amd ryzen threadripper 3970x vs intel core i9 12900k
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We compared two CPUs AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X (Desktop) 32-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
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Key Differences
Advantages of AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
- Has 16 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 3970X – 125 vs 280 Watt
- 13% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.2 GHz vs 4.5 GHz)
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
General
| AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X | 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 3970X | Intel Core i9 12900K | |
| Cores | 32 | 16 |
| Threads | 64 | 24 |
| Base Frequency | 3.7 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 3970X | 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 3970X | 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 3970X | 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 3970X | Intel Core i9 12900K | |
| Official site | AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X official page | Intel Core i9 12900K official page |
| PCI Express Version | ||
| PCI Express Lanes | 20 |