Right time to jump into threadripper 3000 or wait for the 5000 series?

Would it still be interesting to go for an 3960X at this point in time? Since they where launched in 2019. I’m reading the 5000 series could be launched this summer.

I’m not in a hurry to upgrade…

Also, would they release replacement CPU’s for the 3000 series or just additional ones at a higher price? I don’t want to spend 1400€ on a CPU to see the price slashed in half 3 months later…

Any thoughts would be helpful…

Wait for the 5 series.

Make the decision when it comes out. Either go cheap and buy the 3 series for cheap, or get a deal on the 5 series.

I gave up stressing about new releases, it’s always disappointing and leaves me feeling ripped off!

I agree, wait for reviews on what true changes between the 3 series and the 5 series. either way 3’s will be cheaper most likely so its a win either way.

Normally I buy used server gear and repurpose it for a workstation. But the generational improvements from the Intel stuff is so disappointingly low from E5-2600 v2 to v4 I decided its better to buy new AMD stuff and invest in a new platform. But with it comes the buyers remorse stress :-).

Yeah, I hear you. It’s a nightmare.

Don’t sweat it too much. Like @caimbuel said*, it’s a win either way to wait for the next generation, even if you just buy the 3 series.

Just don’t get snarled in that trap of waiting for the next one and the next one and the next one ad nauseum.

*I am not trying to twist your words, but it sure as hell comes off that way. Sorry!

This topic comes up repeatedly, but the answer will always stay the same:

The question I always ask is what do you need TR for? Most uses cases are total overkill unless your doing lots of heavy video/photo/audio editing, Autocad, science, AI, or heavy VM testing.

The advantage of TR over Ryzen is memory capacity, and PCIe lanes. I personally find it hard to justify anything more than a 5900x for even most “power” users.

Now all that said, you do you, but TR comes with a heavy price tag between CPU, Motherboard, and RAM. Its a good way to spend $5000 when you only needed to spend $2000 to get top end performance.

Might be true, however if AMD has a regular release cycle it might best to wait. Like it would be arguably stupid to upgrade your 16" macbook pro right now since it is quite certain they will release new models in the next few months.

With AMD I find it hard to gauge since their naming, codenames, technology etc is horribly confusing… hence me asking the community.

I work in video postproduction and don’t have a choice. I have lots of pcie devices for video monitoring, raid cards, 10gbe. I could marginally get by on an AM4 X570 platform but then there is no upgrade path for additonal GPU’s for exampe. Also the AM4 socket is end of life. The TRX40 is brand new and will have support for several CPU’s (hopefully).

nope, your exactly the usecase for TR.

So… is this a personal purchase or a work purchase and if work are you 1099/freelance so can you expense the cost against your taxes?

Wait. You may see decent deals on 3000 when 5000 is launched. 5000 may be better depending on work load due to performance increases.

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If you are not in a hurry to upgrade, just wait until the 5xxx - it is not a given there will even be 5xxx TRs though, might jump directly to 6xxx.

New and sexy PC hardware is always going to be around the corner, so if you need to upgrade soon-ish just buy it. If it is for professional use the question is how much time you save on the upgrade, will that hardware pay for itself?

A 5000 series Threadripper could be such a dramatic improvement in IPC and inter-core latency that I would be kicking myself for purchasing a current Threadripper in probably three months’ time due to the sheer price. Doubly so if AMD were to skip Zen 3 entirely for the next Threadripper and fast track the Zen 4 architecture into HEDT land.

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