The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X is a desktop processor with 16 cores, launched in August 2018, at an MSRP of $899. It is part of the Ryzen Threadripper lineup, using the Zen+ (Colfax) architecture with Socket SP3r2. Thanks to AMD Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) the core-count is effectively doubled, to 32 threads. Ryzen Threadripper 2950X has 32 MB of L3 cache and operates at 3.5 GHz by default, but can boost up to 4.4 GHz, depending on the workload. AMD is building the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X on a 12 nm production process using 9,600 million transistors. The silicon die of the chip is not fabricated at AMD, but at the foundry of GlobalFoundries. You may freely adjust the unlocked multiplier on Ryzen Threadripper 2950X, which simplifies overclocking greatly, as you can easily dial in any overclocking frequency.
With a TDP of 180 W, the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X is extremely power hungry, which means you need top-notch cooling. AMD's processor supports DDR4 memory with a quad-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 2933 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the computer, Ryzen Threadripper 2950X uses a PCI-Express Gen 3 connection. This processor does not have integrated graphics, you will need a separate graphics card.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, AMD is including the newer AVX2 standard, too, but not AVX-512.