Since the showing of the Ryzen 3000 series processor containing a single 8-core compute chiplet during AMD’s CES 2019 keynote, everybody and their dog was certain that one day, AMD will release a 16-core Ryzen processor. Many of us expected that this would happen during the recent Computex keynote, but only a 12-core part was announced. However, after the keynote, AMD’ ceo, Lisa Su, did drop some hints that there might be more up AMD’s sleeve during a Q&A session with the press.
The world’s first 16-core gaming cpu
Tech site VideoCardz uncovered a leaked slide containing the specifications of the expected 16-core Ryzen part dubbed the Ryzen 9 3950X. The title of the slide is: “World’s first 16-core gaming cpu: Ryzen 9 3950X”, but that can be attributed to the expectation that this slide will be used in AMD’s E3 presentation.
Ryzen 9 3950X
Full specifications taken from the leaked slide:
- 16-core, 32-threads
- 3.5 GHz base clock, 4.7 GHz boost clock
- 72 MB total cache
- a 105 W TDP
Some of these specifications did raise some eyebrows. The 105 W TDP seems amazingly low for a 16-core part. The boost clock of 4.7 GHz stands out because it is the highest in the whole Ryzen 3000 range.
Price
No price is mentioned on the leaked slide. So, nothing can be said about it. Speculation is that the price probably is quite high. Manufacturing a processor with top binned chiplets should come at a high cost, as AMD would otherwise put these high quality chiplets to use in their Epyc server parts, where they would make a lot more profit.