Ryzen 9 5950X vs Core i7-4790K

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Aggregate performance score

Core i7-4790K
2014
4 cores / 8 threads, 88 Watt
5.21
Ryzen 9 5950X
2020
16 cores / 32 threads, 105 Watt
29.52
+467%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms i7-4790K by a whopping 467% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking1130137
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.3276.90
Market segmentDesktop processorDesktop processor
SeriesCore i7 (Desktop)AMD Ryzen 9
Architecture codenameDevil's CanyonVermeer (Zen 3)
Release dateJune 2014 (10 years ago)5 November 2020 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$339$799
Current price$151 (0.4x MSRP)$349 (0.4x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Ryzen 9 5950X has 3215% better value for money than i7-4790K.

Detailed specifications

Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X 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 cores4 (Quad-Core)16 (Hexadeca-Core)
Threads832
Base clock speed4 GHz3.4 GHz
Boost clock speed4.4 GHz4.9 GHz
L1 cache64K (per core)64K (per core)
L2 cache256K (per core)512K (per core)
L3 cache8 MB (shared)64 MB
Chip lithography22 nm7 nm
Die size177 mm2CPU cores: 2x 80.7 sq. mm., I/O: 125 mm2
Maximum core temperature74 °Cno data
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °C95 °C
Number of transistors1,400 millionno data
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility-+
Unlocked multiplierYesYes

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X 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
SocketFCLGA1150AM4
Power consumption (TDP)88 Watt105 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2DDR4-3200 RAM, PCIe 4, MMX (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A, AES, AVX, AVX2, FMA3, SHA
AES-NI++
AVX++
vPro+no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)+no data
My WiFi+no data
Turbo Boost Technology2.0no data
Hyper-Threading Technology+no data
TSX-no data
Idle States+no data
Thermal Monitoring+no data
SIPP-no data
FDI+no data
StatusDiscontinuedno data

Security technologies

Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT+no data
EDB+no data
Secure Key+no data
Identity Protection+no data
OS Guard+no data
Anti-Theft+no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3DDR4
Maximum memory size32 GB128 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth25.6 GB/s51.196 GB/s
ECC memory support--

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardIntel HD Graphics 4600-
Max video memory2 GB-
Quick Sync Video+-
Clear Video HD+-
Graphics max frequency1.25 GHz-
Execution Units20-
InTru 3D+-

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported3-
eDP+-
DisplayPort+-
HDMI+-
DVI+-
VGA+-

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

Max resolution over HDMI 1.43840x2160@24Hz-
Max resolution over eDP3840x2160@60Hz-
Max resolution over DisplayPort3840x2160@60Hz-
Max resolution over VGA1920x1200@60Hz-

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX11.2/12-
OpenGL4.3-

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X.

PCIe version3.04.0
PCI Express lanes16no data

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.

i7-4790K 5.21
Ryzen 9 5950X 29.52
+467%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 467% 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%

i7-4790K 8066
Ryzen 9 5950X 45652
+466%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 466% 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%

i7-4790K 1389
Ryzen 9 5950X 2191
+57.7%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 58% 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%

i7-4790K 4392
Ryzen 9 5950X 12115
+176%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 176% 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%

i7-4790K 6520
Ryzen 9 5950X 6690
+2.6%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 3% 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%

i7-4790K 25082
Ryzen 9 5950X 56641
+126%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 126% 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%

i7-4790K 9485
Ryzen 9 5950X 17657
+86.2%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 86% 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%

i7-4790K 5.94
Ryzen 9 5950X 4.23
+40.4%

Core i7-4790K outperforms Ryzen 9 5950X by 40% 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%

i7-4790K 9
Ryzen 9 5950X 48
+423%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 423% 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%

i7-4790K 846
Ryzen 9 5950X 4324
+411%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 411% 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%

i7-4790K 174
Ryzen 9 5950X 267
+53.2%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 53% 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%

i7-4790K 1.95
Ryzen 9 5950X 3.08
+57.9%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 58% 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%

i7-4790K 5
Ryzen 9 5950X 26
+420%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 420% 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%

i7-4790K 5534
Ryzen 9 5950X 12736
+130%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 130% 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%

i7-4790K 52
Ryzen 9 5950X 212
+311%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 311% 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%

i7-4790K 189
Ryzen 9 5950X 330
+74.5%

Ryzen 9 5950X outperforms Core i7-4790K by 74% in x264 encoding pass 1.

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.21 29.52
Recency on June 2014 5 November 2020
Physical cores 4 16
Threads 8 32
Cost $339 $799
Chip lithography 22 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 88 Watt 105 Watt

The Ryzen 9 5950X is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i7-4790K in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-4790K and Ryzen 9 5950X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i7-4790K
Core i7-4790K
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
Ryzen 9 5950X

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