Performance per price, higher is better.
Ryzen 9 5900X vs Core i7-8700K
Aggregated performance score
Core i7-8700K
2017
6 cores / 12 threads
8.91
Ryzen 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 187% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
General info
Comparing Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in performance ranking | 775 | 166 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 62 |
| Value for money | 11.13 | 57.11 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Series | Intel Core i7 | AMD Ryzen 9 |
| Architecture codename | Coffee Lake-S (2017−2018) | Vermeer (Zen3) (2020) |
| Release date | 5 October 2017 (6 years old) | 5 November 2020 (3 years old) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $359 | $549 |
| Current price | $241 (0.7x MSRP) | $412 (0.8x MSRP) |
Value for money
Ryzen 9 5900X has 413% better value for money than i7-8700K.
Technical specs
Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X 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 | 6 (Hexa-Core) | 12 (Dodeca-Core) |
| Threads | 12 | 24 |
| Base clock speed | 3.7 GHz | 3.7 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4.7 GHz | 4.8 GHz |
| L1 cache | 64K (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 256K (per core) | 512K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 12288 KB | 64 MB |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 7 nm |
| Die size | 149 mm2 | 2x 80.7 + 125 (I/O) mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 100 °C | no data |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | 72 °C | 95 °C |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | + | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | Yes | Yes |
Compatibility
Information on Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X 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 |
| Socket | FCLGA1151 | AM4 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 105 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2 | 86x MMX(+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A,-64, AMD-V, AES, AVX, AVX2, FMA3, SHA, Precision Boost 2 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| vPro | + | no data |
| 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 |
| SIPP | + | no data |
| Status | Discontinued | no data |
Security technologies
Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | no data |
| EDB | + | no data |
| Secure Key | + | no data |
| MPX | + | no data |
| Identity Protection | + | no data |
| SGX | Yes with Intel® ME | no data |
| OS Guard | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X 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 i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3, DDR4 | DDR4-3200 |
| Maximum memory size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Max memory channels | 2 | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 41.6 GB/s | 51.196 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | - | - |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | - |
| Max video memory | 64 GB | - |
| Quick Sync Video | + | - |
| Clear Video | + | - |
| Clear Video HD | + | - |
| Graphics max frequency | 1.2 GHz | - |
| InTru 3D | + | - |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 3 | - |
Graphics image quality
Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.
| 4K resolution support | + | - |
| Max resolution over HDMI 1.4 | 4096 x 2304@24Hz | - |
| Max resolution over eDP | 4096 x 2304@60Hz | - |
| Max resolution over DisplayPort | 4096 x 2304@60Hz | - |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.
| DirectX | 12 | - |
| OpenGL | 4.5 | - |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | 4.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 16 | 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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 187% 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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 187% 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%
Ryzen 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 38% 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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 85% 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%
Core i7-8700K outperforms Ryzen 9 5900X by 7% 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%
Ryzen 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 33% 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%
Ryzen 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 40% in 3DMark06 CPU.
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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 179% 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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 98% 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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 30% 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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 43% 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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 165% 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%
Ryzen 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 88% 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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 44% 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 9 5900X outperforms Core i7-8700K by 119% in x264 encoding pass 2.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Performance score | 8.91 | 25.59 |
| Recency | 5 October 2017 | 5 November 2020 |
| Physical cores | 6 | 12 |
| Threads | 12 | 24 |
| Cost | $359 | $549 |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 7 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 105 Watt |
The Ryzen 9 5900X is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i7-8700K in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-8700K and Ryzen 9 5900X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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