AMD Threadripper
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 9 desktop processors
Recommended for heavy multi-core work like compiling, batch jobs and I/O-heavy machines. Critics agree it is very expensive and overkill for a personal desktop.
Recommended for heavy multi-core work like compiling, batch jobs and I/O-heavy machines. Critics agree it is very expensive and overkill for a personal desktop.
23 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 74%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Many cores and PCIe lanes
“threadripper pro etc have so many cores and pcie lanes it's easy to run multiple OS VMs with dedicated GPUs at close to native speed”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too” “Threadripper is underrated for IO-heavy boxes”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “How did AMD Ryzen get 50% faster in two years?” Fast compiling and batch jobs
“Wow, compiling this project is now 4x faster”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “PC processors entered the Gigahertz era today in the year 2000 with AMD's Athlon” “For batch jobs there isn't much competition.”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Hold on to Your Hardware” Long-lasting performance for games
“After last year's upgrade, I've yet to run into a game that it doesn't play reasonably”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Xbox wants you to pay 24 to 40 cents per hour to stream games you bought” “Not sure I’ll need to upgrade my computer ever again :D”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “How did AMD Ryzen get 50% faster in two years?” Workstation alternative to EPYC
“Threadripper or EPIC if it must be AMD camp”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “Thelio Mira AI Linux Workstation: 192 GB GPU Memory” “you would need Threadripper or EPYC”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “Was my $48K GPU server worth it?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Very expensive for personal desktops
“this is a car-priced CPU and the only rational reason to have one is that you can exploit it for profit”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Does Apple‘s M5 Max Really “Destroy” a 96-Core Threadripper?” “buying a 96-core Threadripper would be a stupid waste of money for a personal desktop”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Does Apple‘s M5 Max Really “Destroy” a 96-Core Threadripper?” “Threadripper isn't as much better as it's more expensive (and annoying to cool!)”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Hold on to Your Hardware” - Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “RAM is so expensive, Samsung won't even sell it to Samsung”
Memory and PCIe limits on non-Pro
“non-Pro threadripper is still only 256 bits wide and Pro is 512”
Comment from 21 Sep 2026 in “Samsung is expected to more than double output of its HBM4 and HBM4E DRAM” “what we are stuck with today gen5x4 due to bios limitations”
Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Corporate America is getting hooked on open-source AI”
Other desktop processors people recommend
The four most recommended other desktop processors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD ThreadripperThis page | 17 | 6 | 74% | 6 | — | Approved |
| AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D | 13 | 5 | 72% | 5 | — | Approved |
| AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 | 13 | 5 | 72% | 3 | — | — |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 12 | 2 | 86% | 7 | — | Approved |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | 11 | 2 | 85% | 6 | 3.9 yrs4 owners | Approved |
What people said
22 of the 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“After last year's upgrade, I've yet to run into a game that it doesn't play reasonably”
“The Threadripper does ~320GB/s.”
“Threadripper is underrated for IO-heavy boxes”
“Not sure I’ll need to upgrade my computer ever again :D”
“it - easily - outperforms all of the XEON and I7 based boxes that I have”
“non-Pro threadripper is still only 256 bits wide and Pro is 512”
“Threadripper or EPIC if it must be AMD camp”
“what we are stuck with today gen5x4 due to bios limitations”
“I wish they could enable use of non-ECC ram on Threadrippers.”
“you would need Threadripper or EPYC”
“it will become much more expensive”
“the old threadripper that no longer qualifies for Win11”
“Threadripper is a good alternative. No point having a lot of dual channel ram for LLMs, too slow”
“Threadripper isn't as much better as it's more expensive (and annoying to cool!)”
“For batch jobs there isn't much competition.”
“compare professional/workhorse level CPUs like EPYC/Threadripper/Xeon to Apple's "pro" lines”
“this is a car-priced CPU and the only rational reason to have one is that you can exploit it for profit”
“buying a 96-core Threadripper would be a stupid waste of money for a personal desktop”
“Wow, compiling this project is now 4x faster”
“From ESP32 and RPi to Threadripper, I love it all.”
“threadripper pro etc have so many cores and pcie lanes it's easy to run multiple OS VMs with dedicated GPUs at close to native speed”
“You can only get to $15k by doing something stupid like buying a Threadripper”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.