Updated! Affordable mid-tower workstation for three monitors:
Ultra-fast 5th Gen AMD Ryzen 5 5600G CPU (6 cores/12 threads) or up to 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X!
Ultra-fast networking: 2.5 Gbps wired Internet + 2.4 Gbps Wi-Fi 6

Click to enlarge image

3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processors:
· More CPU cores and more simultaneous threads than Intel
· More performance for your dollar at every price point

Since 2017, the first two generations of AMD Ryzen processors have delivered impressive value, generally beating Intel for performance per dollar for multithreaded CPU performance. However, Intel CPUs have been generally faster at single-threaded performance, and, at the high end, Intel has also beaten AMD for multithreaded performance.

Intel remained the performance champ, while AMD became the value champ. However, with the new 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processors introduced in July 2019, the story has changed.

Now Ryzen is at rough parity with Intel Core desktop processors for single-core performance and meanwhile is beating Intel by a wide margin for multithreaded performance at the high end of mainstream desktop CPUs — all while easily exceeding Intel Core desktop processors for performance per dollar at every level.

You can see a bar chart of comparative performance by enlarging the graphic above. Multithreaded tests were run using the industry-standard benchmark, Cinebench R20.

Below is another performance comparison using the PassMark CPU Mark benchmark test. Testing so far shows that the $199 base Ryzen 5 3600 (a six-core CPU) has nearly tied Intel's flagship $499 Core i9-9900K CPU, an 8-core CPU. Meanwhile the $329 Ryzen 7 3700X (an 8-core CPU) is beating the Intel Core i9-9900K by 20%, and the Ryzen 9 3900x (a 12-core CPU) is beating the Intel Core i9-9900K by a shocking 59%!

Digital Tigers is pleased to feature 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen processors in the new Stratosphere Express R3 workstation, which supports up to triple monitors with fast performance at a terrific price. If you're someone who hates to choose between performance and value, why not choose both?

See the primer that follows to learn more about key terms such as CPU cores, threads, multithreading, clock speed and Turbo Core.

You may configure Stratosphere Express R3 with any of the CPUs below:

A primer on CPU terminology:
How cores, threads and multithreading affect performance

Modern multi-core CPUs split up your computer's tasks across a team of processors that work in parallel, like a team of horses. Two horses are better than one; four are better than two; the more horsepower, the better. For CPUs, your workhorses are etched in silicon all within a single chip, and we call those workers CPU cores.

Of course, CPUs don't always run in one direction like a team of horses. Think of CPU cores as a team of cooks in a central kitchen, with CPU threads being the waiters bringing in orders (instructions) and returning with cooked (processed) food.

A kitchen's productivity is thus roughly equal to the number of cooks and the speed of each cook. For CPUs we call that speed the clock speed of each core, which can vary independently during operation. CPU clocks are measured in GHz (gigahertz), so a 3GHz CPU is operating at three billion cycles per second. Cores act as a multiplier to clock speed, since the cores work independently, and each core also executes multiple instructions in parallel.

You'll notice that CPU clock speed is often expressed as a range. The low number, or base clock speed, is the guaranteed minimum speed of all cores. The high number is what AMD calls Turbo Core: the peak clock speed that one or several cores can achieve for a limited period without overheating the CPU. AMD Ryzen CPUs will automatically increase the speed of individual cores to process demanding threads to the fastest extent possible without crossing thermal limits or exceeding the preset Turbo Core limit.

Each CPU core independently executes operating system requests and is addressed as a separate CPU. This is a bit like having a a dedicated waiter for each cook in the kitchen. However, when a cook handles two waiters' orders simultaneously, he's more productive. Now the restaurant can serve more customers at the same time, simply by hiring more waiters.

A team of cooks: which ones are virtual?

In the same way, AMD CPUs with simultaneous multithreading can process two software threads simultaneously by presenting two logical CPUs to the operating system for each physical core. Faking extra CPU cores really is a proven workload management technique, enabling a CPU core to keep working even if a thread is stalled waiting for external data. Simultaneous multithreading is like having two waiters managing orders prepared by the same cook. Other waiters may be too busy to take your order, but this waiter is available, and then so is the actual cook. Just as a team of cooks is more productive with twice the wait staff shuttling back and forth between the kitchen and the dining floor, simultaneous multithreading enables CPU cores to process more threads by working around bottlenecks and the chronic I/O delays of fetching data from memory or storage. Waiters serve as workload and I/O managers for the cooks, and so does simultaneous multithreading for CPUs.

3rd Gen AMD Ryzen's advantage over 9th Gen Intel Core CPUs

AMD's 3rd Generation Ryzen processors unleash faster performance than ever, with faster clock speeds, more cores, more virtual cores (measured by thread count), and more performance per dollar. At the top of line, the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X processor delivers 16 CPU cores processing 32 simultaneous threads, at clock speeds up to 4.7GHz. Intel's flagship mainstream desktop CPU, Core i9-9900K, offers only 8 cores processing 16 threads. Further, only the flagship Core i9 CPU currently offers simultaneous multithreading in Intel's 9th Gen lineup, while no 9th Gen Core i7, i5 or i3 CPU offers the feature. This is a major reason why multithreading performance will typically favor 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen over 9th Gen Intel Core CPUs when comparing CPUs with the same number of cores and similar clock speeds.

