Advanced Micro Devices Inc. today refreshed its Ryzen Threadripper processor line for desktops, upping the ante against Intel Corp. in a key segment of the chip market.

The company is releasing four new central processing units as part of the upgrade that are based on the 12-nanometer Zen+ architecture. Two of the chips are part of a “WX” series aimed at professionals who use CPU-heavy software such as 3-D modeling programs, while the other pair joins the existing X line for video game enthusiasts.

Headlining the lineup is the Threadripper 2990WX. Priced at $1,799, the CPU packs no fewer than 32 cores that can run 62 CPU threads with a base clock frequency of three gigahertz. The chip’s performance goes up to a maximum of 4.2Ghz with overclocking.

AMD claims that the 2990WX has set a new record for the desktop CPU category in Cinebench R15, a standard benchmarking tool used to measure chip performance. The  processor beat out Intel’s top-end Core i9-7980XE unit in the process. According to AMD, it proved about 51 percent faster in the test than Intel’s CPU, which is $200 more expensive.

It’s worth nothing Intel’s chips typically fare better when it comes to running applications that require relatively few CPU threads. But the results are still impressive, particularly given the price difference.

AMD’s other new chips are priced competitively as well. The Threadripper 2970WX, a scaled-down version of the 2990WX with the same base and maximum clock speed but only 24 cores, will retail for $1,299. That breaks down to about $54 per core compared with $56 for the 2990WX and $111 for Intel’s Core i9-7980XE.

Rounding out the lineup is AMD’s pair of new X gaming processors. The first, the Threadripper 2950X, packs 16 cores with a 3.5GHz base clock speed and will retail for $899, or $100 less than Intel’s most comparable CPU model. It’s joined by the Threadripper 2920X, a 12-core chip with the same base frequency that carries a $649 price tag.

The 2990WX and Threadripper 2950X, the top-end models in their respective lines, will become available later this month. AMD plans to start shipping the other two processors in October.

The company is stepping up its competitive efforts in other parts of the chip market as well. In June, AMD unveiled an enterprise-grade graphics processing unit touted as the first to use a 7-nanometer transistor design. The same month, Intel revealed plans to bring its own standalone GPUs to market in 2020. 

Image: AMD