AMD has begun sampling second-generation Threadripper processors

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A retail launch can't be far behind.

AMD this week announced new Ryzen Pro APUs for the enterprise market, and while that's not super interesting to us as gamers and enthusiasts, something else buried in the presentation deck is of a little more interest—a new batch of Threadripper chips.

As seen in the slide above, AMD is now sampling its second-generation Ryzen Threadripper CPUs to customers. Typically that means a retail launch is just around the corner. In this case, it's very likely we'll see new Threadripper CPUs arrive in the third quarter, with AMD possibly making an announcement at Computex next month.

While we wait for an official launch, we have some early information to go on, though nothing that's been substantiated. According to Guru3D, a previously leaked documented pointed to there being three new Threadripper processors, including an 8-core/16-thread Threadripper 2900X, 12-core/24-thread Threadripper 2920X, and a 16-core/32-thread Threadripper 2950X.

Since they're based on AMD's second-generation Ryzen architecture (Zen+), we can assume they'll arrive with higher clockspeeds and improved memory latencies. To what extent, however, remains to be seen.

It will also be interesting to see where these new parts settle in price. For comparison, here's a look at AMD's first-generation Threadripper CPUs:

AMD launched its second-generation Ryzen processors at lower price points than what the first-gen parts debuted at, so we'll be looking to see if it does the same with Threadripper.

Granted, Threadripper isn't one of our favorite CPUs, and these still will be overkill for gaming. However, for users who play games and use their PCs for heavily multi-threaded work chores, Threadripper is a viable option.

What's also worth keeping in an eye on is whether the first-gen Threadripper parts fall in price even more once the new stuff arrives.

Paul Lilly
Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).