AMD reminds everyone it's still doing Threadrippers

AMD introduced its Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000 WX family today, which could be useful for building code, running specialist high-end software, and developing artificial intelligence on the desktop. The microprocessors, which each have up to 64 CPU cores and 128 hardware threads, are said to be workstation class, and can be …

[ShadowSystems]

I'd like to test one.

Combine it with at least 128Gb of fast DDR4, at least a Tb of super fast NVMe, and an IMAX class sound system.

I'll finally have a system powerful enough to play NetHack! =-D

*Ducks & runs away before someone threatens to rip me a new thread*

[phuzz]

Re: I'd like to test one.

128GB of RAM? That's rookie numbers! Current Threadripper motherboards support in the region of 2TB of RAM, that's 256GB per DIMM! Of course, 2TB of RAM is pretty extreme, but 1TB is a nice round number, and give you room for expansion in future ;)

Also, isn't 1TB of NVMe cheaping out a bit? 2TB PCIe 4.0 drives are only a couple of hundred quid, so you might as well get a couple and RAID them!

Playing "lets build a fantasy server" is fun :)

(And most likely, these sort of specs will be in high-end enthusiast builds next year, and be considered middle of the road in five years)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I'd like to test one.

That's some motherboard. Any idea how big a hole in your pocket?

[42656e4d203239]

Re: I'd like to test one.

$1,800-ish on the bay of fleas.com

[Sandtitz]

Re: I'd like to test one.

"I'll finally have a system powerful enough to play NetHack!"

The cure for Nethack slowness came 20 years ago when ATI released their ATI Radeon 9500 ASC, a GPU behemoth optimized for ASCII gaming.

And when AMD bought ATI (DAAMIT, anyone?), they also got this crucial IP and NetHack has been really speedy with all AMD graphics cards ever since.

NVidia came with their own proprietary UNICODE accelerator but they demanded exclusive games and NDA's so it wasn't popular and refused to work with no-nForce chipset motherboards.

Intel had their own ASCII decoder with .3% speed increase but only when using code page 437, with full screen (not windowed) and it really only worked with Larn, Moria and Kingdom of Kroz due to bugs in the i740 drivers.

[TeeCee]

Re: I'd like to test one.

Do you know? With the right GPU, that could run Crisis.

(Groaning noises off, as memes rise from their graves and shuffle about aimlessly).

[NoneSuch]

Finally!

Been waiting for the 5000 series TR's for almost two years now. No word on the HEDT models which is what I'm after, but the PRO will do in a pinch.

[mattaw2001]

Alright, I'm outta here

"The new Threadripper Pro has metaverse virtually written all over it." - ooh sick burn!, NO WAIT IT GOES ON: "The specs are suitable for high-end virtual-reality applications – think engineering and design work – in a virtual space Facebook thinks will be our future environment for fun, commerce, and employment." Alright, I have to go now, forgive me backing away slowly while looking for the exit.

If you got paid for this comment, I certainly hope it was a lot, however I am more concerned that you are not being paid (as it would have been Meta I suppose), and actually think what Facebook is talking about should be brought to my attention, which just makes it worse.

(Otherwise the article was pretty nice!)

[big_D]

Re: Alright, I'm outta here

I discussed with a colleague, back in the mid-90s, a virtual coding environment, where you would walk around code blocks and debug them, the code blocks (functions, methods etc.) would glow in different colours and intensities, to show where the most work was being done. You could then zero in on heavy duty areas, or spot infinite loops etc. visually very quickly and analyse those areas and optimize them. And that with other developers in a virtual room.

But the VR technology of the time wasn't advanced enough for that sort of stuff... If only I'd gotten around to writing it down.

[jemmyww]

Re: Alright, I'm outta here

But you could do all of that in 2D on screens with the added bonus of it being easy to read. The hard part of what you're suggesting isn't the VR.

[PhoenixKebab]

Re: Alright, I'm outta here

But "in VR" is how you attract the funding. Other alternatives would be "using AI", "with Blockchain", etc.

[phuzz]

The real use case

The real use case for a processor with this many cores is so that you can use the CPU graphs in Task Manager to play Tetris.

[Anonymous Coward]

Price?

So, how much?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Price?

"So, how much?"

If you need to ask you cannot afford it !!!

:)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Price?

Upvoted because a friend of mine was actually told that (he was asking Jeppesen for some kind of software subscription).