Month: July 2020

Owning a gaming laptop is super convenient, even if you don’t need one for travel. It saves space on your desk, and you don’t have to worry about messing around with monitor placement or figuring out the best place to put your desktop tower to show off all that RGB lighting while also having enough cord length for all your peripherals. (Take it from me: Corner desks are not always the best choice for desktop PCs.) But all that convenience usually means a high price tag, and depending on the specs, some gaming laptops are either bulky, get really hot, or both. Aside from specs, aesthetics and thermals are the main differentiating factors between brands and models, and the same applies to Acer’s newest Predator Triton 500.

While Acer’s Predator laptop line hasn’t been totally perfect over the last few years, it gets a lot of things right – especially compared to its rivals. This Triton 500 could easily cross the line from light and portable to a massive electronic brick, but having a Max-Q graphics card and a ten-keyless keyboard helps keep it in check. Other laptops, like MSI’s GS66 Stealth, are cheaper, but if you’re willing to shell out the cash for this one, you’ll get a well-designed, specced-out machine that can reasonably replace a high-end desktop in a 0.7-inch (17.9mm) device that weighs 4.9 pounds (2.2 kg).

The Triton 500 sports a slightly more subtle look than the previous generation. The ‘Predator’ logo has been removed from the top of the clamshell, but the metallic blue-outlined logo remains, which also lights up when you boot up the laptop. You can set the keys to whatever colour you’d like, or none at all, and the black metallic chassis makes me forget I ever loved Asus’s ROG Zephyrus G14 white chassis – that is, until I touch it. The Predator Triton 500 collects fingerprints like some people collect Funkos, and wiping it down with only a cloth won’t do. You’ll need some sort of lens cleaner to tidy it back up.

But performance and thermals are at the top of the list of things to be concerned about. With such an excellent list of components, this gaming laptop delivers. The cheaper Stealth edges ahead in some areas, such as battery life (almost doubling the longevity of the Triton 500, which clocked in at 3:26 in the Gizmodo battery test). But when it comes to performance, the Triton 500 impresses.

This Triton 500 is £300 more than the GS66 Stealth, but that premium is due to a better graphics card. In the models Gizmodo tested, the GS66 Stealth came with a RTX 2070 Super Max-Q, and the Predator Triton 500 a RTX 2080 Super Max-Q. Both have the same processor, an Intel Core i7-10750H, and a 300Hz 1080p display. Both come with lower-specced configurations if you want to save money, but these high-end laptops are are clearly aimed at gamers chasing frames per second with that high of a display refresh rate.

With the same processor, the Triton 500 was about 220 points ahead of the Stealth in Geekbench 4 single core performance, yet even the same 10th-gen i7 CPU paired with a technically better GPU didn’t translate to a noticeable difference in Far Cry 5 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. While the Triton was even-stevens with the Stealth in Tomb Raider at 1080p ultra with an average of 98-99 frames per second, the Triton came in 5 fps behind the Stealth in Far Cry 5 at 1080p on ultra at 91 fps, compared to 96 fps.

But those differences are negligible. Slight variations in frames per second can be caused by anything from running a laptop in performance verses turbo mode, airflow, thermals, or just the game itself. Looking at Overwatch, the Stealth comes 30 fps behind the Triton (270 fps compared to 300 fps). The Triton also hits 77 fps in Total War: Warhammer, 69 fps in Metro Exodus with ray tracing off, and 57 fps with ray tracing on – all at 1080p ultra. Those are stellar stats. But to get those stats you have to have turbo mode turned on. Without it, expect around a 5-10 fps drop in performance.

Unlike some other gaming laptops, the Triton 500 stays nice and cool – at least on the surface. It’s not uncommon for CPU temps to rise to 90 degrees Celsius (close to 200 degrees Fahrenheit), due to their small form factor, but also due to the tweaks some manufacturers make to give you as powerful performance as possible right out the box. There’s nothing wrong with that, but without a good cooling solution, fans, and airflow, some laptops can get uncomfortably warm. Gigabyte’s Aorus 17G was toasty. MSI’s GS66 Stealth was hot, too. Asus’ ROG Zephyrus G14 got to temperatures to as high as 50 degrees Celsius on some parts of the keyboard chassis. Not the Triton 500, though.

