Ryzen Threadripper 2950X vs Core i7-5960X
Aggregated performance score
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 129% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
Primary Details
Comparing Core i7-5960X and Ryzen Threadripper 2950X processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in performance ranking | 837 | 271 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation | 6.76 | 9.48 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Series | Core i7 (Desktop) | AMD Ryzen Threadripper |
| Architecture codename | Haswell-E (2014) | ZEN+ (2018−2020) |
| Release date | 1 September 2014 (9 years ago) | 13 August 2018 (5 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $999 | $899 |
| Current price | $140 (0.1x MSRP) | $1075 (1.2x MSRP) |
Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X has 40% better value for money than i7-5960X.
Detailed Specifications
Core i7-5960X and Ryzen Threadripper 2950X 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 cores | 8 (Octa-Core) | 16 (Hexadeca-Core) |
| Threads | 16 | 32 |
| Base clock speed | 3 GHz | 3.5 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.5 GHz | 4.4 GHz |
| L1 cache | 64K (per core) | 96K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 256K (per core) | 512K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 20 MB (shared) | 32 MB |
| Chip lithography | 22 nm | 12 nm |
| Die size | 356 mm2 | 213 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 67 °C | no data |
| Number of transistors | 2,600 million | 19,200 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | Yes | Yes |
Compatibility
Information on Core i7-5960X and Ryzen Threadripper 2950X 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 configuration | 1 | 1 (Uniprocessor) |
| Socket | FCLGA2011 | Socket TR4 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 140 Watt | 180 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-5960X and Ryzen Threadripper 2950X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2 | no data |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | no data |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | no data |
| TSX | + | no data |
| Idle States | + | no data |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | no data |
| Smart Response | + | no data |
| Demand Based Switching | - | no data |
| Status | Discontinued | no data |
Security technologies
Core i7-5960X and Ryzen Threadripper 2950X 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 i7-5960X and Ryzen Threadripper 2950X are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | no 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 i7-5960X and Ryzen Threadripper 2950X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4 | DDR4 Quad-channel |
| Maximum memory size | 64 GB | 2 TiB |
| Max memory channels | 4 | 4 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 68 GB/s | 93.867 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | - | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-5960X and Ryzen Threadripper 2950X.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | no data |
| PCI Express lanes | 40 | no 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.
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 129% based on our aggregated 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%
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 130% 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%
Core i7-5960X outperforms Ryzen Threadripper 2950X by 2% 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%
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 13% in GeekBench 5 Multi-Core.
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%
Core i7-5960X outperforms Ryzen Threadripper 2950X by 1% 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%
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 80% 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%
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 124% 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%
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 27% 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%
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 24% 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%
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 138% 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%
Core i7-5960X outperforms Ryzen Threadripper 2950X by 55% in WinRAR 4.0.
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%
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 6% in x264 encoding pass 1.
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%
Ryzen Threadripper 2950X outperforms Core i7-5960X by 76% in x264 encoding pass 2.
Pros & Cons Summary
| Performance score | 8.28 | 19.00 |
| Recency | 1 September 2014 | 13 August 2018 |
| Physical cores | 8 | 16 |
| Threads | 16 | 32 |
| Cost | $999 | $899 |
| Chip lithography | 22 nm | 12 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 140 Watt | 180 Watt |
The Ryzen Threadripper 2950X is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i7-5960X in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-5960X and Ryzen Threadripper 2950X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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