Pro CPU

AMD Threadripper pro

AMD finally has a CPU focused exclusively on workstations, and, with its launch partner Lenovo, a gateway into the highly lucrative workstation market which has been dominated by Intel for so long, writes Greg Corke

Over the last 12 months AMD has emerged as a serious competitor to Intel. We’ve seen great price / performance from the consumer focused 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen, but it’s with 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen Threadripper that AMD has really turned up the pressure.

With fast clock speeds, better per-GHz performance, and up to 64-cores in a single socket CPU, Intel simply can’t compete when it comes to highly-threaded applications like ray trace rendering. And this is why Threadripper has been getting so much attention from users of design viz tools like V-Ray and KeyShot.

Despite this market-leading performance, AMD’s impact on the workstation market has been minimal. Smaller workstation manufacturers like Armari, Boxx, Scan and Workstation Specialists have done well with their AMD-based machines, but without the big three on board — that is Dell, HP and Lenovo — AMD was never going to take a significant slice of a market that has been dominated by Intel for so long.

But this looks set to change. Earlier this month AMD launched Threadripper Pro, a CPU designed specifically for enterprise workstations. More importantly, it has partnered with Lenovo to launch the first Threadripper Pro workstation, the ThinkStation P620.

This is massive news for the industry. It’s the first time in nearly 15 years that a major OEM has released a workstation with an AMD CPU. When HP launched the AMD Opteron-based HP xw9400 in 2006, the iPhone didn’t exist, skinny jeans were only for goths and Kanye West had a thing about ‘gold diggers’.

What is Threadripper Pro? In simple terms, AMD Ryzen Threadripper is to AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro, as Intel Core is to Intel Xeon.

Both AMD CPUs share the same core silicon, but there are several features that set the workstation CPU apart from its consumer or ‘enthusiast’ focused sibling. These include more memory channels (8 vs 4), higher memory capacity (2TB vs 256GB) and additional PCIe Gen4 lanes (128 vs 64).

Memory is arguably the biggest differentiator, and this will be especially important in memory intensive applications like Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) or Finite Element Analysis (FEA), which are both used heavily in the automotive and aerospace industries, and increasingly in AEC. Some of the more complex fluid flow or multi-physics simulations can literally eat up memory and by offering more capacity and feeding data into the CPU much quicker via 8-channels, it should have a big impact on performance.

Error Correcting Code (ECC) is also supported, which is important for those running simulations over several hours or even days — and wanting to minimise the risk of crashes. Consumer Threadripper did support ECC memory, but not on all motherboards.

Threadripper Pro also covers a wider range of cores, with 12, 16, 32 and 64-core models. In comparison, Threadripper comes in 24, 32 or 64-core variants, while consumer CPUs with 16-cores or less come under the Ryzen brand.

Clock speeds for the 32-core Threadripper Pro 3975WX and 64-core 3995WX are slightly lower than consumer Threadrippers with equivalent core counts, both in terms of base and boost frequency. According to AMD, this is because Threadripper Pro offers more functionality within the same power budget – specifically referring to memory bandwidth, capacity and the number of PCIe Gen4 lanes.

While the slightly lower frequency will have an impact on performance in most applications, the benefits from increased memory bandwidth and capacity in memory intensive applications like CFD could far outweigh the loss of a couple of hundred MHz.

Consumer doesn’t mean faster frequencies across the board. The 12-core Threadripper Pro 3945WX and 16-core 3955WX actually have higher base clocks than the equivalent Ryzen CPUs, even though the boost speed is lower. This is because these CPUs have much a higher TDP than the equivalent Ryzens, so more power can be pumped in. All Threadripper Pro CPUs are rated at 280W, while the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X has a default TDP of 105W.

Enterprise credentials From a security and manageability perspective, Threadripper Pro comes with several features that will be really important to some enterprise customers. For example, AMD Memory Guard allows the contents of system memory to be fully encrypted, adding an additional layer of security, while AMD Pro Manageability includes a set of features designed to speed and simplify deployment imaging and manageability within an enterprise IT environment, making it easier to support remote workers. AMD Secure Boot offers boot protection to help prevent unauthorised software and malware from taking over critical system functions.

Performance In the past, customers with workflows that could benefit from lots of cores have had to go for a dual socket workstation. At the top end, this meant a machine with two 28-core Intel Xeon Platinum 8280 processors. With Threadripper Pro, AMD can deliver even more cores in a single socket 64-core CPU.

And Threadripper Pro looks to be winning out on performance. AMD benchmark figures comparing the Threadripper Pro 3995WX to a dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280 show superior performance in ray trace rendering software — 36% faster in Keyshot and 12% faster in V-Ray CPU. But it’s not just in multithreaded applications that AMD is shining. AMD reckons Threadripper Pro 3995X is 22% faster in the single threaded Cinema4D benchmark and also delivers faster 3D graphics performance when using the same Nvidia Quadro RTX GPU on both AMD and Intel systems.

