AMD Threadripper 2970WX and 2920X - the smaller offshoots of the big crunchers | Page 7

Important preliminary remarks

Unlike AMD's previous Threadripper models, the WX Series CPUs have a game mode preset in the Ryzen Master software that disables three out of four these. AMD believes this will provide optimal performance in games. AMD's Ryzen Master Tool also offers switches that allow you to experiment with dual and quadruple configurations. For the gaming benchmarks in this review, we tested the Threadripper processors with game mode enabled. The Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX thus becomes a 6C/12T CPU for this part of the tests.

Dynamic Mode (DM) is a new feature that celebrates its premiere with the 2970WX and applies only to the WX series models. We add a second entry to the charts for each game to compare performance. Wherein this function is either activated or deactivated in the stock settings (with the identifier DM, if enabled). Gaming performance is measured at 1920×1080, minimizing graphics card limits. Of course, the differences between CPUs will be further reduced if the screen resolution is increased to 2560×1440 or 3840×2160.

I did have application test results with an overclocked Ryzen Threadripper 2920X, but the US colleague who was supposed to deliver the gaming benchmarks couldn't run this CPU through our game benchmarks because it was creeping lysme and in the end it wasn't recognized by the motherboard. As a result, gaming benchmarks are severely limited in scope and some settings are missing.

Synthetic benchmarks

We're not big fans of synthetic benchmarks for performance measurement, but 3DMark's DX11 and DX12 CPU tests provide useful insights into the power of game engines. The Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX's game mode reduces the number of 24-core chips to six active cores, but also prevents bandwidth-stressed execution resources from affecting performance during DX11 and DX12 tests. Nevertheless, the 2970WX falls to the low point of our chart. A dual-the 2920X beats the 2970WX easily, so it's clear that the topography of the quad-die CPU is the problem.

UL's VRMark test allows you to assess the suitability of your system for use with HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, even if you don't own an HMD. UL defines a passed score as just over 109 FPS. Precision Boost Overdrive results in an increase of 13.6 FPS for the Threadripper 2970WX.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is a computationally intensive title that usually scales well with the thread number. Again, the Ryzen Threadripper 2920X provides better performance than the 2970WX for factory settings. If there is a silver lining here, it is the PBO as an overclocking aid. The dynamic local mode, which we used exceptionally with Creator mode, however, offers a slightly lower frame rate.

The background process of Dynamic Local Mode prevents threads from mixing that make full use of the CPU's resources. Ashes of the Singularity does, however, so the result is not entirely surprising, because dynamic fashion doesn't actually work out. However, it is clear that the 2970WX does not scale linearly because cores and threads are added in Creator mode. However, you get a similar (or better) performance in gaming mode with only six active cores on the Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III

Threadripper processors generally perform well in this title. The 2970WX lands close to the top with PBO support, although the much cheaper Ryzen 7 2700 is not far behind. The 2970WX in game mode is faster than the same chip in Creator mode, even if we enable AMD's new dynamic local mode. The company promoted the ability of this switch to improve performance "by up to 49%," but it's important to remember that these improvements only take place in Creator mode.