Intel Core i9 9900K vs AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz Intel Core i9 9900K with 8-cores against the 3.8 GHz AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT with 12-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
🔌 Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click “Calculate".
Currency
VS
11.7
(Bad)
Value Index
20.5
(Mediocre)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 3900XT and 9900K
Advantages of Intel Core i9 9900K
  • Includes an integrated GPU Intel UHD Graphics 630
  • 6% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5 GHz vs 4.7 GHz)
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT
  • Has 48 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • More modern manufacturing process – 7 versus 14 nanometers
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • Newer - released 1 year and 9 months later
  • Newer PCI Express version – 4.0
  • Around 6.08 GB/s (15%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (#145th place)

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
10907
File compression 545.7 MB/sec 1040 MB/sec
Clang compilation 67.7 Klines/sec 111.3 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 175.1 pages/sec 217.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 275.6 Mpixels/sec 335.3 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 159 pages/sec 143.6 pages/sec
Background blur 40.4 images/sec 32.4 images/sec
Photo processing 68.6 images/sec 74.9 images/sec
Ray tracing 14.5 Mpixels/sec 26.4 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 610 & 476 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
32469
Integer math 66.1 GOps/sec 99.5 GOps/sec
Floating point math 41 GOps/sec 58.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 46M Primes/sec 212M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 36.1M Strings/sec 48.1M Strings/sec
Data encryption 6.3 GBytes/sec 28.6 GBytes/sec
Data compression 282.6 MBytes/sec 451.3 MBytes/sec
Physics 929 Frames/sec 1758 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 19B Matrices/sec 28.5B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 17571 & 1668 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
178.22
276.02

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 7.4 PPW 10 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 85.8 PPW 103.9 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 190.1 PPW 309.2 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.88 PPW 2.63 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Core i9 9900K
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-01-01 (Mr Scare)Cinebench 202479 / 662
📘 2025-08-09 (EndOfTheWorld77)Cinebench 202478 / 591
📘 2024-03-28 (Gribbstar)Cinebench 202479 / 706
AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-03-15 (mattikatti)Cinebench 202474 / 1050

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 9900K and AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT

General

Vendor Intel Amd
Released October 8, 2018 July 7, 2020
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Coffee Lake Zen 2 (Matisse)
Model number i9-9900K -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 630 No
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 3900X - Intel Core i9 9900K
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 9 285K -
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (#125th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 12
P-Threads 16 24
Base Frequency (P) 3.6 GHz 3.8 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5 GHz 4.7 GHz
Total
Total Cores 8 12
Total Threads 16 24
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 36x 38x
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 256K (per core) 512K (per core)
L3 Cache 16MB (shared) 64MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Transistors - 3.8 billions
Fabrication Process 14 nm 7 nm
TDP (PL1) 95 W 105 W
Socket LGA-1151 AM4
Peak Temperature 100°C 95°C
Desktop CPU ranking (145th and 120th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 630 -
GPU Base Clock 350 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1200 MHz -
Shading Units 192 -
TMUs 24 -
ROPs 3 -
Execution Units 24 -
TGP 15 W -
iGPU FLOPS
0.5 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-2666 - DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 41.6 GB/s 47.68 GB/s
ECC Support No Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i9 9900K official page AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT official page
PCI Express Version 3.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 16 24

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
7 (14%)
43 (86%)
Total votes: 50

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT or Intel Core i9 9900K?
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!