This review focuses on the AMD Thread Ripper 9980X CPU, a high-end desktop (HEDT) processor priced at $5,000, targeting professional and research-oriented workloads rather than gaming. The video presents extensive new benchmarks in medical, financial, and modeling software. Generational performance uplifts over the 7980X vary widely from 2% to a significant 58%, with most common gains ranging from 5% to 18%. This substantial improvement in specific benchmarks, particularly those heavy on AVX instructions like convolution (58% uplift), is attributed to Zen 5's architectural enhancements, specifically the doubling of FP data path width and increased L2 to core bandwidth for 512-bit operations. While the 9980X excels in multi-threaded production tasks, its gaming performance is generally inferior to cheaper desktop CPUs, primarily serving to ensure functionality rather than offering competitive gaming value. Power consumption and thermals are also discussed, noting a slight increase in power draw but manageable cooling due to the large die surface area.
Summarizing the AMD Thread Ripper 9980X CPU Review
0:01 Introducing the AMD Thread Ripper 9980X: The review focuses on AMD's $5,000 Thread Ripper 9980X CPU, highlighting its niche market for professional and research applications.
0:14 New Testing Methodologies: The video introduces new and more relevant production tests, including medical software, modeling, and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations.
0:33 Diverse Performance Uplifts: Generational improvements over the 7980X range from 2% to 58%, with the majority of tests showing gains between 5% and 18%. Significant uplifts were noted in medical simulations (18%), financial modeling (18%), and convolution benchmarks (58%).
1:41 Target Audience: These CPUs are specifically designed for work, research, medical, and financial modeling—applications where users aim to generate income or contribute to science.
2:00 Gaming Performance as a Sanity Check: While gaming benchmarks are included, their primary purpose is to confirm that Thread Ripper CPUs are "not totally broken" for gaming, as they are not designed for gaming-focused builds and often perform worse than much cheaper desktop alternatives.
Pricing remains consistent with the previous 7000 series, but significantly higher than the 3000 series.
5:05 Zen 5 Architectural Improvements (AVX-512): A key factor for high generational gains (e.g., 58% in convolution) is Zen 5's improved handling of AVX-512 instructions, which now perform 512-bit operations in one cycle (compared to two cycles on Zen 4) due to doubled FP data path width and increased L2 bandwidth.
6:43 Audience Gaming Interest (Meta-Commentary): The reviewer humorously notes that despite the professional focus, audience retention data shows a consistent spike at the gaming charts, acknowledging the channel's "Gamers Nexus" name.
8:06 Production Benchmarks - Compression/Decompression:
7-zip Compression: 9980X leads with 520,000 MIPS, a modest 2.3% improvement over 7980X.
7-zip Decompression: 9980X gains 8% over 7980X, showing better scaling.
Options Pricing (Financial Simulation): 9980X shows an impressive 18% improvement over 7980X, aligning with desktop Zen 5 gains.
Open Foam (CFD): 9980X leads 7980X by 9%.
Convolution (Image Processing): 9980X achieves a massive 58% uplift over 7980X, verified by external sources and consistent across generations, attributed to AVX improvements.
Lamps (Molecular Simulation): 9980X leads 7980X by 17%.
Data Science (AI/ML Workflows): 9980X improves on 7980X by 10%.
NAMD (Biomolecular Simulation): 9980X shows almost 18% improvement over 7980X.
Rodinia CFD: More modest 5-6% improvement generationally.
15:21 Chromium Code Compile: 9980X completes the compile fastest at 48 minutes, a 7.5% reduction in time from 7980X.
16:17 Blender (Tile-based Rendering): 9980X is the new top performer at 2.1 minutes, a heavily thread-dependent test where higher core counts excel.
16:50 Adobe Photoshop (Puget Suite): Thread Ripper parts, including the 9980X, underperform compared to desktop CPUs due to Photoshop's inability to fully utilize very high core counts.
17:34 Adobe Premiere: 9980X shows a minimal 5% improvement over 7980X; not worth a generational upgrade. Thread Ripper does well, but desktop CPUs often offer similar performance without other thread-leaning applications.
18:36 DaVinci Resolve: 9980X's frequency boost allows it to gain on prior Thread Ripper CPUs, but still doesn't offer clear value over desktop parts for this workload.
Consistency Issues: Thread Ripper, especially high-core-count models, can exhibit significant run-to-run variance and worse frame time consistency in games like Final Fantasy 14.
Detrimental Core Counts: Extremely high core counts can be detrimental to gaming performance (e.g., Dragon's Dogma 2, Stellaris simulation).
Playability: Despite performance limitations and inconsistencies, games remain technically playable, serving the purpose of ensuring the system isn't "broken" for occasional gaming.
23:12 Power Consumption: 9980X draws around 371 watts at the EPS 12V cables during all-core Blender workload, a ~20W increase over the 7980X.
23:48 Thermals: With a suitable Thread Ripper-sized cooler (e.g., 360mm AIO), the 9980X runs around 58°C under all-core load. Cooling is facilitated by the CPU's large surface area distributing power effectively.
Gaming: Still inconsistent and often worse than desktop parts, but playable.
Cooling: 64-core part can run cooler than 32-core due to larger silicon area for heat distribution.
Value: Not a value-oriented purchase; targeted at users generating income or contributing to science.
PCIe Lanes: Thread Ripper offers significant PCIe lane availability, crucial for systems with multiple accelerators or high I/O needs.
Core Scaling: 64-core doesn't always scale better than 32-core; suitability depends heavily on the specific application (e.g., 32-core might be better for Premiere).
Research: Given the high cost, users should thoroughly research and consult multiple reviews for their specific workloads.
Future Testing: The new, specialized production tests developed for this CPU review will be integrated into future desktop CPU reviews.