When under load, CPU temps did rise as high as 92 C (that’s, uh, extremely hot), but surface temps peaked at 45 C. I wouldn’t game with it on my lap, but on a flat surface, it’s pleasantly comfortable. However, according to HWInfo64, I did experience some thermal throttling once CPU temps rose higher than 90 C on two of the cores – that was with turbo mode on, and its loud, loud fans – but it must have been only for a brief period of time, because I didn’t notice a dip in performance while playing games.

However, because the CPU temp did get high, this means neither Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost or Turbo Max Boost engaged. HWInfo recorded the highest clock frequency at 4.7 GHz. Had the CPU temperature been low enough to engage those boost technologies, it would have given the CPU an extra 300 MHz and let it hit its max boost clock of 5.0 GHz. An extra 300 MHz might not sound like much, but if your main concern is getting the most frames per second in any game possible, that frequency bump would have increased the frame count.

There were a few other glitchy things I noticed about the laptop. Even with the RGB keyboard lighting turned off, a key or two would quickly flash a colour on occasion if I was typing or pressing commands in a game. Lifting the laptop up with the charging cable connected caused it to beep loudly every few seconds until I set it down. (However, this may actually be a feature of the laptop, not a bug, because it only happened when the power cord shifted when attached to the laptop.) But if I’m shelling out £2,500 for a high-end gaming laptop, I’d expect little glitches like these not to exist.

The Acer Predator Triton 500 is an easy gaming laptop to recommend if you have the cash, but it wouldn’t be No. 1 on my list – that spot belongs to MSI’s GS66 Stealth, which is cheaper, lasts longer on a charge, and offers comparable performance. After all, £2,500 is not an inconsequential amount of cash to spend, and the Stealth will get you great 1080p performance for less. Acer’s quality is consistent for the most part, but at this high a price, it’s not unreasonable to want something as close to perfect as possible. The Triton 500 isn’t it.

Yes, I know it seems early, but today’s release of a cumulative update for Windows 10 version 20H2 indicates that this release is nearly complete.

Windows 10 version 20H2 is currently testing in the Windows Insider Beta channel, or what used to be called the Slow ring. Today, Microsoft released build 19042.388 (KB4565503) to testers, describing it as a cumulative update that only includes quality improvements.

Those improvements include:

A fix for an issue that might prevent users from using PowerShell to change the system locale on Server Core platforms.

A fix for an issue that might cause certain games and applications to have visual distortion when resizing in windowed mode or switching from full screen to window mode.

A fix for an issue that causes lsass.exe to fail with the following error message, “A critical system process, C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe, failed with status code c0000008. The machine must now be restarted.”

A fix for an issue that might prevent some applications from printing documents that contain graphics or large files after installing Windows Updates released June 9, 2020.

A fix for an issue that might prevent users from connecting to OneDrive using the OneDrive app. This issue occurs on some older devices or on devices that have older apps, which use legacy file system filter drivers. As a result, this might prevent these devices from downloading new files or opening previously synced or downloaded files.

Additionally, this cumulative update includes security updates to the Microsoft Scripting Engine, Windows App Platform and Frameworks, the Microsoft Store, Windows Graphics, Windows Input and Composition, Windows Media, Windows Shell, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Management, Windows Kernel, Windows Hybrid Cloud Networking, Windows Storage and Filesystems, Windows Update Stack, Windows MSXML, Windows File Server and Clustering, Windows Remote Desktop, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge Legacy, and the Microsoft JET Database Engine.

OnePlus has really been on the ball with the launch of the OnePlus Nord, playing to its strengths and engaging the community to build up hype before the big reveal next week which is an occasion in itself, offering fans a world first with an AR event. 

There’s a mini docuseries that’s been giving us a look behind the scenes, and the company has continued its trend of dropping hints and clues on its social media accounts – as it did with the OnePlus Buds which will be debuting alongside the Nord next week. It even opened up limited pre-orders before anyone had laid eyes on it, but now the wait is over, because we finally get to see it.

OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei sat down with YouTuber Marques Brownlee for an episode of the Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast, and not only opened up about the trials and tribulations of making a mid-range/ budget handset, but went a step further, showing off OnePlus Nord prototypes that were being considered, before revealing the final design. 

As with previous OnePlus devices, the Nord doesn’t have an IP68 rating, which is something the company hasn’t shelled out for because it’s an additional cost. That doesn’t mean the smartphone won’t survive should it get wet; as Pei explains in the video, the cost comes from the various machines needed to run the standardised tests.

“For the OnePlus Nord we just decided that this is not a place where we should put costs, because we’re looking at the overall user experience. We’re not designing for extreme use cases. We’re not designing to cover every corner of the user experience…”

Pei goes on to explain that “at every stage of the product development process, we made sure that the design can withstand 30cm of water for 30 seconds, and after testing it in water, we weigh it again. So if the weight has increased, there’s actually water in the phone – and only when there’s no additional weight can it move on to the next development process.”

So for those of you who look for the IP68 rating, and aren’t necessarily planning to take your next smartphone diving with you or yeeting it into the sea, this should be more than enough to set your mind at ease.

One of the areas where OnePlus did decide to fork out was on the 90Hz AMOLED display.

“We spent quite a lot on the display for this phone to ensure the smooth scrolling, but we think it’s worth it.”

It sounds like the Nord won’t have warp charging or a 3.5mm port, with Pei sporting what appears to be a pair of the new OnePlus Buds in a teal shade that matches the Nord’s main colourway, as he talked about the move to truly wireless earbuds negating the need for a headphone jack, while freeing up space for the battery. 

Form factor is another important part of the Nord’s design, and Pei explained that they didn’t want it to be too thick, so of course, if there’s more space for the battery, the phone can be thinner.

Elaborating on the design and the various iterations the Nord has been through, Pei shared how the final design actually changed quite late in the development process, from a handset with an L-shaped camera array, to the signature OnePlus strip that sets the lenses in a vertical housing.

“In the beginning, we saw this new product line as more of a test, or an experiment. But as we were looking into the data and consumers, we realised that this would be a really good opportunity – that we would sell a lot mote phones than we originally envisioned; so then we had to really rethink our design strategy.

“Are we doing this as an experiment? If it’s an experiment then we can be much more daring with our industrial design. We can try this camera setup that looks really unique: the L-shaped camera setup.

“But if we want to sell a lot pf phones, we want to target a much broader user base; we need to make sure that it’s immediately recognisable as a OnePlus phone – so we have the same camera setup – vertical camera setup – you see in other OnePlus phones, and we have the same tapered edges on the back of the phone to really remind you of the OnePlus design philosophy.”

OnePlus has been very clear that the Nord will offer a handful of flagship features that most consumers want, while getting rid of the chaff that isn’t as important – like the IP68 rating. He added: 

“We finally feel like there’s an opening for us to take our flagship experience into a new price category.”

Fans of the brand seem to feel the same way with pre-orders selling out almost as soon as they go live, and while they have been in small or limited quantities, if OnePlus delivers on its promise while keeping the phone below $500, we’ve no doubt it’ll be inundated with orders after next week’s launch event. 

The closer we get to the official launch of the Galaxy Note 20 series, the less likely does it seem Samsung will manage to address all major complaints consumers voiced over its previous flagship, the Galaxy S20 family. In case you haven’t heard the latest, we’re now getting conflicting information on whether the company will even attempt to fix the Exynos 990, one of the most disappointing chips it ever delivered, especially as part of a $1,000 smartphone.

It goes without saying that at this point, the only way Samsung can “fix” the Exynos 990 is by axing the entire thing and that was exactly what many of us were hoping would happen from day one, especially after rumors of a revised mid-generational refresh started to circulate the industry. Changing by far the most expensive of your SoC lines in the middle of a year is not going to do any favors to your production costs but many believed the move was necessary. Samsung’s own engineers reportedly felt “humiliated” by having to ship the Galaxy S20 models intended for their countrymen with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865.

