amd ryzen threadripper 3960x vs intel core i9 12900k

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We compared two CPUs AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X (Desktop) 24-cores against Intel Core i9 12900K (Desktop) 16-cores. In this comparison page, we check which of these two processor has better performance in benchmark results, Games, architecture, price and other useful information.

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved

Key Differences

What are the key differences between AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X and Intel Core i9 12900K
Advantages of AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X
  • Has 8 more physical cores
  • Around 25.6 GB/s (25%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Has 98 MB larger L3 cache size
  • Supports up to 256 GB DDR4 Eight-channel RAM
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900K
  • Newer released 2 years later
  • Consumes up to 55% less energy than the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X – 125 vs 280 Watt
  • 13% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.2 GHz vs 4.5 GHz)

Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs in benchmarks
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)

Specifications

Full technical specification of ryzen threadripper 3960x and core i9 12900k

General

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X Intel Core i9 12900K
Vendor AMD Intel
Released November 7 2019 November 5 2021
Type Desktop Desktop
instruction set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Matisse Alder Lake-S
Socket TR4 FCLGA1700
Integrated GPU - Intel UHD Graphics 770

Performance

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X Intel Core i9 12900K
Cores 24 16
Threads 48 24
Base Frequency 3.8 GHz 3.2 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency 4.5 GHz 5.2 GHz
L1 Cache 96K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 512K (per core) 1.25 MB (per core)
L3 Cache 128 MB 30 MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Power

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X Intel Core i9 12900K
Fabrication process 7 nm, 12 nm Intel 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 280 W 125 W
Max. temperature °C 100°C

Memory support

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X Intel Core i9 12900K
Memory types DDR4 Eight-channel DDR5, DDR4
Memory Size 256 GB 128 GB
Max. Memory Channels 4 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 102.403 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

iGPU

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X Intel Core i9 12900K
Integrated Graphics - Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock MHz 1.55 MHz
Shading Units 256
TMUs 16
ROPs 8
Execution Units 32
TGP W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS

Misc

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X Intel Core i9 12900K
Official site AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X official page Intel Core i9 12900K official page
PCI Express Version
PCI Express Lanes 20

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i9 12900K or AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X?