Intel Core Ultra 9 285K vs AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.7 GHz Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with 24-cores against the 4.3 GHz AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 with 16-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
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
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Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click “Calculate".
Currency
VS
58.3
(Average)
Value Index
26.3
(Mediocre)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 9950X3D2 and 285K
Advantages of Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
  • More powerful Intel Arc iGPU (4-Cores) integrated graphics: 2 vs 0.6 TFLOPS
  • Has 8 more physical cores
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 4 nanometers
  • More than 10° C higher critical temperature
  • Around 12.8 GB/s (14%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2
  • Has 156 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • Newer - released 1 year and 6 months later
  • Supports up to 256 GB DDR5-5600 RAM
  • 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.6 GHz vs 5.5 GHz)

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 2026 (Single) - 558
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 10459
Cinebench Scores (11th and 3rd 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)
File compression 1560 MB/sec 2030 MB/sec
Clang compilation 242.2 Klines/sec 240.9 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 479.5 pages/sec 460.9 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 622.1 Mpixels/sec 570.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 371.2 pages/sec 361 pages/sec
Background blur 95.4 images/sec 90.2 images/sec
Photo processing 164.2 images/sec 160.1 images/sec
Ray tracing 52.3 Mpixels/sec 56.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2]

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math 172.3 GOps/sec -
Floating point math 224.2 GOps/sec -
Find prime numbers 542M Primes/sec -
Random string sorting 94.9M Strings/sec -
Data encryption 57.7 GBytes/sec -
Data compression 789.7 MBytes/sec -
Physics 3933 Frames/sec -
Extended instructions 62.3B Matrices/sec -
Sources: PassMark [3]8455 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
748.32

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 18.1 PPW 12.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 184.8 PPW 135.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 537.8 PPW 363.9 PPW
Blender / Watt 4.44 PPW 3.74 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 Ultra 9 285K
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-06-17 (Olafur Torfi)Cinebench 2024142 / 2242
📘 2026-02-01 (aDamatGeek)Cinebench 2024142 / 2383
📘 2026-01-29 (GeneralJeep)GeekBench3134 / 21707
📘 2025-12-31 (Szymon919191)Cinebench 2024141 / 2261
📘 2025-12-26 (Bill)GeekBench3207 / 22197
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2
No benchmark results yet

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2

General

Vendor Intel Amd
Released October 11, 2024 March 26, 2026
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Arrow Lake Zen 5 (Granite Ridge)
Model number 285K 9950X3D2
Integrated GPU Arc iGPU (4-Cores) Radeon Graphics
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 9950X -
Intel CPU rating (#3rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 16
P-Threads 8 32
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 4.3 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.5 GHz 5.6 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 16 -
E-Threads 16 -
Base Frequency (E) 3.2 GHz -
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 4.6 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 24 16
Total Threads 24 32
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 37x 43x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 3MB (per core) 1MB (per core)
L3 Cache 36MB (shared) 192MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 3 nm 4 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 200 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 250 W 270 W
Socket FCLGA-1851 AM5
Peak Temperature 105°C 95°C
Desktop CPU ranking (8th and 3rd place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel Arc iGPU (4-Cores) Radeon Graphics
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 400 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 2000 MHz 2200 MHz
Shading Units 512 128
TMUs 32 8
ROPs 16 4
Execution Units 64 2
TGP 14 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
2 TFLOPS
0.6 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-6400 - DDR5-5600
Max. Memory Size 192 GB 256 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s 89.6 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core Ultra 9 285K official page AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 24 28

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
13 (20.6%)
50 (79.4%)
Total votes: 63

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 or Intel Core Ultra 9 285K?
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