Ryzen 9 3900X vs Ryzen 5 3500U

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Aggregated performance score

Ryzen 5 3500U
2019
4 cores / 8 threads
4.49

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by a whopping 370% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Ryzen 5 3500U and Ryzen 9 3900X processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking1238230
Place by popularity35not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data36.99
Market segmentLaptopDesktop processor
SeriesAMD Ryzen 5AMD Ryzen 9
Architecture codenamePicasso-U (Zen+)Matisse (Zen 2) (2019−2020)
Release date6 January 2019 (5 years ago)7 July 2019 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$499
Current price$672 $381 (0.8x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Ryzen 5 3500U and Ryzen 9 3900X 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)12 (Dodeca-Core)
Threads824
Base clock speed2.1 GHz3.8 GHz
Boost clock speed3.7 GHz4.6 GHz
L1 cache128K (per core)96K (per core)
L2 cache512K (per core)512K (per core)
L3 cache4 MB (shared)64 MB
Chip lithography12 nm7 nm
Die size209.78 mm2no data
Maximum core temperature105 °C95 °C
Number of transistors4500 Million19,200 million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility++
Unlocked multiplierNoYes

Compatibility

Information on Ryzen 5 3500U and Ryzen 9 3900X 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 configuration1 (Uniprocessor)1 (Uniprocessor)
SocketFP5AM4
Power consumption (TDP)15 Watt125 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Ryzen 5 3500U and Ryzen 9 3900X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsDDR4-2400 RAM, PCIe 3, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4A, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, SMEP, SMAP, SMT, CPB, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHA, SMEno data
AES-NI++
FMA+no data
AVX++

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Ryzen 5 3500U and Ryzen 9 3900X are enumerated here.

AMD-V++

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Ryzen 5 3500U and Ryzen 9 3900X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4DDR4 Dual-channel
Maximum memory size64 GB128 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth38.397 GB/s51.196 GB/s
ECC memory support+-

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardAMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)-

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Ryzen 5 3500U and Ryzen 9 3900X.

PCIe version3.0no data
PCI Express lanes12no 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 5 3500U 4.49
Ryzen 9 3900X 21.11
+370%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 370% 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 5 3500U 6950
Ryzen 9 3900X 32655
+370%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 370% 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 5 3500U 860
Ryzen 9 3900X 1693
+96.9%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 97% 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 5 3500U 2454
Ryzen 9 3900X 9921
+304%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 304% 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%

Ryzen 5 3500U 4558
Ryzen 9 3900X 6019
+32.1%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 32% 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 5 3500U 17231
Ryzen 9 3900X 45539
+164%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 164% 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 5 3500U 5951
Ryzen 9 3900X 14889
+150%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 150% 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%

Ryzen 5 3500U 12.88
Ryzen 9 3900X 2.69
+379%

Ryzen 5 3500U outperforms Ryzen 9 3900X by 379% 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 5 3500U 8
Ryzen 9 3900X 34
+345%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 345% 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 5 3500U 650
Ryzen 9 3900X 3049
+369%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 369% 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 5 3500U 143
Ryzen 9 3900X 207
+44.8%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 45% 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 5 3500U 1.65
Ryzen 9 3900X 2.36
+43%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U 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 5 3500U 4.4
Ryzen 9 3900X 10.8
+144%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 144% 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 5 3500U 2455
Ryzen 9 3900X 7534
+207%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 207% 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 5 3500U 135
Ryzen 9 3900X 268
+98.4%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 98% 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 5 3500U 39
Ryzen 9 3900X 147
+275%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Ryzen 5 3500U by 275% in x264 encoding pass 2.

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 4.49 21.11
Recency 6 January 2019 7 July 2019
Physical cores 4 12
Threads 8 24
Chip lithography 12 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 15 Watt 125 Watt

The Ryzen 9 3900X is our recommended choice as it beats the Ryzen 5 3500U in performance tests.

Be aware that Ryzen 5 3500U is a notebook processor while Ryzen 9 3900X is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Ryzen 5 3500U and Ryzen 9 3900X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
Ryzen 5 3500U
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Ryzen 9 3900X

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