak performance， which is particularly beneficial for workstation markets requiring sustained high-load operations.
In addition to integer performance， Zen 5 processors also boast enhanced floating-point capabilities with full-width AVX 512 instruction set support. While Zen 4 could support AVX 512 operations， it did so by combining two 256-bit FPUs. In contrast， Zen 5 features a native 512-bit FPU and a corresponding pipeline， allowing for up to a 100% performance boost in applications that leverage AVX 512 instructions.
The ThreadRipper 9000 series processors are available in three models: the ThreadRipper 9980X， ThreadRipper 9970X， and ThreadRipper 9960X， featuring 64， 32， and 24 cores respectively.
The ThreadRipper 9980X is equipped with 64 cores and 128 threads， boasts a 256MB L3 cache， supports quad-channel DDR5 5200MHz memory， has a base clock of 3.2GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.4GHz. It offers 48 PCIe 5.0 lanes and 32 PCIe 4.0 lanes， with a TDP of 350W.
The ThreadRipper 9970X comes with 32 cores and 64 threads， a 128MB L3 cache， supports quad-channel DDR5 5200MHz memory， a base clock of 4.0GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.4GHz， with a TDP of 350W.
The ThreadRipper 9960X features 24 cores and 48 threads， a 128MB L3 cache， supports quad-channel DDR5 5200MHz memory， a base clock of 4.2GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.4GHz， also with a TDP of 350W.
For this review， we received the ThreadRipper 9980X and ThreadRipper 9970X processors. We will also be including the previous generation ThreadRipper 7980X and ThreadRipper 7970X in our testing to provide a comparative analysis. The combined value of these four processors exceeds 130，000 Yuan， underscoring the high-end nature and performance potential of this evaluation.