To be specific, 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen 7 processors offer 8-core/16-thread architecture (simultaneous multithreading), while 9th Gen Intel Core i7 processors have 8-core/8-thread architecture with no simultaneous multithreading. Similarly, 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen 5 processors offer 6-core/12-thread architecture (simultaneous multithreading), while 9th Gen Intel Core i5 processors have 6-core/6-thread architecture with no simultaneous multithreading.

While number of cores typically matters more to performance than the number of threads processed simultaneously per CPU, at the same number of cores, simultaneous multithreading can boost performance by 20% or more. The major difference between Intel Core i7-9700K and Core i9-9900K is that the latter has simultaneous multithreading turned on. The PassMark CPU Mark benchmark favors the Core i9 by about 20% for multithreading performance, and Intel charges about $100 more for the Core i9 version. Certainly Intel agrees that simultaneous multithreading offers real performance benefits, but chooses not to enable it for the great majority of 9th Gen Core processors. By contrast, every AMD Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 CPU ever shipped offers the feature.

With more cores and more simultaneous threads, more work can be done in parallel, enabling smoother multitasking, more responsive financial trading indicators, and even faster web browsing when many tabs are open. There's a 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processor to meet every requirement and budget. Choose yours by customizing Stratosphere Express R3 and pricing your complete configuration today!

Double-speed PCI Express 4.0 unleashes fastest-ever SSDs

Stratosphere Express R3 can be configured with an optional X570 motherboard featuring AMD's new flagship X570 chipset as well as PCI Express 4.0. PCI Express 4.0 doubles the system's internal bandwidth, unleashing higher performance SSDs and graphics.

Prior to PCI Express 4.0, the fastest SSDs have been plateaued recently at peak read speeds of 3500 MB/s and peak write speeds of 3000 - 3300 MB/s, nearly the theoretical limit (4000 MB/s) of the four PCI Express 3.0 lanes that serve as the communications channel for PCIe SSDs. Now with PCI Express 4.0, bandwidth per lane has been doubled, and the benefits are immediate in the form of much faster PCIe Gen4 SSDs that are already coming to market.

While these new SSDs are available from different brands, they all use the same Phison E16 controller and Toshiba TLC NAND flash memory, so are essentially the same product. This is because AMD invested $15 million to develop the new controller in nine months and to encourage partner companies to bring these blazing-fast SSDs to market in time for the 3rd Gen Ryzen launch on July 7.

Phison is one of the two leading independent SSD controller manufacturers whose controllers drive the industry's fastest consumer SSDs not made by Samsung or Western Digital, who make their own controllers. The existing Phison E12 controller drives our latest standard SSDs for Stratosphere Express R3.

SSD options for this system

Stratosphere Express R3 supports dual PCIe M.2 SSDs. You may configure your system using any of three types of NVMe SSDs:

• Affordable, fast Phison E12 SSDs in 256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB capacities
• Samsung 970 EVO Plus, our most popular SSDs, with superb performance, in 250GB / 500GB / 1TB / 2TB capacities

• Phison E16 PCIe Gen4 SSDs, with breakthrough performance up to 5000 MB/s, in 1TB or 2TB capacity (requires X570 motherboard upgrade)

NVMe SSDs bypass the traditional SATA storage interface in computers and connect directly to the CPU via four dedicated PCI Express lanes. Those lanes are now double wide with PCI Express 4.0. The physical form factor for most NVMe SSDs as well as some SATA SSDs is known as M.2.

In 2009, Digital Tigers was first in the industry to ship SSD drives standard in desktop workstations. We've shipped thousands of systems since with Intel and Samsung SSDs, and only one has ever failed in customer hands.

Above: CrystalDiskMark performance comparison of Phison E12 (PCIe Gen 3), Samsung 970 EVO Plus (best-of-class PCIe Gen3), and Phison E16 (PCIe Gen4). Click to enlarge.

Standard / optional operating systems

• Windows 10 Home 64-bit (standard)
• Windows 10 Pro

Industry-leading multi-monitor software

• UltraView Desktop Manager 3.0 software:
  14 industry-leading features for power users
• Now updated for Windows 11!
• See feature list on right column of this page

16GB - 128GB DDR4-3200 memory

• Base memory: 16GB DDR4-3200
• Memory capacity: 128GB (4 DIMM slots)

Options and accessories

• Recommended: Bootable backup SSD/ hard drive

  • Backs up solid-state system drive
  • Serves as system drive in case of primary drive failure. Simply reboot the computer and selecting the alternate boot drive.
  • Also backs up secondary drive

• Recommended: 1000VA UPS battery backup power

  • Keeps you running through power flickering and brief outages, while giving you time to save your work during longer outages
  • CyberPower UPS series is proven by Digital Tigers long-term reliability study to extend the life of systems
  • In 15 years, less than 0.2% of Digital Tigers customers have encountered power supply problems / dead system while connected to certified UPS
  • Automatic voltage regulation (AVR) corrects for under / over voltage conditions, improving long-term system reliability
  • LCD and software status monitoring for load, voltage, alerts