AMD Unleashes Ryzen Threadripper 9000 Series and Radeon RX 9060 XT: A Powerhouse for Creators and Gamers
AMD is making waves with its latest announcements, targeting both high-end desktop and workstation users with the new Ryzen Threadripper 9000 series and gamers seeking value with the Radeon RX 9060 XT. These announcements, unveiled around Computex 2025, showcase AMD's commitment to delivering performance and innovation across its key product lines.
Threadripper 9000 Series: Zen 5 Arrives for HEDT and Workstations
The spotlight shines brightly on the Threadripper 9000 series, AMD's answer for professionals and enthusiasts who need more power than mainstream Ryzen offerings. These CPUs, based on the Zen 5 architecture and derived from the EPYC 9005 Turin server processors, promise significant performance gains. The lineup includes both Threadripper Pro, aimed at workstation users, and standard Threadripper, designed for high-end desktop (HEDT) builds. Expect these chonky chips to land in July.
Threadripper Pro 9000 variants boast up to 96 cores, 128 PCIe 5 lanes, and support for 8 memory channels, catering to demanding workloads like content creation, AI training, and compiling. With support for DDR5-6400 memory, the 9000 series gets a memory speed bump versus the older 7000 series which supports DDR5-5200.
The standard Threadripper 9000 series offers up to 64 cores and 48 PCIe 5 lanes. The CPUs include the 9980X, 9970X, and 9960X, codenamed “Shimada Peak.” These CPUs have been upgraded with increased memory support and enhanced AVX-512. AMD is emphasizing drop-in compatibility with the new chips, which use the same sTR5 socket as their predecessors.
One of the biggest improvements in the Threadripper 9000 series is the inclusion of full-speed AVX-512 support, potentially doubling performance in AVX-512 workloads. AMD claims around a 16% IPC (instructions per clock) gain with Zen 5, translating to approximately 20% faster performance overall.
Radeon RX 9060 XT: High-Performance Gaming at an Accessible Price
For gamers, AMD announced the Radeon RX 9060 XT, a GPU designed to compete with NVIDIA's RTX 5060 Ti. Available in both 16GB and 8GB configurations, the RX 9060 XT features 32 compute units, 32 RT accelerators, and 64 AI accelerators, with a boost clock of 3.13 GHz. The 16GB model is expected to retail for $350, while the 8GB version will be priced at $300.
AMD's RX 9060 XT boasts a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, unlike the RTX 5060 Ti's x8 interface. Although the Navi 44 GPU on these utilizes GDDR6 memory, unlike the GDDR7 on 50 series cards, it is intended as a price-parity comparison.
Radeon AI Pro R9700 Workstation GPU
AMD also announced its latest AI Pro workstation GPU, the Radeon AI Pro R9700. This RDNA 4 card will come with 128 AI accelerators, 32GB of GDDR6 memory, up to 1531 TOPS claimed, and a 300W TDP. The card also offer multi-GPU support, allowing users to connect 4 AI PRO R9700s for some extremely demanding models that need up to 128GB of combined VRAM and theoretically 4x the computing power.
Availability and Competition
The Radeon RX 9060 XT is slated for release on June 5th, while Ryzen Threadripper 9000 series CPUs are expected in July. AMD currently faces limited competition in the HEDT and workstation markets, with Intel yet to announce new workstation/HEDT parts based on their Granite Rapids (Xeon 6) server hardware.
With these latest announcements, AMD is positioning itself as a leader in both the high-performance computing and gaming sectors. The Threadripper 9000 series promises to empower creators and professionals, while the Radeon RX 9060 XT aims to bring high-end gaming to a wider audience. Will these new products live up to the hype? What are your thoughts on AMD's latest offerings? Share your opinions in the comments below.
