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AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X review: awesome power for price
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AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X: Two-minute review
The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X isn’t just a “cut-down” version of the flagship AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X—it’s a deliberately tuned, high-clocked, 32-core workstation CPU that hits a sweet spot for many professionals.
By halving the core count from 64 to 32 while boosting base frequency to 4.0 GHz (and up to 5.4 GHz on single-core boost), AMD has created a chip that is easier to cool, faster in certain lightly threaded scenarios, and considerably more affordable.
When I first unboxed it, the 9970X didn’t feel like all that different proposition from the 9980X. The packaging, socket installation, and TRX50 platform requirements are the same, but it’s only after I spent two weeks extensively testing both HEDT chips that the performance story for the 9970X revealed itself.
In heavily threaded workloads like Blender Cycles and Cinebench multi-core, it delivers S-tier throughput in absolute terms—my Cinebench R23 multi-core score averaged 76,136, which is closer to the 9980X’s 115,098 than it is to the third-best result from my test group, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D with an average score of 42,100. That’s because the higher sustained clocks and reduced cross-die latency help the 9970X punch above its core count.
Where the difference becomes even more apparent is in day-to-day interactivity. Complex CAD assemblies, large Photoshop and Premiere projects, Unreal Engine scene editing, and other workloads with bursts of single-threaded or lightly threaded activity feel snappier than on the 9980X, a chip that feels purpose-built to maximize multi-core performance above any other consideration. That’s because the 9970X’s smaller core count means fewer CCDs to coordinate and a higher per-core thermal limit, allowing for faster frequency off the line. This will also pay dividends in applications that can sometimes scale unevenly across cores, such as large database server operations or multiple multi-threaded tasks running concurrently.
The 9970X’s power and thermals also proved more manageable in my testing. Under sustained all-core load, the chip’s maximum power draw hovered around 300W, but this was managed easily enough by the 360mm AIO cooler on the test bench. This kept the chip’s maximum tdie temperature at a balmy 74℃. For those who want to keep chip cooling simple in the form of a high-end AIO, this could make a tangible difference.
Platform benefits are unchanged from the rest of the Threadripper 7000 Pro lineup: you still get quad-channel DDR5-6400 ECC memory support, up to 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes, and motherboard designs built for multiple GPUs, high-bandwidth storage, and add-in accelerators. That means it can serve as the central brain for a machine-learning workstation, a film-editing suite with multiple GPU accelerators, or a high-end simulation box without compromise.
Like earlier Threadrippers before it, the 9970X’s gaming performance is at best a distant secondary consideration—and like the 9980X, the 9970X won’t match the best processors on the consumer market, like the Core i9-14900K or Ryzen 9 9950X3D, in pure gaming FPS.
However, with an average of over 240 FPS at 1080p in my tests, it’s more than capable of handling games competently between work sessions, especially when paired with one of the best graphics cards like the Nvidia RTX 5090.
The real magic of the 9970X, though, is how it blends workstation-class parallel compute with desktop-class responsiveness. For many pros, this chip will actually feel faster than the 9980X in mixed workloads, all while costing $2,499.99 / £2,299.99 / AU$4,199.
This is literally half the cost of AMD’s “best” HEDT processor. It’s still a major investment, but in the right pipeline, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X delivers a better return on both performance per dollar and performance per watt than its bigger sibling, making it the best AMD processor for just about every workstation PC that can run it.
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X: Price & availability
- How much does it cost? $2,499.99 / £2,299.99 / AU$4,199
- When is it available? It is available now
- Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia
The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X is available now for $2,499.99 / £2,299.99 / AU$4,199 in the US, UK, and Australia, respectively.
From a prosumer, enthusiast, and industry perspective, though, the price of the 9970X is going to be much cheaper than the 9980X, not to mention the Threadripper Pro 9000-series chips. So while its hard to call something costing more than a couple grand “cheap”, for this class of product, this isn’t that bad, especially considering that there’s no increase in price from the Ryzen Threadripper 7970X.
Meanwhile, for many professionals, the 50% difference in price between the 9970X and 9980X—for what can often feels like 75–99% of the real-world performance of the 9980X—has to weigh heavily in its favor.
It’s important to note that Threadripper chips aren’t typically sold through mainstream retailers, so availability will be more limited than with high-end consumer CPUs. You’ll need to check with specialty component retailers, workstation-oriented e-tailers, and system integrators building high-end rigs for creative, engineering, or research applications in your region if you’re looking to upgrade to the 9970X.
It’s also worth noting that a total platform investment might be necessary as well. A TRX50 motherboard, high-bandwidth DDR5 ECC memory kit, and capable cooling are all required for the 9970X, and these can easily add a couple of grand to a build. That said, for buyers who rely on multi-core compute and high I/O throughput to make a living, the 9970X offers excellent return on investment.
