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Worth noting AMD just announced that the first third-gen Threadripper will come out in Nov with 24 cores, and the planned 16-core mainstream chip (the 3950X) is

Worth noting AMD just announced that the first third-gen Threadripper will come out in Nov with 24 cores, and the planned 16-core mainstream chip (the 3950X) is delayed to November: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-9-3950x-delay-launch-third-gen-threadripper,40442.html https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-9-3950x-delay-la... A 32-core chip is still almost certain to show up, since benchmarks have leaked, and folks have also leaked some pics of 3950X's and packaging, but I guess supply/demand have kept everything from coming out yet. As the Tom's post notes, server and client chips use the same chiplets, so it could be that most of the higher-binned ones are going to server parts; some are higher-margin (7742 is almost $100/core, vs. 3950X under $50/core) and plausible there're some enterprise orders (AWS etc.) getting priority. I wonder if they tightened the binning for the 3950X to respond to the fuss over turbo, too. I had never really considered everything that goes into getting to that SKU/price list and launch date: you don't really know how much supply you'll have at various perf levels, or what demand there will be for what at what price, and if you don't exactly match them you might end up losing money by underpricing, by having to nerf good silicon to fill highly-demanded lower-end SKUs, or by having a shortage that makes customers go elsewhere. (Plus vendors don't just have the public SKU list, they're working out contracts with OEMs/other big customers. And who knows what the competition will do.) High stakes, and practically speaking no backsies; seeing how upset folks are about turbo clocks, imagine if AMD announced a price hike. Glad it's not my job.

kllrnohj 7y ago
> As the Tom's post notes, server and client chips use the same chiplets, so it could be that most of the higher-binned ones are going to server parts; some are higher-margin (7742 is almost $100/core, vs. 3950X under $50/core) The 7742 is the "halo" chip, though. Or was, rather, until the Epyc 7H12 was announced. Other Epycs have much lower $/core. For example the 24-core EPYC 7352 is $1350, making it $56/core. The 16-core EPYC 7282 is actually even cheaper than the 3950X at $650, or $40/core. No doubt bulk orders are going to get the priority, but the margins may not actually be that different depending on what companies are actually bulk-ordering. The $/core drops pretty quickly even just going down slightly in the stack. The 32c 7452 is $65/core. And we don't entirely know which aspect of the binning is the limiting factor. If it's just functional cores that's going to be different from if they run at the right frequency/voltage. Epyc is all 225 W or lower. Threadripper 3000 AMD could pretty easily slap a 300W TDP on it and ram voltage through the chips that couldn't cut it at Epyc specs. The 2990WX is, after all, a 250W TDP part. The existing socket is already spec'd for more power capability than the top-end Epyc.
- Teknoman117 7y ago
  They also get cheaper if you only buy the single socket versions (assuming you don't need dual socket). The 7702P (the single socket 64 core) is $4425, or $70/core.
- twotwotwo 7y ago
  I don't really hard-disagree with any of that; we're all guessing. The co. sending chiplets where they fetch the most also doesn't seem outlandish as a factor, though. FWIW, here's the price-per-core chart for the whole second-gen server line: https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/AMD-EPYC-7402P-in-7002-Series-Cost-Per-Core.jpg https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/AMD-... (Doesn't factor in voltage/freq needs for different SKUs, some of them needing fully-working chiplets, etc. Still.) The low pricing on the 7282 and a few others is interesting, too. Wonder if it's a factor that it can use partially-working chiplets since the server I/O die can take up to eight chiplets and the client die only two, or if that's totally unrelated.
tracker1 7y ago
TSMC has also had issues meeting demand directy, they're at a 6 month backlog for 7nm. It seems like the demand has been huge, and a lot of server vendors who have been waiting to upgrade servers are going AMD and pulling the triggers now. The 3900X has been pretty much sold out since launch, and sells out within hours of inventory showing on newegg/amazon. Been using a 3600 on a new build, waiting for 3950X. And likewise a lot of the aftermarket design rx5700xt cards have been selling out quickly. Took 4 tries to get the gigabyte one. First two times, sold out before I saw the notice, third it sold out while in my card going through checkout. Then I got the order in.

kllrnohj 7y ago

> As the Tom's post notes, server and client chips use the same chiplets, so it could be that most of the higher-binned ones are going to server parts; some are higher-margin (7742 is almost $100/core, vs. 3950X under $50/core) The 7742 is the "halo" chip, though. Or was, rather, until the Epyc 7H12 was announced. Other Epycs have much lower $/core. For example the 24-core EPYC 7352 is $1350, making it $56/core. The 16-core EPYC 7282 is actually even cheaper than the 3950X at $650, or $40/core. No doubt bulk orders are going to get the priority, but the margins may not actually be that different depending on what companies are actually bulk-ordering. The $/core drops pretty quickly even just going down slightly in the stack. The 32c 7452 is $65/core. And we don't entirely know which aspect of the binning is the limiting factor. If it's just functional cores that's going to be different from if they run at the right frequency/voltage. Epyc is all 225 W or lower. Threadripper 3000 AMD could pretty easily slap a 300W TDP on it and ram voltage through the chips that couldn't cut it at Epyc specs. The 2990WX is, after all, a 250W TDP part. The existing socket is already spec'd for more power capability than the top-end Epyc.

Teknoman117 7y ago
They also get cheaper if you only buy the single socket versions (assuming you don't need dual socket). The 7702P (the single socket 64 core) is $4425, or $70/core.
twotwotwo 7y ago
I don't really hard-disagree with any of that; we're all guessing. The co. sending chiplets where they fetch the most also doesn't seem outlandish as a factor, though. FWIW, here's the price-per-core chart for the whole second-gen server line: https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/AMD-EPYC-7402P-in-7002-Series-Cost-Per-Core.jpg https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/AMD-... (Doesn't factor in voltage/freq needs for different SKUs, some of them needing fully-working chiplets, etc. Still.) The low pricing on the 7282 and a few others is interesting, too. Wonder if it's a factor that it can use partially-working chiplets since the server I/O die can take up to eight chiplets and the client die only two, or if that's totally unrelated.

tracker1 7y ago

TSMC has also had issues meeting demand directy, they're at a 6 month backlog for 7nm. It seems like the demand has been huge, and a lot of server vendors who have been waiting to upgrade servers are going AMD and pulling the triggers now. The 3900X has been pretty much sold out since launch, and sells out within hours of inventory showing on newegg/amazon. Been using a 3600 on a new build, waiting for 3950X. And likewise a lot of the aftermarket design rx5700xt cards have been selling out quickly. Took 4 tries to get the gigabyte one. First two times, sold out before I saw the notice, third it sold out while in my card going through checkout. Then I got the order in.