AMD PRO 5000 WX Series Coming To More System Integrators, DIY Market Later This Year

[phoronix]

Phoronix: AMD PRO 5000 WX Series Coming To More System Integrators, DIY Market Later This Year

After announcing the Threadripper PRO 5000 WX series back in March and with Lenovo being their launch partner for these Zen 3 Ryzen Threadripper CPUs, AMD today shared an update on availability...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMD-PRO-5000-WX-Update

[domih]

The first 3 generations of workstation Threadripper were TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE yet they were: a lot of cores, a lot of PCIe lanes, more memory channels at a price MUCH LOWER than the EPYC server cousins:

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X 16C/32T ($899.99 MSRP) + ASRock X399 Taichi ($350 MSRP)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24C/48T ($1399.00 MSRP) + ASUS ROG ZENITH II EXTREME ($850 MSRP)

Add memory, GPU, storage and accessories and you got a pretty powerfull workstation for around $6000+.

Once AMD got the HEDT market for itself with INTEL nowhere to be seen, AMD logically as a corportation went for maximizing profit with significant market segmentation:

ASUS Pro WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI ($999 MSRP) + ...

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3955WX 16C/32T ($1600 cheapest on NewEgg)
OR Imaginary non-existing 3965WX 24C/48T ($2605 average between above and below)
OR AMD Ryzen Threadripper 32C/64T 3975WX ($3610 cheapest on NewEgg)

OR (prediction):

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 24C/48T 5965WX (??? not announced yet, let's say 25% price increase from 3000 series, 2605×1.25 = ~ $3250)

No more too good for DIYers non-PRO Threadripper. The non-PRO Threadripper series is dead. AMD marketing calls it "simplifying and unifying the platform":

<<...Examining what our most demanding enthusiasts and content creators value most in the platform has led us to unify the Threadripper and Threadripper PRO product lines. Going forward, the Threadripper platform will now use a single “common infrastructure.” This means there will be one set of Threadripper PRO processors to choose from, with one CPU socket and chipset, and every processor will be based on AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO silicon...>>

Ref: AMD blog bottom link in the article.

It's always interesting to witness how marketing spins bad news in a positive way.

CONCLUSION: your next pretty powerfull workstation will cost $8,000+.

Professional workstation users won't mind too much. It's just too bad for individual DIYers.

We will see if AMD changes marketing again if INTEL comes back to the HEDT market with Sapphire Rapids+like workstation processors. IMHO, do not hold your breath. INTEL has been doing the same thing for many years with Core X and Xeons. The workstation/HEDT DIY market is minuscule and can lead to cannibalization of the low-end server market so both AMD and INTEL have no real incentive to fight too much for dominance in the workstation/HEDT segment.

[Mark Rose]

They're keeping the prices the same. A 24 core should be about US$2500, 32 at $3500, and 64 at $6900.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ryzen-threadripper-pro-5000-cpus-will-hit-the-diy-market-later-this-year

[Anux]

No more too good for DIYers non-PRO Threadripper. The non-PRO Threadripper series is dead. AMD marketing calls it "simplifying and unifying the platform":

What was the difference between Pro and non Pro anyway? Some of their APUs also had 2 "variations" that where exactly the same if you looked at the specifications, only difference was the name.

[M@GOid]

What was the difference between Pro and non Pro anyway? Some of their APUs also had 2 "variations" that where exactly the same if you looked at the specifications, only difference was the name.

Something to do with memory support. Basically the Pro line is a Epic with a different name, supporting everything a Epic CPU does, something non-Pro TR didn't do.

[M@GOid]

The first 3 generations of workstation Threadripper were TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE yet they were: a lot of cores, a lot of PCIe lanes, more memory channels at a price MUCH LOWER than the EPYC server cousins:

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X 16C/32T ($899.99 MSRP) + ASRock X399 Taichi ($350 MSRP)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24C/48T ($1399.00 MSRP) + ASUS ROG ZENITH II EXTREME ($850 MSRP)

Add memory, GPU, storage and accessories and you got a pretty powerfull workstation for around $6000+.

Once AMD got the HEDT market for itself with INTEL nowhere to be seen, AMD logically as a corportation went for maximizing profit with significant market segmentation:

ASUS Pro WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI ($999 MSRP) + ...

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3955WX 16C/32T ($1600 cheapest on NewEgg)
OR Imaginary non-existing 3965WX 24C/48T ($2605 average between above and below)
OR AMD Ryzen Threadripper 32C/64T 3975WX ($3610 cheapest on NewEgg)

OR (prediction):

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 24C/48T 5965WX (??? not announced yet, let's say 25% price increase from 3000 series, 2605×1.25 = ~ $3250)

No more too good for DIYers non-PRO Threadripper. The non-PRO Threadripper series is dead. AMD marketing calls it "simplifying and unifying the platform":

<<...Examining what our most demanding enthusiasts and content creators value most in the platform has led us to unify the Threadripper and Threadripper PRO product lines. Going forward, the Threadripper platform will now use a single “common infrastructure.” This means there will be one set of Threadripper PRO processors to choose from, with one CPU socket and chipset, and every processor will be based on AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO silicon...>>

Ref: AMD blog bottom link in the article.

It's always interesting to witness how marketing spins bad news in a positive way.

CONCLUSION: your next pretty powerfull workstation will cost $8,000+.

Professional workstation users won't mind too much. It's just too bad for individual DIYers.

We will see if AMD changes marketing again if INTEL comes back to the HEDT market with Sapphire Rapids+like workstation processors. IMHO, do not hold your breath. INTEL has been doing the same thing for many years with Core X and Xeons. The workstation/HEDT DIY market is minuscule and can lead to cannibalization of the low-end server market so both AMD and INTEL have no real incentive to fight too much for dominance in the workstation/HEDT segment.

The DIY workstation market was basically killed by the success of AMD's own Ryzen line. I think you remember the shock waves the Ryzen 9 3950 sent when it outperformed Xeons with 18 cores and TR with even more. The newer 5950 simply confirmed that. And now Intel's own 12 gen i9 did that too. The only people interested on lower end workstation CPUs would be people wanting more PCIe lanes and/or a bit more memory (but still less than a Epyc), a very small market indeed.

A person looking for a workstation in the DIY way, will end up buying a cheap server board with a Epyc CPU, since those don't suffer from TR limitations on PCIe and memory.

I'm not saying AMD is a saint with no wrong doing, but if you put yourself in their shoes, it doesn't make sense to cover a tiny market during a silicon supply crisis. They imply chose the best way to invest their purchase of TSMC production.

[billyswong]

What was the difference between Pro and non Pro anyway? Some of their APUs also had 2 "variations" that where exactly the same if you looked at the specifications, only difference was the name.

Non-pro Ryzen APU don't support ECC memory.

Non-pro Threadripper don't support 8-channel memory (they are 4-channel) nor registered memory (Registered RAM allow higher capacity then unregistered RAM used in common PC)

[tildearrow]

I personally dislike how companies put "content creator" and "workstation" under different categories, as if the former is consumer oriented when the truth is that those consumers actually are producers.

What's the difference between a for-profit content creator and a workstation user?

	Creator	Workstation
Does work?	Yes	Yes
Makes money?	Usually	Usually
Stability problems hurt?	Yes	Yes

Huh?