Ryzen 9 7900X vs Core i7-3960X

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Aggregate performance score

Core i7-3960X
2011
6 cores / 12 threads, 130 Watt
5.45
Ryzen 9 7900X
2022
12 cores / 24 threads, 170 Watt
33.51
+515%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms i7-3960X by a whopping 515% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-3960X and Ryzen 9 7900X processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking1095103
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.1071.21
Market segmentDesktop processorDesktop processor
SeriesCore i7 (Desktop)no data
Architecture codenameSandy Bridge-E (2011−2013)Raphael (Zen4)
Release date14 November 2011 (12 years ago)27 September 2022 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$861no data
Current price$350 (0.4x MSRP)$493

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Ryzen 9 7900X has 6374% better value for money than i7-3960X.

Detailed specifications

Core i7-3960X and Ryzen 9 7900X basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores6 (Hexa-Core)12 (Dodeca-Core)
Threads1224
Base clock speed3.3 GHz4.7 GHz
Boost clock speed3.9 GHz5.6 GHz
L1 cache64 KB (per core)64K (per core)
L2 cache256 KB (per core)1 MB (per core)
L3 cache15 MB (shared)64 MB (shared)
Chip lithography32 nm5 nm
Die size435 mm22x 70 (CCD) mm2 + 122 (I/O) mm2
Maximum core temperature67 °C95 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)67 °C47 °C
Number of transistors2,270 millionCCD: 6,5 Mrd + IOD: 3,4 Mrd Million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility-+
Unlocked multiplierYesYes

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-3960X and Ryzen 9 7900X compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration11
SocketFCLGA2011AM5
Power consumption (TDP)130 Watt170 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-3960X and Ryzen 9 7900X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX5 nm (CCD), 6 nm (I/O) nm, 0.650 - 1.475V
AES-NI++
AVX++
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)+no data
Turbo Boost Technology2.0no data
Hyper-Threading Technology+no data
Idle States+no data
Thermal Monitoring+no data
Smart Response+no data
Demand Based Switching-no data
StatusDiscontinuedno data

Security technologies

Core i7-3960X and Ryzen 9 7900X technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT-no data
EDB+no data
Identity Protection+no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-3960X and Ryzen 9 7900X are enumerated here.

AMD-Vno data+
VT-d+no data
VT-x+no data
EPT+no data

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-3960X and Ryzen 9 7900X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3DDR5-5200
Maximum memory size64 GBno data
Max memory channels4no data
Maximum memory bandwidth51.2 GB/sno data
ECC memory support-no data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardno dataAMD Radeon Graphics (Ryzen 7000)

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-3960X and Ryzen 9 7900X.

PCIe version2.05.0
PCI Express lanes4024

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

i7-3960X 5.45
Ryzen 9 7900X 33.51
+515%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 515% based on our aggregate benchmark results.


Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

Benchmark coverage: 68%

i7-3960X 8426
Ryzen 9 7900X 51837
+515%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 515% in Passmark.

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

Benchmark coverage: 42%

i7-3960X 683
Ryzen 9 7900X 2925
+328%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 328% in GeekBench 5 Single-Core.

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

Benchmark coverage: 42%

i7-3960X 3332
Ryzen 9 7900X 17851
+436%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 436% in GeekBench 5 Multi-Core.

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

Benchmark coverage: 20%

i7-3960X 5014
Ryzen 9 7900X 8623
+72%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 72% in Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core.

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

Benchmark coverage: 19%

i7-3960X 27190
Ryzen 9 7900X 68580
+152%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 152% in Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core.

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

Benchmark coverage: 19%

i7-3960X 8330
Ryzen 9 7900X 21284
+156%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 156% in 3DMark06 CPU.

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

Benchmark coverage: 18%

i7-3960X 5.12
Ryzen 9 7900X 1.8
+184%

Core i7-3960X outperforms Ryzen 9 7900X by 184% in wPrime 32.

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

i7-3960X 11
Ryzen 9 7900X 55
+420%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 420% in Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core.

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

Benchmark coverage: 15%

i7-3960X 1158
Ryzen 9 7900X 4821
+316%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 316% in Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core.

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

Benchmark coverage: 15%

i7-3960X 159
Ryzen 9 7900X 323
+103%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 103% in Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core.

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

i7-3960X 1.52
Ryzen 9 7900X 3.83
+152%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 152% in Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core.

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

Benchmark coverage: 13%

i7-3960X 5.2
Ryzen 9 7900X 14.8
+185%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 185% in TrueCrypt AES.

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

Benchmark coverage: 13%

i7-3960X 4205
Ryzen 9 7900X 17225
+310%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 310% in WinRAR 4.0.

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

Benchmark coverage: 13%

i7-3960X 55
Ryzen 9 7900X 241
+340%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 340% in x264 encoding pass 2.

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

Benchmark coverage: 13%

i7-3960X 173
Ryzen 9 7900X 376
+117%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i7-3960X by 117% in x264 encoding pass 1.

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.45 33.51
Recency 14 November 2011 27 September 2022
Physical cores 6 12
Threads 12 24
Chip lithography 32 nm 5 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 130 Watt 170 Watt

The Ryzen 9 7900X is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i7-3960X in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-3960X and Ryzen 9 7900X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i7-3960X
Core i7-3960X
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
Ryzen 9 7900X

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