AMD Threadripper 1900X CPU Hits Stores For $550; Outperforms Ryzen 7 In Productivity

AMD has come out strong this year with Ryzen and Threadripper CPUs, and the company continues to roll out more versions of its new processors. The 1900X is the 8-core/16-thread CPU on the sTR4 socket and X399 platform, and it's now the cheapest option in the Threadripper family at $550.

Those familiar with AMD's current CPU lineup might be wondering why an 8-core/16-thread Threadripper exists when the Ryzen 7 1800X ($500) sports the same core/thread count and similar clocks speeds. What differentiates the two is that the 1900X packs in many of Threadripper's advantages: quad-channel memory configuration, more PCI-express lanes, bootable NVMe RAID, and support for more USB ports. The following chart outlines the specs for Threadripper CPUs currently available:

	Threadripper 1950X	Threadripper 1920X	Threadripper 1900X
Cores / Threads	16 / 32	12 / 24	8 / 16
Base Clock Speed	3.4 GHz	3.5 GHz	3.8 GHz
Boost Clock Speed	4.0 GHz	4.0 GHz	4.0 GHz
XFR Clock Speed	4.2 GHz	4.2 GHz	4.2 GHz
TDP	180 W	180 W	180 W
PCIe Lanes	64	64	64
Price	$1000	$800	$550

One drawback between Threadripper and Ryzen 7 is thermal design power (TDP), which is the maximum heat output from a processing unit and its power draw potential. The 1900X is rated at 180 watts while the 1800X is at 95 watts. Those in the market for a high-end desktop (HEDT) processor should expect to match their CPU with a robust cooling solution and power supply.

AMD's internal benchmarks also provide some insight into PC gaming performance. Using a GTX 1080 Ti graphics card, the 1900X lags slightly behind the 1800X in Grand Theft Auto V, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and Hitman (in DirectX 12), but pulls ahead in Rise of the Tomb Raider.

The real draw of the 1900X is its performance with heavy workloads in tasks like video encoding and production, and image rendering. Compared to the Ryzen 7 1800X, the Threadripper 1900X pulls ahead by 4-10% in POV-RAY, Blender, Handbrake, and Veracrypt.

When AMD matched up the 1900X with its more powerful counterparts, it was 29-39% behind the 12-core/24 thread 1920X, and 58-73% slower than the 16-core/32 thread 1950X in the aforementioned CPU-heavy workloads. This shows the 1900X to be a great value by comparison, but it also proves the strong scalability of AMD's Zen architecture; as the core/thread count increases, performance improves accordingly.

All three Threadripper CPUs traded blows in gaming performance with the four games mentioned earlier, but never differed more than 10 FPS.

If you want to find out more about AMD's HEDT processors, check out our review roundup of Threadripper 1950X and 1920X. For more on Ryzen 7, be sure to read through our reviews of the 1800X, 1600X, and 1500X.