Which leads to our current dilemma. The fact that Samsung messed up with the Exynos 990 is highly unfortunate, obviously, but it’s already behind us. Samsung’s decision to spend extra just so that its home country can get the much better-performing Galaxy S20 models isn’t too scandalous, either. It’s not like Korea represents a huge chunk of its international market and it’s certainly the most loyal one, making its decision one obviously borne of that aforementioned engineering shame rubbing off on some C-suite executives.

But if the Exynos 990 is so much worse than the Snapdragon 865 that Samsung sees it as a source of domestic shame and prefers not to sell it in Korea at all, yet launches its second $1,000 smartphone using the same chip abroad, we’re guessing not many of us would take that bait. In fact, it will be especially hard to digest the faults of the Exynos 990 now that the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra are confirmed to have the Snapdragon 865+ in markets where the Snapdragon variant is sold.

And that brings us to our latest poll: Will you buy the Galaxy Note 20 or Note 20 Ultra if it sports the Exynos 990 processor? Vote by selecting one of the options below and let us know your thoughts down in the comments section!

Why it matters: There are plenty advantages to going with a smaller keyboard layout. Some prefer the minimalist look afforded by such a compact design while others are genuinely short on physical space and simply don’t have room for a full-sized board. Still others enjoy the portability and additional room for a mouse that a 60 percent board affords.

Razer is going all-in on the miniature movement. After announcing a smaller version of its DeathAdder V2 mouse last week, the gaming accessory maker on Tuesday unveiled the Huntsman Mini ultra-compact form factor keyboard.

The latest addition to the Huntsman family is also Razer’s first 60 percent keyboard – that is, a keyboard that has roughly 60 percent the number of keys as a standard Windows keyboard. In essence, the layout eliminates lesser used keys like the function row and the number pad, resulting in a more compact design.

And really, you aren’t losing out on much functionality as the “deleted” key functionality can still be accessed as secondary functions via the remaining keys.

Razer’s new keyboard can be outfitted with your choice of clicky or linear optical switches. Either way, you’ll get a board equipped with polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) keycaps that are more durable than standard ABS keycaps and other notable features like per-key RGB lighting, a detachable USB-C braided fiber cable and onboard storage for up to five user profiles.

All boards feature aluminum construction and have a rated lifespan of 100 million keystrokes.

Razer’s Huntsman Mini will be available in black and white finishes from July 14 starting at $119.99. Select configurations are available now with others slated to launch next month.

AMD’s new Threadripper Pro processors include four new chips that span from 12 cores up to 64 and support up to eight channels of DDR4-3200 memory and 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes on all models, creating what AMD bills as the ultimate processor for professional workloads with up to more than twice the number of cores as Intel’s competing workstation processors.

The Threadripper Pro chips debut exclusively in new Lenovo ThinkStation P620 workstations, which are custom-built to support the new chips with a specialized chassis and cooling system, but AMD says the Threadripper Pro chips will become available through other OEMs in the future. The only pricing information we have for now outlines an entry-level ThinkStation P620 with a 12-core Threadripper Pro 3945WX with 16GB of memory, a 256GB PCIe 3.0 SSD, and an Nvidia Quadro P620 that commands a $4,599 price point. Those systems will start shipping at the end of September, and we have a more thorough breakdown below.

The 7nm Threadripper Pro chips easily outweigh Intel’s competing models in terms of core counts, PCIe connectivity and memory channels/speeds, setting the stage for powerful workstations that will help AMD gain penetration into the high-volume and high-margin OEM workstation market, an area that has been lacking for the company with its standard Threadripper models largely because they are designed specifically for the consumer market.

AMD’s Threadripper platform certainly has the chops to take on Intel’s fragmented lineup of workstation processors; the company claims the 64-core Threadripper Pro 3995WX offers up to 37% more performance than two 28-core Xeon 8280’s in the SPECViewperf suite, which relies heavily on the CPU’s ability to push a professional GPU, among many other performance claims that we’ll cover below. 

