You can look at binning statistics for non-avx/avx2/avx512 clock speeds: https://siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics https://siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics

You can look at binning statistics for non-avx/avx2/avx512 clock speeds: https://siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics https://siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics For example, the worst 7980XEs do 4.1/3.8/3.6 GHz for each of these respectively. 0.5 GHz down clock isn't too bad. You can change these settings in your bios however you'd like on the unlocked CPUs (ie, the HEDT lineup + W3175X). I do find those down clocks are necessary; I've passed 100C with a 360mm radiator and roaring fans. AVX2 loads don't get anywhere near that hot. But for all that, I do see a substantial benefit on many workloads from avx512 -- at least 50% better performance than what I'd get from avx2. I definitely think it's nice to have, especially if you enjoy vectorizing code and looking at assembly. With much bigger performance wins on the line, it's more rewarding and more fun -- and you have more tools to play with, like vector masking (unfortunately, gather/scatter have been disappointing). Fun or not though, if you offer me avx512 on one hand vs twice the cores with full avx2 for the same price on the other, I'd have a hard time rationalizing avx512.