One of the questions that was left over from AMD’s Computex reveal of the new Ryzen 3000 family was why a 16-core version of the dual-chiplet Matisse design was not announced. Today, AMD is announcing its first 16 core CPU into the Ryzen 9 family. AMD stated that they’re not interested in the back and forth with its competition about slowly moving the leading edge in consumer computing – they want to launch the best they have to offer as soon as possible, and the 16-core is part of that strategy.

The new Ryzen 9 3950X will top the stack of new Zen 2 based AMD consumer processors, and is built for the AM4 socket along with the range of X570 motherboards. It will have 16 cores with simultaneous multi-threading, enabling 32 threads, with a base frequency of 3.5 GHz and a turbo frequency of 4.7 GHz. All of this will be provided in a 105W TDP.

AMD 'Matisse' Ryzen 3000 Series CPUs
AnandTech Cores
Threads
Base
Freq
Boost
Freq
L2
Cache
L3
Cache
PCIe
4.0
DDR4 TDP Price
(SEP)
Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T 3.5 4.7 8 MB 64 MB 16+4+4 ? 105W $749
Ryzen 9 3900X 12C 24T 3.8 4.6 6 MB 64 MB 16+4+4 ? 105W $499
Ryzen 7 3800X 8C 16T 3.9 4.5 4 MB 32 MB 16+4+4 ? 105W $399
Ryzen 7 3700X 8C 16T 3.6 4.4 4 MB 32 MB 16+4+4 ? 65W $329
Ryzen 5 3600X 6C 12T 3.8 4.4 3 MB 32 MB 16+4+4 ? 95W $249
Ryzen 5 3600 6C 12T 3.6 4.2 3 MB 32 MB 16+4+4 ? 65W $199

AMD has said that the processor will be coming in September 2019, about two months after the initial Ryzen 3rd Gen processors, due to extra validation requirements. The chip uses two of the Zen 2 eight-core chiplets, paired with an IO die that provides 24 total PCIe 4.0 lanes. By using the AM4 socket, AMD recommends pairing the Ryzen 9 3950X with one of the new X570 motherboards launched at Computex.

With regards to performance, AMD is promoting it as a clear single-thread and multi-thread improvement over other 16-core products in the market, particularly those from Intel (namely the 7960X).

There are several questions surrounding this new product, such as reasons for the delay between the initial Ryzen 3000 launch to the 3950X launch, the power distribution of the chiplets based on the frequency and how the clocks will respond to the 105W TDP, how the core-to-core communications will work going across chiplets, and how gaming performance might be affected by the latency differences going to the IO die and then moving off to main memory. All these questions are expected to be answered in due course.

Pricing is set to be announced by AMD at its event at E3 today. We’ll be updating this news post when we know the intended pricing.

Update: $749

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  • Hul8 - Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - link

    Sorry, this was meant to answer @jeremyshaw.
  • psychobriggsy - Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - link

    B550, if it exists, will hopefully retain CPU PCIe 4 (x16 gfx, x4 ssd, x4 chipset), but not offer it in the chipset itself (that will reduce the TDP of the chipset down a bit more to allow passive cooling).
  • Itveryhotinhere - Monday, June 10, 2019 - link

    Will try 12 core on my 2 years old asus x370 strix F
  • xrror - Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - link

    I'm going to do the same but on the 350 strix!
  • PixyMisa - Monday, June 10, 2019 - link

    Ouch at the price, but then, where's the competition?

    I'd love to see them position this as a CPU for small servers as well as for high-mid-range desktops.
  • Qasar - Monday, June 10, 2019 - link

    PixyMisa at current exchange rates, this cpu would cost me $994, for the 12 core intel i9 7920x, i would need $1600 i dont want to know what a 16 core i9 would cost... this cpu... is still the better buy.. even at that price :-)
  • SaturnusDK - Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - link

    What is the right price for the fastest desktop CPU on the market bar none?

    I think it's up to the market leader, in this case AMD, to decide what they want you to pay for the privilege of owning the best there currently is.
  • Phynaz - Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - link

    AMD is a market leader in what market?
  • Korguz - Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - link

    currently.. cpus.. intel has no answer at the price points of zen 2
  • Phynaz - Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - link

    I don’t think you understand the word leader. AMD is a follower. They lead at nothing at all.

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