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X: Specs & Features
- AMD Zen 5 architecture
- Higher base clock than 9980X
- 32-cores/64-threads for excellent multi-core throughput
Socket | sTR5 (TRX50) | |
Architecture | AMD Zen 5 | |
Cores | 32 | |
Threads | 64 | |
Base Clock | 4.0 GHz | |
Boost Clock | 5.4 GHz | |
L3 Cache | 128MB | |
PCIe Lanes | Up to 80 PCIe 5.0 | |
Memory Support | Up to 1TB Quad-channel DDR5‑6400 ECC | |
TDP | 350W | |
Tjmax | 95℃ |
The Ryzen Threadripper 9970X is built on AMD’s Zen 5 architecture, manufactured using a MCM design with the TSMC’s advanced N4P process for the main compute die and TSMC’s N6 proccess for chip I/O.
It combines 32 high-performance cores for 64 total threads, offering strong parallel compute capabilities while maintaining high per-core speeds that benefit lightly threaded workloads.
With a 4.0 GHz base and up to 5.4 GHz boost, it delivers both sustained throughput and the snappy responsiveness that closely parallels mainstream consumer CPUs.
A major strength of the Threadripper 9000-series is its quad-channel DDR5 memory controller, supporting ECC DDR5-6400, up from ECC DDR5-5200 from the Threadripper 7000-series, for higher data bandwidth and integrity, which are key for high-resolution video editing, scientific computation, and large-scale 3D rendering.
PCIe connectivity is equally formidable, with up to 80 lanes of PCIe 5.0 for GPUs and NVMe drives (up from 48 with the 7000-series), plus an additional 8 PCIe 4.0 lanes for legacy devices. This level of I/O capacity is ideal for multi-GPU render farms, expansive storage arrays, or specialized accelerator cards.
Its 350W TDP highlights the need for serious cooling (I would not recommend anything less than a 360mm AIO cooler), but it also enables sustained all-core performance without throttling when thermals are under control. The chip is fully unlocked as well, allowing fine-grained tuning for workloads that benefit from higher clocks.
Combined with the TRX50 platform’s durability and expandability, the 9970X’s specs make it a workstation CPU that can anchor a system for years of demanding use.
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X: Installation & test setup
Installing the Ryzen Threadripper 9970X is more involved than seating a standard desktop CPU. It uses AMD’s sTR5 socket, which is physically massive and requires a specific installation process.
AMD includes a torque-limiting wrench with the processor to ensure even pressure across the integrated heat spreader, an important step for both thermal performance and long-term reliability. Skipping proper installation can lead to uneven contact or even bent pins on the TRX50 motherboard, so definitely watch some installation videos on YouTube and read the instructions carefully before touching anything.
For testing, I used an ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE board, paired with an Nvidia RTX 5090, G.Skill 128GB DDR5-6400 ECC memory (4x32GB), and a Crucial T705 PCIe 5.0 SSD as the primary system drive running a fresh copy of Windows 11. Cooling was handled by a Silverstone XE360-TR5 AIO cooler, and power was supplied by a Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050W Platinum PSU.
This configuration is more or less what a professional workstation or enthusiast HEDT rig might look like, and definitely exceeds what you might find in a typical gaming PC (this will be important in a bit). Every component—from the motherboard’s VRM design to the memory configuration—was selected to match the demands of a CPU built for long, heavy, and complex computing tasks.
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Performance
- Phenomenal multi-core performance
- Very responsive
- Gaming performance is unimpressive
The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X’s performance reflects its 32-core, 64-thread design and high clock speeds, as demonstrated by my various benchmark data.
Everything from Geekbench 6.4 and Cinebench R23 to V-Ray, Blender Benchmark, and HandBrake 1.9 shows that it delivers exceptional throughput across professional workloads while maintaining strong single-core responsiveness.
In Geekbench 6.4, the 9970X scored a 3,010 in single-core and a 27,567 in multi-core performance, for example. This puts its single-core performance in the neighborhood of mainstream desktop CPUs like the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, though it’s about 10% slower than the fastest processor I tested, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, in Geekbench’s benchmark. Notably, the 9970X is about 1% faster in this test, on average, than the Threadripper 9980X.
For multi-core performance, however, the only real competition for the 9970X is the 9980X. In Geekbench 6.4, the 9970X is about 31% faster than the Core Ultra 9 285K, the third-fastest chip on this benchmark in my test group.
Meanwhile, the 9970X comes in about 4% slower than the 9980X in this test. Before you go thinking the 9970X can hang with the 9980X in overall multi-core performance, though, in Cinebench R23, the 9970X scored an astounding 76,136 points in multi-core performance, which is about 81% faster than the next chip on the podium, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, score of 42,098 (followed very closely by the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with 41,281).
The 9980X, meanwhile, clocked in 115,098 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core, which puts the 9970X about 34% slower than the 9980X. The story is essentially the same in Cinebench R24, with some tightening in the 3DMark CPU Profile (Max Thread) and PassMark CPU tests. Overall, the 9970X is the second-best multi-core performer, coming in about 54% faster than the third-place Core Ultra 9 285K, and about 25% slower than the multi-core champ 9980X.
The faster clock speeds in the 9970X give it a responsiveness edge over the slower 9980X, which you can see play out in system benchmarks like CrossMark. Here, the 9970X beat or roughly matched the productivity performance and responsiveness of the 9980X, Core Ultra 9 285K, and Ryzen 9 9950X. It’s only real competition here is the Intel Core i9-14900K, which has a noticeably higher boost frequency for its performance cores, which is vital to app performance and responsiveness.
