AMD might bring back the 16-core Threadripper with Genesis Peak

Something to look forward to: AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 5000 series, Genesis Peak is expected to be announced in the coming weeks and a recent leak suggests that the 16-core version of the HEDT chip might make a comeback. This is anomalous since their Ryzen 5950X already boasts 16-cores, so assuming the information is legitimate, we’ll have to see if AMD’s assessment about demand for this core-count plays out.

As with previous Ryzen generations, AMD will be following up its successful Ryzen 5000 series launch with Genesis Peak, its line of high-end desktop (HEDT) Threadripper CPUs leveraging the new Zen 3 architecture.

In the first two Threadripper incarnations, the lowest tier HEDT part AMD sold was a 16-core, 32-thread chip, boasting more cores than the highest-tier, 8-core consumer parts. The following release cycle saw the 16-core, Ryzen 3950X enter the top of the consumer category, with the next best chip being Castle Peak’s 24-core, Threadripper 3960X.

It seems during this cycle however, AMD might be keen to bring back the 16-core Threadripper SKU while still selling the Ryzen 5950X, its 16-core consumer chip. The information comes from a tweet by Yuri Bubliy, otherwise known as 1usmus and developer of Clock Tuner for Ryzen, who published a HEX code riddle, that when converted to ASCII, reads “Genesis 16 cores.”

I think some of you will want to solve this riddle.

47454e4553495320313620434f524553

— Yuri Bubliy (@1usmus) January 1, 2021

If this proves right, we can assume that AMD has found a sweet spot at the 16-core mark, but enough of the market demands the high caches, quad channel support, and other professional features that come with HEDT chips and the TR4 chipset that they feel is worth making both SKUs. That said, we do not know if Genesis Peak will support the current TR4 chipset, or if AMD will require something new this cycle.

Another mystery will be the naming scheme of this rehashed chip since the Ryzen 5950X has already taken the nomenclature that the Threadripper x950X once held.

Time will tell once it is released, and we pray AMD doesn’t make it more confusing for consumers than it has to be. As this is an early leak, there is no sign of a release date, but AMD is expected to talk about Genesis Peak this month at CES 2021.