AMD Ryzen 9 5900X vs Intel Core i9-9960X

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
AMD Socket AM4DESKTOP
3700 MHz / Cores: 12 / Nov 2020
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Intel Core i9-9960X
Intel Socket 2066DESKTOP
3100 MHz / Cores: 16 / Oct 2018
Intel Core i9-9960X

Summary

Synthetic performance index

  • AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
    139%
  • Intel Core i9-9960X
    100%

Relative performance

Single thread performance index

  • AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
    143%
  • Intel Core i9-9960X
    100%

Relative performance

Multi thread performance index

  • AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
    136%
  • Intel Core i9-9960X
    100%

Relative performance

Reasons to consider AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

Much higher single threaded performance (around 43% higher), makes a noticeable performance difference in gaming and the majority of applications.
Much higher multi threaded performance (around 36% higher). This allows for higher performance in professional applications like encoding or heavy multitasking.
60 watts lower power draw.
This is a newer product, it might have better application compatibility/performance (check features chart below).
Around 39% higher average synthetic performance.

Reasons to consider Intel Core i9-9960X

None

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

Gaming

HWBench recommends AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

Based on game and synthetic benchmarks, and theoretical specifications.

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

Productivity

HWBench recommends AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

Based on productivity benchmarks, overall multithreaded performance and theoretical specifications.


Specifications

Features

AMD Ryzen 9 5900XIntel Core i9-9960X
MMX
SSE
SSE2
SSE3
SSSE3
SSE4A
SSE4.1
SSE4.2
AES
AVX
AVX2
BMI1
BMI2
SHA
F16C
FMA3
AMD64
EVP
AMD-V
SMAP
SMEP
SMT
Precision Boost 2
XFR 2
EIST
Intel 64
XD bit
VT-x
VT-d
HTT
AES-NI
TSX
TXT
CLMUL
Boost 2.0
Boost 3.0

Architecture

AMD Ryzen 9 5900XIntel Core i9-9960X
ArchitectureAMD Zen 3vsIntel_Skylake
MarketDesktopvsDesktop
Memory SupportDDR4-3200 MHz Dual-channelvsDDR4
CodenameVermeervsSkylake-X
Release DateNov 2020vsOct 2018

Cores

AMD Ryzen 9 5900XIntel Core i9-9960X
Cores12vs16
Threads24vs32
SMPs1vs1
Integrated GraphicsNovsNo

Cache

AMD Ryzen 9 5900XIntel Core i9-9960X
L1 Cache64K (per core)vs64K (per core)
L2 Cache512K (per core)vs1MB (per core)
L3 Cache64MBvs22MB (shared)

Physical

AMD Ryzen 9 5900XIntel Core i9-9960X
SocketAMD Socket AM4vsIntel Socket 2066
Max Case Temp95°Cvsunknown
PackagevsFC-LGA2066
Die Sizeunknownvsunknown
Process7 nmvs14 nm

Performance

AMD Ryzen 9 5900XIntel Core i9-9960X
Cpu Frequency3700 MHzvs3100 MHz
Turbo Clock4800 MHzvs4500 MHz
Base Clock100 MHzvs100 MHz
VoltageN/Avsunknown
TDP105 Wvs165 W

Raw performance index

Raw single-thread performance estimation

  • AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
    5760 points
  • Intel Core i9-9960X
    5175 points

Points - higher is better

Raw multi-thread performance estimation

  • AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
    65001 points
  • Intel Core i9-9960X
    69018 points

Points - higher is better

Synthetic benchmarks

Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64Bit

  • AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
    272
  • Intel Core i9-9960X (simulated)
    190.18

points - higher is better

Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64Bit

  • AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
    3726
  • Intel Core i9-9960X (simulated)
    2728

points - higher is better