Intel Core i7-8700 vs Intel Core i9-9960X

Last updated:

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i7-8700 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-9960X
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i9-9960X

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Intel Core i7-8700 and the Intel Core i9-9960X and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Intel Core i7-8700 6 core processor released in Q4/2017 with the Intel Core i9-9960X which has 16 CPU cores and was introduced in Q4/2018.
Intel Core i7 (293) Family Intel Core i9 (78)
Intel Core i 8000 (20) CPU group Intel Core i 9000X (8)
8 Generation 9
Coffee Lake S Architecture Skylake X Refresh
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
Intel Core i7-7700 Predecessor Intel Core i9-7960X
Intel Core i7-9700 Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i7-8700 is a 6 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.20 GHz (4.60 GHz). The processor can compute 12 threads at the same time. The Intel Core i9-9960X clocks with 3.10 GHz (4.50 GHz), has 16 CPU cores and can calculate 32 threads in parallel.

Intel Core i7-8700 Characteristic Intel Core i9-9960X
6 Cores 16
12 Threads 32
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? Yes
3.20 GHz Frequency 3.10 GHz
4.60 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 4.50 GHz
4.30 GHz Turbo Frequency (All Cores) 4.10 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.

Intel Core i7-8700 Characteristic Intel Core i9-9960X
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

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.

Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU no iGPU
0.35 GHz GPU frequency --
1.15 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
9.5 GPU Generation --
14 nm Technology
3 Max. displays
24 Compute units --
192 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
64 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.

Intel UHD Graphics 630 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

Up to 128 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Intel Core i7-8700, while the Intel Core i9-9960X supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s enabled.

Intel Core i7-8700 Characteristic Intel Core i9-9960X
DDR4-2666 Memory DDR4-2666
128 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
42.7 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 42.7 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
12.00 MB L3 Cache 22.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version 3.0
16 PCIe lanes 44
15.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 43.3 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Intel Core i7-8700 has a TDP of 65 W. The TDP of the Intel Core i9-9960X is 165 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Intel Core i7-8700 Characteristic Intel Core i9-9960X
65 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 165 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. 92 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core i7-8700 has 12.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 14 nm. The cache of Intel Core i9-9960X is at 22.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 14 nm.

Intel Core i7-8700 Characteristic Intel Core i9-9960X
14 nm Technology 14 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512
LGA 1151-2 Socket LGA 2066
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q4/2017 Release date Q4/2018
340 $ Release price 1684 $
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Intel Core i7-8700 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 2.9 stars (7 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Core i9-9960X to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 1.0 stars (1 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 6 CPU benchmarks

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.60 GHz
1172 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
1174 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.30 GHz
5891 (41%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
14314 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.60 GHz
1459 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
1459 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.30 GHz
6027 (55%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
11020 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.60 GHz
481 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
457 (95%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.30 GHz
3547 (53%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
6671 (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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.30 GHz
12958 (43%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
30355 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.30 GHz
231.5 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
104.3 (45%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.60 GHz
203 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
200 (99%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.30 GHz
1434 (50%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
2872 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.60 GHz
69 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.60 GHz
365 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.60 GHz
1146 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.30 GHz
7969 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
Intel UHD Graphics 630 @ 1.15 GHz
442 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
@ 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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.30 GHz
118 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 4.30 GHz
488 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700
6C 12T @ 3.20 GHz
3674 (100%)
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 3.10 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i9-9960X
Unknown Unknown

Popular comparisons containing this CPUs

1. Intel Core i7-8700Intel Core i7-9700 Intel Core i7-8700 vs Intel Core i7-9700
2. Intel Core i7-8700KIntel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i7-8700K vs Intel Core i7-8700
3. Intel Core i7-8700Intel Core i7-7700 Intel Core i7-8700 vs Intel Core i7-7700
4. Intel Core i5-10400Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i5-10400 vs Intel Core i7-8700
5. Intel Core i7-8700AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Intel Core i7-8700 vs AMD Ryzen 5 3600
6. Intel Core i5-8400Intel Core i7-8700 Intel Core i5-8400 vs Intel Core i7-8700
7. Intel Core i7-8700AMD Ryzen 7 1700 Intel Core i7-8700 vs AMD Ryzen 7 1700
8. Intel Core i7-8700Intel Core i5-9600K Intel Core i7-8700 vs Intel Core i5-9600K
9. Intel Core i7-8700Intel Core i7-6700 Intel Core i7-8700 vs Intel Core i7-6700
10. Intel Core i7-8700Intel Core i5-8500 Intel Core i7-8700 vs Intel Core i5-8500


back to index