Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Early benchmarks pit AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X against Intel Core i9-7900K

By
Alienware Area-51 THREADRIPPER EDITION
LinusTechTips scored a pre-NDA (non-disclosure agreement) deal with Dell to review the new Alienware Area-51 desktop before the review embargo lifts for AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper desktop processors.
Recommended Videos
As previously reported, Dell’s new monster hexagonal desktops span two base models: one with Intel’s latest Core i9 X-Series processor, and one with AMD’s new
Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy
Ryzen Threadripper 1950X chip. The Intel-based desktop may not arrive until the end of August while AMD’s two Ryzen Threadripper chips launch on August 10.

In its review, LinusTechTips pitted the 12-core Ryzen Threadripper 1950X against a stock ten-core Intel Core i9-7900X processor because they’re similar in price. That said, the benchmarks won’t be a fair 12-core to 12-core chip comparison, and LinuxTechTips also threw in stock mainstream desktop processors into the benchmarking mix as well, including the four-core Intel Core i7-7700K, and the eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 1800X.

First, we have the chips’ performance with Rise of the Tomb Raider (higher is better):

DirectX 11 DirectX 12
Intel Core i9-7900K (X299) 68FPS 67FPS
Intel Core i7-7700K (Z270) 68FPS 65FPS
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X (X399) 68FPS 63FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (X370) 67FPS 62FPS

Overall, the scores here range from 62 to 68 frames per second, and only vary when DirectX 12 is in play. The site doesn’t state the resolution and graphics level they were using during the benchmark testing, as the benchmark itself doesn’t provide any adjustable settings, but instead relies on whatever you set in the game’s main Options menu. This benchmark spans three test scenarios – Geothermal Valley, Syria, and Mountain Peak – and provides an overall average generated from the three.

For the record, we benchmarked the GTX 1080 GPU and Intel’s Core i7-6820HK CPU in an Alienware 17 R4 laptop, and got an average of 59.29 fps at a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution, high/very high settings, and using DirectX 12. The results in the chart above rely on Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card, so we suspect the results are based on a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, and the same maximum graphics settings.

Now here are the 3DMark numbers (higher is better):

Fire Strike Ultra Time Spy Time Spy (CPU)
Intel Core i9-7900K (X299) 6,896 9,586 11,081
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X (X399) 6,857 9,297 8,822
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (X370) 6,709 8,876 7,725
Intel Core i7-7700K (Z270) 6,728 8,494 5,759

Next is Cinebench Release 15 using the multi-threaded workload benchmark (higher is better):

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X (X399) 2,876
Intel Core i9-7900K (X299) 2,146
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (X370) 1,616
Intel Core i7-7700K (Z270) 975

Finally, the review used Blender 2.78c to test Ryzen Threadripper’s time to render 3D objects and environments (lower is better):

BMW Classroom
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X (X399) 2:50.59 9:21.54
Intel Core i9-7900K (X299) 3:28.16 11:29.47
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (X370) 4:59.27 16:32.30
Intel Core i7-7700K (Z270) 7:19.58 25:07.67

Ultimately, PC gamers wanting to dump loads of cash into a new desktop can purchase the Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition model right now. Here are the starting points:

$3,000 $3,200 $3,550 $4,400
Processor AMD 1950X AMD 1950X AMD 1950X AMD 1950X
Graphics GTX 1060 GTX 1060 GTX 1070 GTX 1080 Ti
Memory 8GB DDR4
@ 2,667MHz		 16GB DDR4
@ 2,667MHz		 16GB DDR4
@ 2,667MHz		 32GB DDR4
@ 2,667MHz
Storage 2TB HDD 128GB M.2 SATA SSD
2TB HDD		 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD
2TB HDD		 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD
2TB HDD

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
Head-to-head: Intel Core i7-12700H vs. AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS
Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X front view showing display and keyboard deck.

Two of the top laptop processors in 2022 are the Intel Core i7-12700H vs AMD Ryzen 6900HS, but with so many other factors impacting laptop performance, it's hard to compare them head to head. So, when Lenovo offered me the opportunity to run the Intel version of its excellent Slim 7 Pro X laptop, which I had previously reviewed in its AMD incarnation, I jumped at the chance to pit two very similar laptops against each other.

I say "very similar" because, unfortunately, they're not identical. Importantly, they both used the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, which means we're directly comparing the CPUs themselves. The most important difference, beyond the processors, was that the AMD version running the Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU enjoyed 32GB of 6400MHz LPDDR5 RAM. The Intel Core i7-12700H version was loaded with "just" 16GB of slower 5200MHz LPDDR5 RAM. That means that while our benchmark results are likely to be close enough to gauge the performance differences, we can't be truly scientific. And the Ryzen 9 6900HS is a lower-power version of that chip while the Core i7 is full-power.

Read more
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X vs. Intel Core i9-12900K: Two flagships face off
A hand holding the Ryzen 9 7950X in front of a green light.

When the Intel Core i9-12900K came out in late 2021, it was Intel's first true flagship CPU since its 2018 Core i9-9900K. It actually beat AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 5950X in both single- and multi-threaded performance, and the 12900K remains the fastest mainstream desktop CPU to this day and one of the best CPUs in general.

But AMD now has its Ryzen 9 7950X. It blows past AMD's previous-generation offerings, there's no doubt about that. Even against Intel's most powerful CPU to date, however, AMD's latest processor shows a big jump in performance.
Pricing and availability

Read more
You probably can’t hit max clock speeds on AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X
The Ryzen 9 7900X sitting against a box.

As we inch closer and closer to the launch of AMD Ryzen 7000, we are learning more about the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X. Equipped with an impressive set of specifications, the CPU will undoubtedly become one of the best AMD processors on the market.

However, we've just heard of a little-known fact about the new Zen 4 CPU: its maximum clock speed will rely on temperatures, and the threshold is set so low that most people won't be able to achieve it.

Read more