AMD Ryzen 9 7950X vs Intel Core i9-10980XE

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


AMD Ryzen 9 7950X CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-10980XE
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Intel Core i9-10980XE

CPU comparison

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X or Intel Core i9-10980XE - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X has 16 cores with 32 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.70 GHz. Up to 128 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X was released in Q4/2022.

The Intel Core i9-10980XE has 18 cores with 36 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.80 GHz. The CPU supports up to 256 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-10980XE was released in Q4/2019.
AMD Ryzen 9 (34) Family Intel Core i9 (78)
AMD Ryzen 7000 (14) CPU group Intel Core i 10000X (4)
6 Generation 10
Raphael (Zen 4) Architecture Cascade Lake
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X Predecessor Intel Core i9-9980XE
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X has 16 CPU cores and can calculate 32 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 4.50 GHz (5.70 GHz) while the Intel Core i9-10980XE has 18 CPU cores and 36 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i9-10980XE is at 3.00 GHz (4.80 GHz).

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Characteristic Intel Core i9-10980XE
16 Cores 18
32 Threads 36
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
Yes Overclocking ? Yes
4.50 GHz Frequency 3.00 GHz
5.70 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 4.80 GHz
5.20 GHz Turbo Frequency (All Cores) 4.30 GHz

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Characteristic Intel Core i9-10980XE
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X or Intel Core i9-10980XE has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

AMD Radeon Graphics (Raphael) GPU no iGPU
0.40 GHz GPU frequency --
2.20 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
9 GPU Generation --
5 nm Technology
3 Max. displays
2 Compute units --
128 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
8 GB Max. GPU Memory --
12 DirectX Version --

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.

AMD Radeon Graphics (Raphael) GPU no iGPU
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 No
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X can use up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 83.2 GB/s. The Intel Core i9-10980XE supports up to 256 GB of memory in 4 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 93.8 GB/s.

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Characteristic Intel Core i9-10980XE
DDR5-5200 Memory DDR4-2933
128 GB Max. Memory 256 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
83.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 93.8 GB/s
Yes ECC No
16.00 MB L2 Cache --
64.00 MB L3 Cache 24.75 MB
5.0 PCIe version 3.0
24 PCIe lanes 48
94.5 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 47.3 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 170 W, while the Intel Core i9-10980XE has a TDP of 165 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Characteristic Intel Core i9-10980XE
170 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 165 W
230 W TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
95 °C Tjunction max. 86 °C

Technical details

The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is manufactured in 5 nm and has 80.00 MB cache. The Intel Core i9-10980XE is manufactured in 14 nm and has a 24.75 MB cache.

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Characteristic Intel Core i9-10980XE
5 nm Technology 14 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2,FMA3, AVX2, AVX512 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512
AM5 (LGA 1718) Socket LGA 2066
AMD-V, SVM Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q4/2022 Release date Q4/2019
699 $ Release price 979 $
show more data show more data


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Here you can rate the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.7 stars (15 ratings). Rate now:
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 7 CPU benchmarks

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz
2072 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
1191 (57%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.20 GHz
38657 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
24309 (63%)

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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz
2242 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
1174 (52%)

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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.20 GHz
24265 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
15841 (65%)

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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz
2974 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
1573 (53%)

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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.20 GHz
20755 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
11836 (57%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz
793 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
480 (61%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.20 GHz
15120 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
8848 (59%)

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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.20 GHz
63621 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
33095 (52%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
15670 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 3.00 GHz
9733 (62%)

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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz
331 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
211 (64%)

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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.20 GHz
6382 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
3800 (60%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz
125 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.70 GHz
2142 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 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 Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
AMD Radeon Graphics (Raphael) @ 2.20 GHz
563 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.20 GHz
608 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
0 (0%)

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
74.9 (100%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
16C 32T @ 5.20 GHz
790 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)

Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
38,657 CB R23 MC @ 197 W
196 (100%)
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
3.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Intel Core i9-10980XE
Unknown Unknown

News and articles for the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and the Intel Core i9-10980XE

Why the new AMD Ryzen 7000 processors for the AM5 socket are currently not a good deal
Why the new AMD Ryzen 7000 processors for the AM5 socket are currently not a good deal
Posted by Stefan on 2022-10-11
At the end of September 2022, the time had come: AMD presented its latest desktop processors called AMD Ryzen 7000. Initially, 4 processors with 6 to 16 CPU cores were released.

The new socket AM5 (LGA 1718) is used for the first time, which is intended to replace the very durable socket AM4 introduced in 2017 as AMDs mainstream platform. This includes (depending on the chipset) PCIe 5.0 support as well as the exclusive use of DDR5 memory on all AM5 mainboards.

Officially, DDR5-5200 is the maximum, but with AMDs EXPO Technology which is similar to Intel's XMP 3.0, AMD now also has a solution for easy overclocking of the main memory. AMD itself names DDR5-6000 as the sweet spot for the new AMD Ryzen 7000 processors.
The evolution of AMD Ryzen processors
The evolution of AMD Ryzen processors
Posted by Stefan on 2022-09-06
The AMD Ryzen processors are designed for the mid to high-end range and are grouped into the Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 classes. AMD follows the market leader Intel, which groups its Core i series (Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9) identically.

The AMD Ryzen processors were first introduced by AMD in Q1 2017. They are the successor to the not particularly successful AMD Bulldozer processors. The latter were manufactured using an outdated manufacturing process and could not keep up with the competing products from Intel. AMD lost a large portion of its desktop processor market share during this period.
AMD Ryzen 7000 and Intel Core i 13 Gen at almost 6 GHz clock speed
AMD Ryzen 7000 and Intel Core i 13 Gen at almost 6 GHz clock speed
Posted by Stefan on 2022-08-29
In September, both AMD and Intel are introducing their new mainstream desktop processors. It doesn't seem to have been as close as this year for a long time, leaked benchmarks of the new top models from AMD and Intel point to a head-to-head race.

This year even the 6 GHz clock limit is almost within reach. With a good cooler and some overclocking it should be possible to reach the 6 GHz limit. But even in series production, the manufacturers try to realize the highest possible clock frequency, at least on one core.
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and AMD Ryzen 7 7800X are coming in September
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and AMD Ryzen 7 7800X are coming in September
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-20
After we published a performance assessment of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X last week, the well-known AMD leaker Greymon55 has now posted more informations via Twitter.

He predicts the first four models of the new Zen 4 desktop generation, which AMD would like to present at the end of 2022. There is also an alleged release date of September 15, 2022.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Cinebench R23 Benchmark projection
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Cinebench R23 Benchmark projection
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-10
We give you a preview of AMD's new Zen 4 desktop processors and calculate the performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X top model for the new AM5 socket. The performance data and other technical details come directly from the press kit that AMD released as part of its Financial Analyst Day on June 9, 2022.

Up to 15 percent more single-core performance and 35 percent more multi-core performance of the 16-core model are realistic !

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