AMD Ryzen 9 3950X out-performs Intel's $1,999 Core i9-9980XE, according to leaked benchmarks

Benchmark indicates $749 Ryzen 9 3950X is more powerful than Intel's $1,999 top-of-the-range Core i9 9980XE

AMD's $749 Ryzen 9 3950X ‘gaming' CPU out-performs Intel's $1,999 Core i9-9980XE 18-core Skylake-based processor, according to leaked benchmarks.

The Geekbench 4 benchmark scores were spotted by APISAK and posted on Twitter. They indicate that not only does the Ryzen 9 3950X outpace Intel's Core i9-9980XE on multi-core tests, but also in single-core benchmarks, too.

The 16-core Ryzen 9 achieved a Geekbench score of 5,868 on single core compared to the Core i9's 5,561. On multi-core, the gap was even bigger - Ryzen 9 achieving a score of 61,072 to the Core i9's 59,745 in a benchmark filed this week.

That also makes the Ryzen 9 out-perform the current Threadripper 2950X workstation CPU, which is like to make it popular for a lot more than just gaming.

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The Ryzen 9 3950X is based on the Zen 2 architecture, marketed by AMD as third-generation Ryzen following last year's Zen+ tweak to support the shift from GlobalFoundries' 14nm to TSMC's 12nm process architectures.

It sports 16 cores and 32 threads, running at a standard 3.5GHz but capable of boosting to 4.7GHz. The CPU has a 72MB combined level two and level three cache and the entire unit offers a TDP - thermal design power - of 105 watts. The third generation Ryzen processors are also the first to support the PCIe 4.0 specification in mainstream PCs.

That compares with 18 cores and 32 threads of the Core i9-9980XE, SmartCache of 24.75MB and a 3GHz/4.4GHz clock speed. It has a TDP of 165 watts.

Part of the apparent performance advantage of the AMD chip, though, comes from being built to a 7nm process architecture to the Intel's 14nm. Intel claims that it will be shifting in volume to 10nm later this year, with its 10nm process similar in some respects to TSMC's 7nm process. It remains to be seen what performance boosts Intel will be able to squeeze out of this shift.

Of course, as with anything to do with benchmarks, the real test of a CPU's performance will come in real-world applications.

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