Ahead of the Threadripper 9000 series hitting store shelves tomorrow, today the review embargo lifts on these new high-end desktop/workstation Zen 5 processors. I have been testing out the Threadripper 9970X and 9980X this month and have been extremely excited about the generational uplift and all-around performance of these new AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X/9980X processors on Linux for delivering the best possible workstation performance in 2025.
While the Threadripper 9980X maintains the same 64 cores / 128 threads as the 7980X and the Threadripper 9970X the same 32 cores / 64 threads as the 7970X, there is terrific generational uplift observed out of these new Zen 5 Threadrippers. It’s all the more exciting with these new Threadripper 9000 series processors being able to work as drop-in upgrades for existing sTR5 Threadripper 7000 series workstations. Back in June AMD originally shared the Threadripper 9000 series details for those that missed the information.
Besides the Zen 5 cores, allowing for more performance potential especially for CPU-based AI inferencing and other memory bandwidth intensive applications is supporting ECC DDR5-6400 memory compared to DDR5-4800 with the prior generation Threadripper processors. The review kit supplied by AMD included the Threadripper 9970X, Threadripper 9980X, ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE WIFI motherboard, SilverStone AIO liquid cooling loop, and 4 x 32GB DDR5-6400 ECC memory.
With the Threadripper 9000 “Shimada Peak” series working as drop-in replacements to existing sTR5 platforms with a simple BIOS upgrade and the AMD Zen 5 processors in general being in the marketplace for a while, there isn’t too much to worry about from the Linux side if you are upgrading or planning for a new Threadripper 9000 series desktop/workstation. I have used an ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE WIFI for example since the Threadripper 7000 series launch without issue on Linux and has very mature support at this stage. The Threadripper 9000 series processors themselves have also been running very well on Linux just as we’ve seen how across the Ryzen AI 300 series, Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors, and the AMD EPYC 4005 and EPYC 9005 series server processors. Threadripper 9000 series is joining the AMD Zen 5 Linux party in very good shape for support and performance.
For the launch-day Linux testing of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X/9970X, the following processors were freshly re-tested for this Linux workstation focused comparison:
– Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
– AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
– AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
– AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X
– AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X
– AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X
– AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X
– AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X
The comparison was limited by the HEDT processors and relevant high-end desktop processors I had available. Unfortunately, Intel had never provided me with a review sample of the aging Xeon W9 Sapphire Rapids competition like the Xeon W9-3595X, but then again they haven’t been too popular with enthusiasts in comparison to Threadripper. Similarly, I haven’t received any Threadripper PRO 9000WX hardware/systems either for review comparison. So principally this benchmarking today is looking at the generational performance for the Threadripper 9970X and 9980X compared to prior Threadripper processors with AMD Ryzen Threadripper standing in a class of its own. Plus the desktop 9950X/9950X3D and Core Ultra 9 258K Arrow Lake desktop processors for reference.
All of these benchmarks were carried out on Ubuntu 25.04 with the Linux 6.14 kernel and GCC 14.2 stock compiler. Each system was running with memory at the maximum rated memory channels and frequency. A 2TB WD_BLACK SN8100 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD was used for all of the benchmarking.
The Threadripper 9970X and 9980X have been running strong under Linux with the ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE WIFI and quad channel DDR5-6400 ECC memory without any compatibility or stability concerns to note, so let’s continue on with the Linux performance and power results for these Zen 5 Threadripper processors.
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