In creative workloads, the 9970X outperformed nearly all of the chips in my testing, save for the 9980X, though there are some notable quirks in the results that might point to poor optimization for certain tests, like PugetBench for Creators.
Here both Threadripper chips fell way behind their client-grade competition in Adobe Photoshop, or essentially tying with them in PugetBench’s Premiere test—as the 9970X did—or only slightly beating the competition—hats off to the 9980X for the win there.
Other workloads, however, show that the 9970X is substantially better suited for these workflows than consumer-class chips. The 9970X takes the top spot in the CrossMark Creativity and Handbrake encoding tests overall, and loses only to the 9980X in Blender Benchmark 4.3 and V-Ray 6’s CPU test while nearly lapping its next closest rival on the consumer side on all four benchmarks.
Since the 9970X is classified as an HEDT chip rather than a full-on industrial workstation CPU, there are a lot of non-pro enthusiasts out there who like Threadrippers for the elite performance on offer, but I’ll warn you now that gaming is not where this chip is going to excel.
In my gaming benchmarks, the 9970X consistently came in at the bottom of the rankings, averaging about 241 FPS at 1080p on low settings (with a 1% FPS average of about 169). Every other chip besides the 9980X cleared 340 FPS on average, with 1% FPS averaging at least 40 FPS better. On the bright side, the 9970X did manage to beat out the 9980X, which came in dead last on every game I tested it with.
In terms of game AI performance, its also a bit of a mixed bag, with the 9970X doing very well in Civilization VII’s AI benchmark, but coming in a good deal behind in the mainstream consumer chips in the group in the Stellaris 1-year, 42 empire autoplay duration tests.
Of course, that’s not all there is to be said about gaming, since few with this kind of chip will be playing at 1080p with the lowest graphics settings on a cheap graphics card. If you’ve got the money for a Threadripper 9970X, you’re likely going to be able to swing a 4K graphics card like the Nvidia RTX 5080 or better; and gaming at higher resolutions shifts the FPS bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU, so the difference in actual framerates while playing might not be nearly so dramatic.
Thermals and power consumption were in line with what I was expecting from a 350W TDP chip. I recorded power draw ranging from 6.77W while idle to 300.6W peak, with temperatures between 37°C when idle and 74°C under sustained load using a 360mm AIO— an excellent result given the chip’s capabilities.
Overall, then, the 9970X really strikes a phenomenal balance between the responsiveness and everyday capability of the best consumer-market CPUs and the high-end performance required from a workstation-level processor.
Of course, given its price, I cannot imagine anyone who isn’t doing serious, heavy-duty 3D design, video production, or scientific simulation work needing a chip like this. If you’ve somehow stumbled into this review wondering if you should go through the ridiculous amount of expense to upgrade from a Core i9, Core Ultra 9, or Ryzen 9 system that you mostly use for gaming and prosumer-level content creation, don’t do it.
The payoff just isn’t worth the expense for anyone other than creative, AI, or scientific professionals. If you’re in a field that demands this kind of multi-core performance for your day-to-day work, however, the 9970X delivers close to flagship throughput with better responsiveness, making it one of the most balanced HEDT CPUs you’re going to find anywhere.
Should you buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X?
Value | For a chip this expensive, ‘value’ is definitely a relative term here. But for a workstation chip, this is a great value. | 4 / 5 |
Specs & features | With high clock speeds, lots of CPU cores, and support for up to 1TB ECC DDR5 and 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes, this chips brings the latest and greatest to the table. | 5 / 5 |
Performance | While this isn’t the most powerful chip for every use case, for professional workloads, the performance on offer is incredible. | 5 / 5 |
Final Score | The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X offers a perfect balance of performance, responsiveness, and price that is impossible to beat. | 4.67 / 5 |
Buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X if…
Don’t buy it if…
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How I tested the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X
- I spent about two weeks testing the Threadripper 9970X
- I put the chip through my standard suite of CPU benchmarks, with special attention on professional workloads and multi-core performance
- I used it for content creation, gaming, and day-to-day work
I used the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X in my day-to-day work PC, using it for general productivity, content creation for work, and a healthy dose of CPU experimentation. I also used it for gaming while running benchmarks on other systems, but that was not my primary focus.
While there are a lot of specialized workloads that this CPU will be running, most of those workflows or applications don’t have readily accessible benchmarks, so I used my standard CPU testing suite to inform the potential performance for those I could not benchmark directly, and put special emphasis and attention on those benchmarks, like V-Ray 6 and Handbrake 1.9 Encoding, that directly relate to the intended market for this chip.
I’ve reviewed dozens of processors over my time at TechRadar, and have spent hundreds of hours of testing processors for features, special projects, and general maintenance of my benchmark score database, so I know how to push a processor to its limits and assess its quality and value, an expertise I bring to all of my reviews to ensure that you find the right chip for your needs and budget.
- First reviewed August 2025