With the spotlight shining on the 64-core Threadripper Pro 3995X, it’s easy to forget that AMD’s new CPU is available in in 12, 16 and 32 core models.

None of the Threadripper Pro CPUs are ideally suited to CAD alone, which are generally single threaded applications, but the 12-core Threadripper Pro 3945X and 16-core 3955X should offer an interesting proposition for what Lenovo describes as ‘CAD plus’.

These are architects, engineers and designers who primarily use 3D CAD or BIM software but also rely on a secondary tool like ray trace rendering, CAM, simulation, generative design or point cloud processing, all of which are generally multi-threaded applications.

Lenovo ThinkStation P620 When the Lenovo ThinkStation P620 ships this Autumn it will be the first Threadripper Pro workstation. And it will be the only one for some time too, as Lenovo has an exclusive agreement with AMD for six months. Even if HP or Dell decide to take on the processor, we wouldn’t expect to see those machines materialise until mid 2021 when AMD will likely do a Threadripper Pro refresh.

While the ThinkStation P620 is a new product, it has not been designed from scratch. It shares the same chassis as the single socket Intel Xeon W-based ThinkStation P520, although Lenovo has enhanced the cooling to accommodate the 280W Threadripper Pro CPU. Importantly, Lenovo has not opted for liquid cooling. In the enterprise space, stability and serviceability are of paramount performance. And while custom liquid cooling solutions, like the one used in Armari’s Threadripper workstation (tinyurl.com/ Armari-AEC) allow the CPU to hit 4.0 GHz on all 64-cores, most enterprise IT departments prefer to keep things simple. We don’t yet know what all-core speeds we can expect to see in the 64-core ThinkStation P620, but it almost certainly will not be 4.0GHz. To hit that frequency, Armari needs between 550W and 800W of power. With Threadripper Pro, the ThinkStation P620 is locked at 280W.

The ThinkStation P620 chassis is a fairly compact 33 litres. It’s perfect for mainstream users but it does mean Lenovo is not able to take full advantage of the Threadripper Pro architecture. With 8 DIMM slots, the machine is limited to 1TB of memory, although the prohibitive cost of 128GB modules means 512GB will be a more realistic maximum capacity when it ships this Autumn.

Conclusion Threadripper Pro is an exceedingly important release for AMD. It’s not just a new processor, it’s a gateway into the highly lucrative workstation market which has been dominated by Intel for so long. Bringing a tier one OEM on-board was essential in order for AMD to get its technology into the hands of enterprise customers. After all, an engine without a car can’t go anywhere fast.

For Lenovo, it’s a very smart move. Yes, the ThinkStation P620 promises impressive performance, but bringing Threadripper Pro into the fold is also about satisfying the diverse requirements of enterprise customers. For years the tier one manufacturers have held niche machines in their product ranges simply to secure big deals with enterprise customers. The 17-inch mobile workstation is a case in point. It’s never really sold in big numbers, but there’s always a handful of users that want one.

The 64-core Threadripper Pro will certainly grab all the headlines, and it offers an excellent proposition for users of ray trace rendering or highly threaded simulation software. However, it’s the 12- and 16-core models that will likely get most attention from manufacturing and AEC firms, offering good single threaded performance and excellent multi-threaded performance at what we expect to be an attractive price point.

While this will appeal to so-called ‘CAD plus’ users, Threadripper Pro doesn’t currently pose a real threat to Intel at the entry-level, where the majority of architects and engineers just need a high frequency CPU with a few cores to run CAD. But if AMD can improve its single threaded performance, who knows where Thread-ripper Pro might end up?

Lenovo is certainly in for the long haul. At the moment the ThinkStation P620 covers the middle ground but there’s room for a higher-end machine, with more memory and more GPUs. Lenovo hinted that it will expand its Threadripper portfolio over time, just as it has done with Intel.

In bringing AMD on board, Lenovo didn’t just need to think about technology. The move is sure to have had some impact on its relationship with Intel. Now that Lenovo has taken those first big steps, it will be interesting to see if HP and Dell follow suit. 2021 is going to be a very important year for AMD in the workstation market. If Threadripper Pro is received well by enterprise customers and taken on by other OEMs, then Intel will surely start to get worried.

This is an edited version of an in-depth article which can be found at tinyurl.com/AMD-AEC

Scan 3XS GWP-ME Q120C

Greg Corke finds out what Intel’s new mainstream 10-core CPU brings to the table in this 5.0GHz overclocked workstation from Scan

Price £2,499 (Ex VAT)

scan.co.uk/3xs

With delays to its 10nm manufacturing process, Intel has been working hard over the last few years to get more out of 14nm.

In single threaded software, percentage performance increases, generation on generation, have been relatively small — single digit. So, in order to add value, Intel has been steadily increasing the number of cores. This is great for multithreaded applications like ray trace rendering, but less so for CAD.