AMD Threadripper Pro Specifications

The Threadripper Pro chips differ from their standard Threadripper counterparts with eight channels of DDR4-3200 support and a maximum capacity of 2TB of memory, much like their EPYC server chip counterparts. All models also support 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity. However, the chips feature a 280W TDP rating that stretches beyond the maximum 250W TDP found with the EPYC frequency-optimized series of processors.

The Threadripper Pro chips come with the ‘WX’ suffix to denote they are designed specifically for the professional workstation market and drop into specialized single-socket WRX80 motherboards featuring the sWRX8 socket. The LGA4094 socket is physically identical to the Threadripper consumer and EPYC data center platforms, but features different pin assignments: AMD enabled pins to support more memory channels and PCIe lanes that aren’t enabled on the Threadripper consumer chips, and the company doesn’t use pins that support multiple sockets on EPYC platforms. 

The processors and motherboards are designed specifically for tight integration into OEM and system integrator (SI) platforms, so they won’t be available as a product in box (PIB) at retail. AMD feels the standard Threadripper models maintain their HEDT leadership and address the retail market well, and as such, the company isn’t sharing pricing information.

All of the Threadripper Pro processors feature a maximum frequency over 4.0 GHz, which is important not only for lightly-threaded workloads but also for applications that are licensed on a per-core basis, meaning you pay higher licensing fees based on the number of cores present in the system. Naturally, having faster cores extracts the most performance for your licensing dollar.

The 280W Threadripper Pro 3995WX is the first 64-core workstation processor and, like it’s comparable EPYC and Threadripper models, comes with 256MB of L3 cache. Base frequencies weigh in at 2.7 GHz, which is much higher than EPYC’s maximum of 2.25 GHz for a 64-core processor, and 4.2 GHz for the single-core boost, which also outstrips EPYC’s 3.4 GHz boost. However, the 3995WX’s boost is 100 MHz lower than the consumer-focused Threadripper 3990X.

The 280W Threadripper Pro 3975WX weighs in at 32 cores and 64 threads that run at a 3.5 GHz base and 4.2 GHz boost, which is significantly lower than the Threadripper 3970X’s 3.7/4.5 GHz base/boost. The chip has a significantly higher boost frequency than its 32-core EPYC 7542 comparable (+800MHZ), but a lower base frequency. 

Meanwhile, the 16-core 32-thread Threadripper 3995WX offers the same core counts as the Ryzen 9 3950X that drops into mainstream desktop platforms, but has quadruple the memory throughput with eight memory channels along with 128 lanes of the PCIe 4.0 interface. The chip features much lower peak frequencies of 4.3 GHz compared to the 3950X’s 4.7 GHz, but a 400 MHz higher boost clock of 3.9 GHz. 

Finally, the Threadripper Pro 3945WX slots in as AMD’s first 12-core processor that surpasses a 4.0 GHz boost speed, weighing in with 4.0/4.3 GHz base/boost frequencies. This processor also comes with the full complement of eight memory channels and 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0, with high clock rates obviously positioning for applications that prize per-core performance. 

Unlike the standard models, AMD has locked Threadripper Pro’s multiplier, so overclocking is not supported.

AMD positions the Threadripper Pro chips for professional studios, designers, engineers, and data scientists, all of which can benefit from increased connectivity. As such, all of the Threadripper PRO chips come with 128 lanes of the PCIe 4.0 interface, leveraging the company’s advantage of twice the throughput of the PCIe 3.0 interface that represents Intel’s maximum supported speed. In addition to the higher bandwidth, AMD also offers more than 2.5X more PCIe lanes than Intel’s finest, amplifying its advantage. 

While the PCIe 4.0 interface doesn’t equate to large gains in many consumer-class workloads, it offers tremendous improvements in professional workstation graphics and storage performance, provided the application is optimized for the faster interface. That gives AMD a bigger performance advantage than implied on the spec sheet. The PCIe 4.0 GPU and storage ecosystem, not to mention networking NICs, is still expanding, so the forward-looking support will ensure that workstations armed with Threadripper Pro processors can evolve to take advantage of the latest interface tech, while Intel’s systems remain hamstrung by the PCIe 3.0 bus. 

