AMD EPYC 7281 vs HiSilicon Kirin 659

Last updated:

CPU comparison with benchmarks


AMD EPYC 7281 CPU1 vs CPU2 HiSilicon Kirin 659
AMD EPYC 7281 HiSilicon Kirin 659

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the AMD EPYC 7281 and the HiSilicon Kirin 659 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the AMD EPYC 7281 16 core processor released in Q3/2017 with the HiSilicon Kirin 659 which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q2/2016.
AMD EPYC (129) Family HiSilicon Kirin (29)
AMD EPYC 7001 (12) CPU group HiSilicon Kirin 650 (4)
1 Generation 4
Naples (Zen) Architecture Cortex-A53 / Cortex-A53
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The AMD EPYC 7281 is a 16 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.20 GHz (2.70 GHz). The processor can compute 32 threads at the same time. The HiSilicon Kirin 659 clocks with 2.36 GHz, has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

AMD EPYC 7281 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 659
16 Cores 8
32 Threads 8
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.20 GHz (2.70 GHz) A-Core 2.36 GHz
4x Cortex-A53
-- B-Core 1.70 GHz
4x Cortex-A53

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

AMD EPYC 7281 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 659
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

no iGPU GPU ARM Mali-T830 MP2
GPU frequency 0.90 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
-- GPU Generation Midgard 4
Technology 28nm
Max. displays 2
-- Compute units 2
-- Shader 32
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory --
-- DirectX Version 11

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

no iGPU GPU ARM Mali-T830 MP2
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC No
No Codec VC-1 No
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to GB of memory in a maximum of 8 memory channels is supported by the AMD EPYC 7281, while the HiSilicon Kirin 659 supports a maximum of GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of -- enabled.

AMD EPYC 7281 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 659
DDR4-2666 Memory LPDDR3-933
Max. Memory
8 (Octa Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
170.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth --
Yes ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
32.00 MB L3 Cache --
3.0 PCIe version --
128 PCIe lanes --
126.1 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The AMD EPYC 7281 has a TDP of 170 W. The TDP of the HiSilicon Kirin 659 is --. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

AMD EPYC 7281 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 659
170 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The AMD EPYC 7281 has 32.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 14 nm. The cache of HiSilicon Kirin 659 is at 0.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 16 nm.

AMD EPYC 7281 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 659
14 nm Technology 16 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3 ISA extensions --
SP3 Socket --
AMD-V, SVM Virtualization None
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Android
Q3/2017 Release date Q2/2016
625 $ Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the AMD EPYC 7281 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the HiSilicon Kirin 659 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
AMD EPYC 7281 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 (29%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
AMD EPYC 7281 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 (43%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
AMD EPYC 7281 AMD EPYC 7281
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
664 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 HiSilicon Kirin 659
8C 8T @ 2.36 GHz
193 (29%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
AMD EPYC 7281 AMD EPYC 7281
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
2098 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 HiSilicon Kirin 659
8C 8T @ 2.36 GHz
893 (43%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
AMD EPYC 7281 AMD EPYC 7281
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
713 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 HiSilicon Kirin 659
8C 8T @ 2.36 GHz
0 (0%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
AMD EPYC 7281 AMD EPYC 7281
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
2136 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 HiSilicon Kirin 659
8C 8T @ 2.36 GHz
0 (0%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
AMD EPYC 7281 AMD EPYC 7281
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 HiSilicon Kirin 659
ARM Mali-T830 MP2 @ 0.90 GHz
61 (100%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
AMD EPYC 7281 AMD EPYC 7281
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
21988 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 HiSilicon Kirin 659
8C 8T @ 2.36 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
AMD EPYC 7281 AMD EPYC 7281
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
119 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 HiSilicon Kirin 659
8C 8T @ 2.36 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
AMD EPYC 7281 AMD EPYC 7281
16C 32T @ 2.70 GHz
2033 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 659 HiSilicon Kirin 659
8C 8T @ 2.36 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

AMD EPYC 7281 HiSilicon Kirin 659
Unknown Unknown

Popular comparisons containing this CPUs

1. Qualcomm Snapdragon 662HiSilicon Kirin 659 Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 vs HiSilicon Kirin 659
2. Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4GHiSilicon Kirin 659 Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G vs HiSilicon Kirin 659
3. HiSilicon Kirin 659Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 HiSilicon Kirin 659 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 665
4. Intel Xeon Gold 6130AMD EPYC 7281 Intel Xeon Gold 6130 vs AMD EPYC 7281
5. HiSilicon Kirin 659Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G HiSilicon Kirin 659 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G
6. HiSilicon Kirin 710HiSilicon Kirin 659 HiSilicon Kirin 710 vs HiSilicon Kirin 659
7. Qualcomm Snapdragon 765GHiSilicon Kirin 659 Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G vs HiSilicon Kirin 659
8. AMD EPYC 7281AMD EPYC 7301 AMD EPYC 7281 vs AMD EPYC 7301
9. AMD EPYC 7281AMD EPYC 7251 AMD EPYC 7281 vs AMD EPYC 7251
10. Intel Core i9-7900XAMD EPYC 7281 Intel Core i9-7900X vs AMD EPYC 7281


back to index