Allen
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Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 8,841
Ohio USA
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There are no dummy dies in Ryzen Threadripper
Long story short, all [4] dies have integrated circuits, all have transistors, all of them are real dies. They are just not enabled or fully functional..
Does it mean that Threadripper could potentially include 32-core configurations in the future, just as EPYC? It could, but right now it would directly compete with EPYC and that’s simply an unnecessary move for AMD...
So, the 16 core/32 thread AMD Threadripper is actually a 32 core/64 thread set of hardware with 16 cores disabled -- I personally ass-u-me some of the extra 16 are functional but AMD decided to stop at activating 16 cores.
That does not change how current Threadrippers work. However, it indicates that Threadripper can grow to 32 cores relatively easily if AMD needs 32 cores to compete (just need 4 perfect chips/dies). Presumably, this means 32 cores are coming in the not so distant future, I ass-u-me. So, single or quad threaded games/software will become a thing of the past sooner than I expected, I speculate.
To me, an interesting aspect of the above article is this: A geek bought a Threadripper and destroyed it (by taking it apart) to prove or disprove the idea that the Threadripper one buys does potentially have 32 live cores.