Intel Core i9-9960X vs Apple A9X

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-9960X CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple A9X
Intel Core i9-9960X Apple A9X

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Intel Core i9-9960X and the Apple A9X and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Intel Core i9-9960X 16 core processor released in Q4/2018 with the Apple A9X which has 2 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2015.
Intel Core i9 (78) Family Apple A series (22)
Intel Core i 9000X (8) CPU group Apple A9/A9X (2)
9 Generation 9
Skylake X Refresh Architecture A9
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
Intel Core i9-7960X Predecessor Apple A8X
-- Successor Apple A10X Fusion

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i9-9960X is a 16 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.10 GHz (4.50 GHz). The processor can compute 32 threads at the same time. The Apple A9X clocks with 2.26 GHz, has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel.

Intel Core i9-9960X Characteristic Apple A9X
16 Cores 2
32 Threads 2
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading No
Yes Overclocking ? No
3.10 GHz Frequency 2.26 GHz
4.50 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) --
4.10 GHz Turbo Frequency (All Cores) --

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.

Intel Core i9-9960X Characteristic Apple A9X
-- 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 Apple A9X
GPU frequency 0.65 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
-- GPU Generation 6
Technology 16 nm
Max. displays 1
-- Compute units 48
-- Shader 384
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 4 GB
-- 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 Apple A9X
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode
No Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 128 GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the Intel Core i9-9960X, while the Apple A9X supports a maximum of 4 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s enabled.

Intel Core i9-9960X Characteristic Apple A9X
DDR4-2666 Memory LPDDR4-3200
128 GB Max. Memory 4 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
85.4 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 51.2 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 3.00 MB
22.00 MB L3 Cache 4.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version --
44 PCIe lanes --
43.3 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The Intel Core i9-9960X has a TDP of 165 W. The TDP of the Apple A9X is 8 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Intel Core i9-9960X Characteristic Apple A9X
165 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 8 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
92 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i9-9960X has 22.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 14 nm. The cache of Apple A9X is at 7.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 16 nm.

Intel Core i9-9960X Characteristic Apple A9X
14 nm Technology 16 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512 ISA extensions --
LGA 2066 Socket --
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization None
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems iOS
Q4/2018 Release date Q3/2015
1684 $ Release price --
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i9-9960X (100%)
Apple A9X (54%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i9-9960X (100%)
Apple A9X (9%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
1174 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
652 (56%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
14314 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
1198 (8%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
1459 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
763 (52%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
11020 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
1251 (11%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
30355 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
2501 (8%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
457 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
6671 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
Apple A9X @ 0.65 GHz
499 (100%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 3.10 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
272103 (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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
104.3 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 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.
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
200 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 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.
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
2872 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i9-9960X Apple A9X
Unknown Apple iPad Pro (1. Gen)

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