Computex: AMD shows off 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 'Threadripper' that will do battle with Intel's Core i9

Sixteen-core Ryzen CPU shown off at Computex, playing Prey at 4K resolution with dual Radeon RX Vega graphics cards

AMD has revealed more details about its new 16-core Ryzen CPU, dubbed 'Threadripper' at Computex today. The part was partially unveiled two weeks ago at the company's analyst day, a move intended to pre-empt rival Intel's launch of its Core i9 microprocessor line just yesterday.

The Ryzen 9 1998X will form part of AMD's high-end desktop X399 platform, which the company also showed off today. It will feature "up to" 16 cores and 32 threads, 64 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and quad channel DDR4 memory.

That differs from Intel's Core i9 strategy, which sees some of its Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X parts limited to dual channel support on the X299 platform unveiled yesterday. Intel's strategy, of course, is to push people to pay more if they want more PCIe lanes and quad channel DDR4 memory.

In contrast, the Ryzen CPUs showed off so far feature ‘only' 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, as does both standard Intel Kaby Lake and Kaby Lake-X, which was unveiled with Skylake-X yesterday. Skylake-X, meanwhile, offers between 28 and 44, depending on the size of your wallet.

"We really believe we're bringing a new class of performance to the eco-system," said AMD CEO Lisa Su in the presentation at Computex today.

But AMD still hasn't revealed clock speeds and, more importantly, prices for Threadripper just yet.

The AMD reveal, though, did show off a 16-core Threadripper blitzing through the same Blender workload test it used when it launched Ryzen 7 back in March, polishing off the workload in a matter of seconds.

AMD also demonstrated the CPU running the new Bethesda game Prey on ‘ultra' settings at 4k resolution with twin Radeon RX Vega graphics cards, and revealed plans to launch that in late July. "Our message is that for the true enthusiast-class performance capability this combination will be an incredible combination," said Su.

Jim Anderson, meanwhile, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's Computing and Graphics Business Group, showed off a soupcon of details on the company's Ryzen Mobile microprocessor.

This, he said, "is a combination of our our new Zen cores and our new graphics cores integrated into a single device", which he promised would enable "beautiful" thin and light laptops and convertibles, including gaming systems.

Next year, the focus will switch to enterprise laptops and workstations, said Anderson.