> As the Tom's post notes, server and client chips use the same chiplets, so it could be that most of the higher-binned ones are going to server parts; some are higher-margin (7742 is almost $100/core, vs. 3950X under $50/core)
The 7742 is the "halo" chip, though. Or was, rather, until the Epyc 7H12 was announced.
Other Epycs have much lower $/core. For example the 24-core EPYC 7352 is $1350, making it $56/core. The 16-core EPYC 7282 is actually even cheaper than the 3950X at $650, or $40/core.
No doubt bulk orders are going to get the priority, but the margins may not actually be that different depending on what companies are actually bulk-ordering. The $/core drops pretty quickly even just going down slightly in the stack. The 32c 7452 is $65/core.
And we don't entirely know which aspect of the binning is the limiting factor. If it's just functional cores that's going to be different from if they run at the right frequency/voltage. Epyc is all 225 W or lower. Threadripper 3000 AMD could pretty easily slap a 300W TDP on it and ram voltage through the chips that couldn't cut it at Epyc specs. The 2990WX is, after all, a 250W TDP part. The existing socket is already spec'd for more power capability than the top-end Epyc.
I don't really hard-disagree with any of that; we're all guessing. The co. sending chiplets where they fetch the most also doesn't seem outlandish as a factor, though.
FWIW, here's the price-per-core chart for the whole second-gen server line:
(Doesn't factor in voltage/freq needs for different SKUs, some of them needing fully-working chiplets, etc. Still.)
The low pricing on the 7282 and a few others is interesting, too. Wonder if it's a factor that it can use partially-working chiplets since the server I/O die can take up to eight chiplets and the client die only two, or if that's totally unrelated.
They also get cheaper if you only buy the single socket versions (assuming you don't need dual socket). The 7702P (the single socket 64 core) is $4425, or $70/core.
The 7742 is the "halo" chip, though. Or was, rather, until the Epyc 7H12 was announced.
Other Epycs have much lower $/core. For example the 24-core EPYC 7352 is $1350, making it $56/core. The 16-core EPYC 7282 is actually even cheaper than the 3950X at $650, or $40/core.
No doubt bulk orders are going to get the priority, but the margins may not actually be that different depending on what companies are actually bulk-ordering. The $/core drops pretty quickly even just going down slightly in the stack. The 32c 7452 is $65/core.
And we don't entirely know which aspect of the binning is the limiting factor. If it's just functional cores that's going to be different from if they run at the right frequency/voltage. Epyc is all 225 W or lower. Threadripper 3000 AMD could pretty easily slap a 300W TDP on it and ram voltage through the chips that couldn't cut it at Epyc specs. The 2990WX is, after all, a 250W TDP part. The existing socket is already spec'd for more power capability than the top-end Epyc.