BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Intel Core i7-9700K Versus AMD Ryzen 7 2700X: What's The Best 8-core Processor?

Following
This article is more than 5 years old.

If you have around $350 to spend on a powerful eight-core mainstream processor, you currently have two options; Intel's Core i7-9700K or AMD's Ryzen 7 2700X. There's around $80 between them, with AMD's CPU giving you plenty of change from $400 sitting at $330 while Intel's new 8-core CPU currently costs $409. It's one reason why the Core i9-9900K can't really be compared to anything AMD has at the moment - it's a lot more expensive than the Ryzen CPU, but also a lot faster, which is what you'd expect. So, the real test is between these two CPUs.

See the head-to-head of the Core i5-9600K and Ryzen 5 2600X

Antony Leather

However, they're both very different in terms of specifications.The Ryzen 7 2700X has Simultaneous Multithreading, to it has twice as many threads as it does cores (8/16) while the Core i7-9700K doesn't have Intel's own version - hyper-threading, so it has eight cores and eight threads - decided less horsepower for multi-threaded workloads.

On the flip side, the Intel CPU has much higher frequencies. In fact, even its all-core boost of 4.6GHz is higher than the 4.3GHz maximum boost of the AMD CPU - something that could well help it in games and lightly-threaded benchmarks, but is it enough for it to make up the deficit it has in threads? Finally, there's cache. The AMD CPU wins here with double the L2 cache and 33% more L3 cache.

Intel Core i7-9700K AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
Cores/threads 8/8 8/16
Maximum boost freq 4.9GHz 4.3GHz
L2 Cache 2MB 4MB
L3 cache 12MB 16MB
Manufacturing process 14nm 12nm
TDP 95W 105W

Testing

I used 16GB dual-channel Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz DDR4 memory with both CPUs, Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Edition graphics card, along with a Samsung 512GB 960 Evo SSD, Corsair H100i RGB Platinum cooler, and Corsair RM850i PSU. I used MSI's MEG Z390 Ace motherboard for Intel CPUs and for AMD CPUs, Gigabyte's X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming. I used the latest build of Windows 10 with both Spectre and Meltdown security patches installed.

Antony Leather

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X overclock: 4.25GHz

Intel Core i7-9700K overclock: 5.1GHz

Results

Games

Antony Leather

While it was a win for Intel here, the difference was barely noticeable in this GPU-dependant game with less than 2fps being added the minimum and average frame rates. As it's such an easy game to run I also up the resolution to 1440p.

Antony Leather

Another GPU-bound game, the results here were within the margin of error across the board, while the slightly higher result for the stock speed Ryzen 7 2700X might be due to its stock boost frequency being higher than the all-core overclock I achieved.

Antony Leather

Far Cry 5, on the other hand, appears to love cores and frequency and leans a bit more on the CPU, but here, the higher frequencies on offer by the Intel CPU won the day, with a sizeable lead over AMD.

Antony Leather

Ashes of the Singularity was another case of higher frequencies being preferred and even the Core i7-8700K managed to beat the Ryzen 7 2700X

Antony Leather

Deus Ex is one game I've seen substantial gains on AMD CPUs using faster memory than the 3,000MHz kit I used here, but all things being equal, the Core i7-9700K has a commanding lead at stock speed and when overclocked.

Antony Leather

Swinging back to GPU-bound tests now and the Unigine Superposition scores were within the margin of error for both CPUs. Some games will respond like this too, especially at higher resolutions, but some do still see better performance from Intel CPUs.

Content creation

Antony Leather

Now we're getting into multi-threaded workloads and Premier Pro saw both AMD and Intel win here. At stock speed the Ryzen 7 2700X was fastest, but once overclocked, the Intel CPU's massive frequency advantage was enough to see it pass the AMD CPU, offering a 10% performance boost. In this short 4K video project, that was akin to 20 seconds, but with longer exports you're looking at an additional minute of processing time for every 10 minutes it takes to export the video.