For years, Intel’s top-end mainstream desktop CPUs had 4-cores as standard, but in 2017 Intel started to ramp things up with the 6-core Intel Core i7-8700K. For each subsequent generation, it added 2-cores and this has now led us to the 10-core Intel Core i9-10900K, which launched in May 2020.

To find out what this new mainstream CPU brings to the table, we tested it out in the new Scan 3XS GWP-ME Q120C workstation, which was also fitted with an Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 GPU and 64GB of DDR4 memory, a spec well suited to the CAD user who also does a little bit of CPU rendering, real time viz or VR.

The Intel Core i9-10900K has a base frequency of 3.70GHz and a Max Turbo of 5.30GHz. On paper this looks to be a big step up from its predecessor, the Core i9-9900K (8-cores, 3.60GHz base, 5.0GHz Turbo), but it’s not that straightforward.

Intel CPUs have long been rated by base frequency and Turbo Boost. When first introduced, it was all quite clear — base being the standard operating frequency which is guaranteed, and Turbo Boost being a dynamically enhanced frequency, which the CPU can potentially reach.

In recent years, however, things have become more complicated, and the Core i9-10900K actually comes with three different boost modes. And, to be honest, it’s all a bit confusing. There’s one for all cores (Turbo Boost 2.0), one for two cores (Turbo Boost Max 3.0) and one that only works when the CPU temperature is below 70ºC (Thermal Velocity Boost).

To some extent, this is all a bit irrelevant for this review, as Scan has overclocked the CPU so all 10-cores run at 5.0GHz. However, to give users of single threaded CAD and BIM software a potential boost, there’s also the option to swap to a standard profile, which can be easily enabled in the BIOS. This leaves the CPU at stock settings and allows it to turbo on one core up to 5.3GHz. Well... that’s the theory at least. In our single threaded Solidworks CAD test, we only saw the CPU go marginally above 5.0GHz, and only from time to time. It didn’t get near the single core Thermal Velocity Boost peak of 5.3GHz.

Swapping to stock settings had no impact on the time it took to export our Solidworks IGES model, which was 75 secs on both profiles – exactly the same time it took the Core i9-9900K.

More importantly, with the standard profile, when rendering in Luxion KeyShot, the all core frequency went down to 4.4GHz. This still gave good performance, completing our 4K test render in 225 secs. With two additional cores it was 30% faster than a stock 9900K (293 secs) and 11% faster than a 4.9GHz overclocked 9900K (255 secs). However, when the 10900K was overclocked with all cores running at 5.0GHz, it brought the time down to 204 secs, which is quite a substantial saving.

Armed with this information, we saw little to persuade us to run this machine at standard clock speeds, although in fairness we did our testing on the hottest day of the year (33ºC). It could make a difference in a cooler environment.

We also tested in point cloud processing software Leica Cyclone Register 360 and the 10900K had a small but significant 10% lead over the 9900K, despite the software not using CPU cores as efficiently as a ray trace renderer. More on this on page 42.

On the graphics front, the machine performed well, delivering good performance in viz tool Enscape. For CAD, the Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 is probably overkill, but for a machine that is also well suited to viz, it’s a good solid choice. The single slot GPU also works well with VR, so long as your models aren’t too large. 64GB of DDR4 memory is plenty for most CAD-centric viz workflows and it’s spread across four DIMMs. For larger datasets it can go up to 128GB with 32GB DIMMs. Storage is a solid combination of 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 SSD, accompanied by a 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD for data. Additional storage can be added, including a second M.2 SSD or SATA HDD.

The Fractal Design Define R7 case is a notable step up from the Corsair Carbide 275Q that we often see in Scan’s Intel Core workstations. It’s more solid and wellbuilt and benefits from two additional USB Type A and a USB Type C port on the top. There are a couple of downsides, however. It’s larger, presumably chosen so Scan can accommodate the substantial Corsair H150i 360mm hydrocooler that keeps the machine running very quiet, even during the balmy London climate. It’s also a bit tricky to get to the HDD should it need to be replaced.

In a world where component manufacturers are seemingly obsessed with bright lights, it’s refreshing to see a motherboard that’s beautifully understated. Matt black with a touch of bronze, the Asus ProArt Z490 Creator 10G not only looks good, but it’s part of the reason that Scan can do a stable 5.0GHz overclock. It also has a trick up its sleeve, in that it comes with a 10 Gigabit LAN card, rather than the standard 1 Gigabit LAN which will be useful for shifting large design viz or point cloud datasets quickly across the network.

Conclusion The Core i9-10900K is a solid, if not standout new CPU from Intel. For CAD, it’s arguably the fastest money can buy, but you’ll only really see an improvement if your current machine is a few years old. The biggest benefit will come from the additional cores and anyone with a 4-core CPU, standard in CAD workstations until a few years ago, will experience a massive reduction in render times.

But Intel is no longer the only CPU manufacturer in town. Those who take design viz seriously, will likely get more out of the similarly priced AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, which has 12 cores, even though performance in CAD will take a small hit.