Intel recently made news with its security requirements for Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) certification, which raised questions as to whether or not AMD systems can support the updated TB4 interface. AMD says the Lenovo systems will support TB4, and the company expects future Threadripper Pro-based systems to support the interface, too. The Lenovo systems also support both Nvidia and AMD professional GPUs. 

Threadripper Pro supports eight channels of DDR4-3200 memory outfitted with up to 2TB of memory capacity, thus doubling the available memory bandwidth to the processor over the standard Threadripper models, and quadrupling memory capacity. The improved per-core memory throughput should address some of the shortcomings of the 64-core Threadripper 3990X, such as limited scalability in heavily-threaded memory-constrained applications.

AMD says its four Threadripper Pro chips compete with Intel’s entire confusing stack of core-heavy chips, which includes three families (W-3200, W-2200, and Xeon Scalable) that have varying features, sockets, and memory support. Even with a huge product stack that spans 85 chips, Intel’s systems top out at six channels of DDR4-2933, meaning that AMD has the memory throughput advantage that is key for large-scale simulations and models. Of course, other factors, like latency, will obviously come into play. 

Intel’s Xeon W taps out at 1TB of memory capacity, half that of Threadripper Pro. Meanwhile Intel’s Xeon Scalable lineup, which is largely meant for servers as opposed to workstations, reaches the same 2TB of memory capacity. AMD stepped up Threadripper Pro’s ECC memory support to include UDIMMs, RDIMMs, LRDIMMs, and 3DS RDIMMs (3D stacked memory). The processors also support memory encryption, as we’ll cover below, and AMD says that comes with a slight performance penalty that is offset by the security advantages. 

Lenovo ThinkStation P620 Workstation

Lenovo’s ThinkStation P620 platform is the industry’s first 64-core workstation system, but it will also be available with AMD’s other Pro options. The system is powered by a single socket, so it can offer more performance in some threaded workloads than competing dual-socket Intel workstations. Lenovo positions the P620 for workloads spanning from product design, architecture and 3D CAD/CAM to AR and VR workloads and simulations. The system slots inbetween Lenovo’s single-socket P520 and the company’s dual-socket P720, both of which are powered by Intel processors. 

The P620 is the first and only PCIe 4.0-capable workstation and supports up to two Nvidia Quadro RTX 8000 or four RTX 4000 GPUs, 1 TB of memory and 20TB of storage spread over up to eight storage devices. The systems come with 10Gb ethernet (via an Aquantia NIC) as a standard networking option, which is obviously attractive to the workstation crowd. 

As expected, Lenovo supports Threadripper Pro’s 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0, but it doesn’t use all of them for this particular chassis – the P620 supports 80 PCIe 4.0 lanes for the PCIe slots, though, which leads the workstation segment. The system also only supports one DIMM per channel, which leads to 1TB of maximum memory capacity as opposed to Threadripper’s support for 2TB.

Lenovo supports all of AMD’s Pro manageability features, along with support for ThinkStation diagnostics and TPM 2.0 data security. Connectivity includes two USB-A 3.2 Gen2 and two USB-C 3.2 Gen2 ports. The system comes armed with a tool-less 1000W PSU (92% efficiency). 

The system comes with Windows 10 Pro, which stands in contrast to other Lenovo workstations that come with Windows 10 Pro for Workstations. Lenovo says that it has an agreement with Microsoft to only use the Windows Pro for the first-gen Threadripper Pro platform. Lenovo doesn’t believe that results in the loss of any key features and also plans to add certified support for various Linux distributions. 

Lenovo built the chassis around many of the fundamental design tenets of its ThinkStation portfolio, including support for flexible graphics configurations, tool-less PSUs, and interchangeable fans, but the company worked closely with AMD to accommodate Threadripper Pro’s 280W TDP.

