Intel Core i9-7980XE vs AMD EPYC 7601

Last updated: 2023-09-08

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-7980XE		AMD EPYC 7601
CPU comparison Intel Core i9-7980XE or AMD EPYC 7601 - 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 Intel Core i9-7980XE has 18 cores with 36 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.20 GHz. Up to 128 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-7980XE was released in Q4/2017. The AMD EPYC 7601 has 32 cores with 64 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. The CPU supports up to GB of memory in 8 memory channels. The AMD EPYC 7601 was released in Q3/2017.

Intel Core i9 (78)	Family	AMD EPYC (129)
Intel Core i 7000X (9)	CPU group	AMD EPYC 7001 (12)
7	Generation	1
Skylake X	Architecture	Naples (Zen)
Desktop / Server	Segment	Desktop / Server
--	Predecessor	--
Intel Core i9-9980XE	Successor	--

CPU Cores and Base Frequency The Intel Core i9-7980XE is a 18 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.60 GHz (4.20 GHz). The AMD EPYC 7601 has 32 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.20 GHz (3.20 GHz).
Intel Core i9-7980XE	Characteristic	AMD EPYC 7601
18	Cores	32
36	Threads	64
normal	Core architecture	normal
Yes	Hyperthreading	Yes
Yes	Overclocking ?	No
2.60 GHz	Frequency	2.20 GHz
4.20 GHz	Turbo Frequency (1 Core)	3.20 GHz
3.50 GHz	Turbo Frequency (All Cores)	2.70 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 i9-7980XE	Characteristic	AMD EPYC 7601
--	AI hardware	--
--	AI specifications	--

Internal Graphics The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.
no iGPU	GPU	no iGPU
	GPU frequency	--
--	GPU (Turbo)	--
--	GPU Generation	--
	Technology
	Max. displays
--	Compute units	--
--	Shader	--
No	Hardware Raytracing	No
No	Frame Generation	No
--	Max. GPU Memory	--
--	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.
no iGPU	GPU	no iGPU
No	Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit)	No
No	Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit)	No
No	Codec h264	No
No	Codec VP9	No
No	Codec VP8	No
No	Codec AV1	No
No	Codec AVC	No
No	Codec VC-1	No
No	Codec JPEG	No

Memory & PCIe The Intel Core i9-7980XE supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The AMD EPYC 7601 can connect up to GB of memory in 8 memory channels.
Intel Core i9-7980XE	Characteristic	AMD EPYC 7601
DDR4-2666	Memory	DDR4-2666
128 GB	Max. Memory
4 (Quad Channel)	Memory channels	8 (Octa Channel)
85.4 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	170.6 GB/s
No	ECC	Yes
--	L2 Cache	--
25.00 MB	L3 Cache	64.00 MB
3.0	PCIe version	3.0
44	PCIe lanes	128
43.3 GB/s	PCIe Bandwidth	126.1 GB/s
Thermal Management The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Core i9-7980XE has a TDP of 165 W, that of the AMD EPYC 7601 is 180 W.
Intel Core i9-7980XE	Characteristic	AMD EPYC 7601
165 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	180 W
--	TDP (PL2)	--
--	TDP up	--
--	TDP down	--
--	Tjunction max.	--
Technical details The Intel Core i9-7980XE has a 25.00 MB cache, while the AMD EPYC 7601 cache has a total of 64.00 MB.
Intel Core i9-7980XE	Characteristic	AMD EPYC 7601
14 nm	Technology	14 nm
Monolithic	Chip design	Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit)	Instruction set (ISA)	x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512	ISA extensions	SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3
LGA 2066	Socket	SP3
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d	Virtualization	AMD-V, SVM
Yes	AES-NI	Yes
Windows 10, Linux	Operating systems	Windows 10, Linux
Q4/2017	Release date	Q3/2017
1999 $	Release price	4000 $

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Intel Core i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 2.60 GHz (4.20 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save! AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 2.20 GHz (3.20 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

Intel Core i9-7980XE (100%)

AMD EPYC 7601 (73%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks

Intel Core i9-7980XE (91%)

AMD EPYC 7601 (81%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 4.20 GHz	1121 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 3.20 GHz	903 (81%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 3.50 GHz	16495 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 2.70 GHz	6904 (42%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 4.20 GHz	1394 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 3.20 GHz	921 (66%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 3.50 GHz	11708 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 2.70 GHz	7914 (68%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 4.20 GHz	446 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 3.20 GHz	307 (69%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 3.50 GHz	7671 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 2.70 GHz	7445 (97%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 3.50 GHz	30321 (72%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 2.70 GHz	42247 (100%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 4.20 GHz	184 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 3.20 GHz	141 (77%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 3.50 GHz	3455 (85%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 2.70 GHz	4068 (100%)

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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 4.20 GHz	1281 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 3.20 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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 3.50 GHz	28196 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 2.70 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.


	Intel Core i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 3.50 GHz	77 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 2.70 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 i9-7980XE 18C 36T @ 2.60 GHz	10563 (100%)
	AMD EPYC 7601 32C 64T @ 2.20 GHz	0 (0%)

Devices using this processor
Intel Core i9-7980XE	AMD EPYC 7601
Unknown	Unknown

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