Intel Core i9-9900KS vs AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X

Last updated: 2023-11-03

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-9900KS		AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
CPU comparison Intel Core i9-9900KS or AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X - 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 i9-9900KS has 8 cores with 16 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.00 GHz. Up to 128 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-9900KS was released in Q4/2019. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X has 32 cores with 64 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 2048 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X was released in Q4/2019.

Intel Core i9 (78)	Family	AMD Ryzen Threadripper (13)
Intel Core i 9000 (34)	CPU group	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3000 (3)
9	Generation	3
Coffee Lake S Refresh	Architecture	Castle Peak (Zen 2)
Desktop / Server	Segment	Desktop / Server
--	Predecessor	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX
--	Successor	--

CPU Cores and Base Frequency The Intel Core i9-9900KS has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 16 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i9-9900KS is 4.00 GHz (5.00 GHz) while the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X has 32 CPU cores and 64 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X is at 3.70 GHz (4.50 GHz).
Intel Core i9-9900KS	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
8	Cores	32
16	Threads	64
normal	Core architecture	normal
Yes	Hyperthreading	Yes
Yes	Overclocking ?	Yes
4.00 GHz	Frequency	3.70 GHz
5.00 GHz	Turbo Frequency (1 Core)	4.50 GHz
4.80 GHz	Turbo Frequency (All Cores)	3.80 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 i9-9900KS	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
--	AI hardware	--
--	AI specifications	--

Internal Graphics The Intel Core i9-9900KS or AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 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.
Intel UHD Graphics 630	GPU	no iGPU
0.35 GHz	GPU frequency	--
1.20 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 The Intel Core i9-9900KS can use up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 42.7 GB/s. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X supports up to 2048 GB of memory in 4 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 51.2 GB/s.
Intel Core i9-9900KS	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
DDR4-2666	Memory	DDR4-3200
128 GB	Max. Memory	2048 GB
2 (Dual Channel)	Memory channels	4 (Quad Channel)
42.7 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	51.2 GB/s
No	ECC	Yes
--	L2 Cache	16.00 MB
16.00 MB	L3 Cache	128.00 MB
3.0	PCIe version	4.0
16	PCIe lanes	64
15.8 GB/s	PCIe Bandwidth	126.0 GB/s
Thermal Management The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core i9-9900KS is 127 W, while the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X has a TDP of 280 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.
Intel Core i9-9900KS	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
127 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	280 W
159 W @ 28 s	TDP (PL2)	--
--	TDP up	--
--	TDP down	--
100 °C	Tjunction max.	95 °C
Technical details The Intel Core i9-9900KS is manufactured in 14 nm and has 16.00 MB cache. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X is manufactured in 7 nm and has a 144.00 MB cache.
Intel Core i9-9900KS	Characteristic	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
14 nm	Technology	7 nm
Monolithic	Chip design	Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit)	Instruction set (ISA)	x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2	ISA extensions	SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3
LGA 1151-2	Socket	TRX4 (sTRX4)
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d	Virtualization	AMD-V, SVM
Yes	AES-NI	Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux	Operating systems	Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q4/2019	Release date	Q4/2019
524 $	Release price	1969 $

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Intel Core i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.00 GHz (5.00 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save! AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.70 GHz (4.50 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks

Intel Core i9-9900KS (99%)

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X (96%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 8 CPU benchmarks

Intel Core i9-9900KS (44%)

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X (91%)

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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	1333 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 4.50 GHz	1324 (99%)

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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.80 GHz	13305 (30%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.80 GHz	44502 (100%)

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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	1419 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 4.50 GHz	1274 (90%)

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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.80 GHz	9471 (42%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.80 GHz	22727 (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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	1650 (96%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 4.50 GHz	1724 (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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.80 GHz	8514 (58%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.80 GHz	14637 (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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	518 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 4.50 GHz	509 (98%)

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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.80 GHz	5226 (31%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.80 GHz	17105 (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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.80 GHz	19602 (31%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.80 GHz	63440 (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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.80 GHz	148 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.80 GHz	44.5 (30%)

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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.00 GHz	6012 (29%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.70 GHz	21066 (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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	222 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 4.50 GHz	209 (94%)

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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.80 GHz	2201 (30%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.80 GHz	7398 (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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	77 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 5.00 GHz	687 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 4.50 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 i9-9900KS Intel UHD Graphics 630 @ 1.20 GHz	461 (100%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X @ 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 i9-9900KS 8C 16T @ 4.80 GHz	0 (0%)
	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32C 64T @ 3.80 GHz	710 (100%)

Devices using this processor
Intel Core i9-9900KS	AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
Unknown	Unknown

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