Antony Leather

Interestingly, HandBrake didn't see the same gains from overclocking the Intel CPU, at least it wasn't able to beat the Ryzen CPU. Instead, once overclocked the Intel CPU matched AMD's 8-core, while at stock speed the Ryzen 7 2700X had a sizeable lead.

Antony Leather

PCMark 10's image editing test usually favors AMD CPUs and it was no different here, with the Ryzen 7 2700X beating the Core i9-9900K never mind the Core i7-2700X.

Antony Leather

Single core performance is usually a good indicator of how a CPU will perform in lightly-threaded workloads or anywhere that all cores and threads aren't being fully utilized and despite plenty advances in software and games with multi-threaded workloads such as DX12, this is still a very important benchmark to gauge how fast your CPU will be less multi-threaded software. Again, Ryzen CPUs benefit from using faster memory here, but the Core i7-9700K still offers much better performance, largely thanks to its higher frequencies.

Antony Leather

The tables are turned when we switch to the multicore mode in Cinebench, though, as the Ryzen 7 2700X is second only to the mighty Core i9-9900K and is much faster than the Core i7-9700K. Even overclocking the latter still didn't see it match the AMD CPU's stock speed score.

Power consumption

Below are the final tests which are power consumption - probably the least significant ones here partly due to the fact that's often not of primary concern to PC enthusiasts but also because there's very little difference between the AMD and Intel CPU. Both drew around 230W under load at stock speed and 300W or so when overclocked - certainly nothing to warrant buying one over the other.

Antony Leather

Antony Leather

Conclusion

What's the best gaming CPU?

As the Core i7-9700K costs noticeably more than the Ryzen 7 2700X, to win this fight it needs to be noticeably quicker too. In the more CPU-bound game tests, this was certainly true. Far Cry 5, Ashes of the Singularity and Deus Ex all point at the Intel CPU being worth the extra cash if don't want your frame rate to take a hit due to CPU choice. However, this isn't always the case, as we saw in World of Tanks and Shadow of the Tombraider, even at 1080p, which is not only the most popular gaming resolution by far, but is also the most likely to reveal any CPU-bound tendencies.

Not only this, but opting for 3200MHz or 3466MHz memory can improve performance with AMD systems too, and for often not a lot more cash. If you play a wide range of games, then paying the premium for the Intel CPU is probably wise, especially at lower resolutions or if you have a reasonably powerful graphics card. If, though, you just play a handful of titles regularly and they're very GPU-bound like Shadow of the Tombraider or in my case being a big World of Tanks fan, then CPU choice, at least amongst the 6 and 8-core CPUs I tested here, makes next to no difference. The trouble in recommending the Core i7-9700K, though, is that the Core i7-8700K is just as fast here and costs $40 less, meaning it's perhaps a better choice, although obviously not an eight-core CPU.

What's the best content creation CPU?

Thankfully, this part is a bit easier as there's just one test where the Core i7-9700K beat the Ryzen 7 2700X, which was in Adobe Premier Pro when it was overclocked. Everywhere else, the extra threads on offer from the AMD CPU mean it's by far the better choice. It's noticeably slower or only as fast as the AMD CPU in other tests, meaning there's little point paying the extra for the Core i7-9700K - its lack of hyper-threading really hurts it against AMD's flagship.

Best overall CPU?

Clearly, there are drawbacks to both CPUs here. The Core i7-9700K is quicker in some games, but there are many titles where it offers no advantage over AMD. It's also lacking in several content creation tests and has no advantage in power consumption either. The Ryzen 7 2700X has no problems in content creation, but it's still a little slow in some games both old and new. In short, there is no clear winner.

If content creation and casual gaming are your things, then the Ryzen 7 2700X is not only the cheaper option but where multi-threaded performance is concerned, it's very often faster too. However, if you'll mostly be gaming, then the Core i7-9700K is the better option, although you won't see noticeable gains in all games. Thankfully, it's no slouch when it comes to content creation either.

Follow me on TwitterCheck out my website