Intel Core i9-13900K vs AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

Intel Core i9-13900K

The Intel Core i9-13900K is a fast high-end desktop processor of the Raptor Lake series. It includes a hybrid architecture for the CPU cores with combined 24 cores and 32 threads. Eight fast Raptor Cove performance cores (P-cores) with HyperThreading and a clock speed of 3 - 5.8 GHz and sixteen Gracemont efficiency cores without HyperThreading and a clock speed of 2.2 - 4.3 GHz.

Thanks to the faster P-cores and more E-cores, the i9-13900K is significantly faster than the old i9-12900K (especially in multi-threaded workloads). Compared to the Raphael AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (Zen 4), the 13900K offers a slightly higher multi-thread-performance and a slightly lower single core performance. In games, the Intel CPU is currently the clear winner (at the time of announcement of the 7950X).

The 13900K is rated at 125 Watt TDP base power (PL1) and 253 Watt Turbo Power (PL2) and therefore slightly higher than the old i9-12900K.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a high-end 16-core, hyperthreaded (SMT) Vermeer Series desktop processor. With 32 threads, the new flagship offers as many threads as the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X. Introduced on October 8, 2020, the Ryzen 9 5950X is the fastest 16-core processor and is specified at 105 watts TDP.

The Ryzen 9 5950X runs at 3.4 GHz to 4.9 GHz (single core). Wen all 16 cores are loaded, up to 4.5 GHz are still possible.

The internal structure of the processor has not changed fundamentally at first glance. The CCX structure has changed a bit compared to Zen 2, because now a CCX consists of up to 8 CPU cores. So each individual core can access the complete L3 cache (32 MByte). Furthermore the CCX modules are connected to each other via the same I/O die, which we already know from Zen2. According to AMD, the Infinity fabric should now reach clock rates of up to 2 Ghz, which in turn allows a RAM clock of 4,000 MHz without performance loss.

Performance

The average 5950X in our database matches the Core i9-12900K, the Core i9-12900HX and also the Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX in multi-thread performance, making this Ryzen a great processor for pretty much any task imaginable as of mid 2022.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 9 series chip has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 105 W. It will, however, happily consume much more than that as long as the cooling solution is able to handle the heat - even before one starts considering the possibility of overclocking the thing.

The Ryzen 9 5950X is built with TSMC's 7 nm process for average, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.