The company paid particularly close attention to its cooling solution. The system features a custom-built air cooler for the processor (sorry, we don’t have pics or details yet), and uses a dedicated air channel in tandem with larger fans to optimize thermal dissipation. 

Threadripper Pro Benchmarks and Software Support

Both Lenovo and AMD shared internal performance benchmarks that outline impressive performance from the Threadripper Pro processors, but as always, we should take vendor-provided benchmarks with a grain of salt. That said, the test results generally align with our performance expectations given the improvements and what we already know about the both the Threadripper client chips and EPYC data center silicon from our own testing. 

Many of Intel’s competing dual-socket solutions have to contend with the vagaries of the NUMA subsystem, which carves the system up into distinct banks of near and far memory. That can reduce the performance advantage of using two processors to reach higher core counts, while AMD obviously benefits from using a single processor that has uniform access to all eight memory channels. 

AMD has also worked hand in hand with independent software vendors (ISVs), providing them with pre-production Lenovo ThinkStation systems to enable software optimizations for the bulked-up processors, not to mention the full certification and support that’s prized in the workstation market.

Highlights of the benchmark claims include up to a 1.86X advantage in read throughput and 1.58X gain in write throughput from storage devices, which will benefit a large number of workloads, especially as more professional applications are optimized to take advantage of the PCIe 4.0 interface. 

The Threadripper Pro processors are obviously well-suited for workloads that rely heavily upon memory throughput, like crash and airflow simulations, but the 12-core model is also surprisingly adept at rendering performance. AMD’s benchmarks recorded a 12% win in single-threaded Cinebench and a 28% win in multi-threaded Cinebench over the 12-core 24-thread Xeon W-3235, both of which come courtesy of the increased L3 cache and clock rates. 

As expected, AMD also touted the 3995WX’s 136% performance advantage over the W-3275 in Cinebench, and also threw in benchmarks claiming a 136% speed-up in Luxion Keyshot. It’s noteworthy that the comparisons use the Xeon 8280 that has been supplanted in dual-socket systems by the Cascade Lake Refresh Gold 6285R that some with a 60% price reduction, but similar performance to the 8280.

The benchmarks also include the 3995WX’s 27% Cinebench performance improvement over dual Intel Xeon Scalable 8280 processors and performance leadership over the 8280’s in the SPECviewperf suite, along with substantial advantages in Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro (among others). 

Like AMD’s other Pro series Models, these chips have multiple layers of security, including AMD memory guard that enables fully encrypted memory, and the manageability features that are consistent with other Pro-branded AMD processors. That includes tools for simplified deployments, long-term imaging (via stable drivers), extended software stability (18 months) and long-term availability of the chips (two years).

Thoughts

Lenovo’s adoption of the Threadripper Pro chips for its ThinkStation P620 platform could be a watershed moment for AMD as it works to gain deeper penetration into the workstation market.

In spite of AMD’s leading core counts from its consumer-focused Threadripper lineup, the lack of properly validated workstations have hampered its adoption in the professional segment. Threadripper’s copious core counts and PCIe 4.0 connectivity have enticed many professional users, particularly in the movie industry, but those users have to cobble together systems that lack the support and stability offered by qualified OEM systems. They also have to contend with a lack of professional-class manageability and security features. Lenovo’s ThinkStation P620 addresses those concerns, particularly with enablement of TPM security, memory encryption support, and fully-validated ECC memory support. 

Lenovo is a trusted industry leader in the workstation segment, which will likely spur other OEMs and a broader spate of ISVs to adopt the Threadripper Pro platform for workstations. The development work that went into both the hardware side of the equation, particularly with the WRX80 motherboards, and the work done to enable software optimizations and ISV certifications, will also benefit other system designers, thus paving the way for Threadripper PRO’s broader uptake in the workstation market. 

Intel has already felt a considerable amount of pricing pressure on its mainstream, HEDT, and server platforms, forcing it to cut per-core pricing significantly as it marches forward to new product generations. For instance, the Xeon Scalable line took a 60% pricing haircut for dual-socket and below systems with the Cascade Lake Refresh generation. We can also expect the company to become more competitive with its Xeon W pricing soon, too.