UserBenchmark: Intel Core i7-3960X vs i7-9700K

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IntelBX80619I73960X

BUY • $265

IntelBX80684I79700K

BUY • $252

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 552,998 user samples

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2,165 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 89% Base clock 3.3 GHz
Worst Bench: 66% Base clock 3.3 GHz, turbo 0.85 GHz (avg)

Poor: 66% Great: 89%

SPEED RANK: 270^th / 1442

Gaming 78%

Battleship

Desktop 79%

Battleship

Workstation 67%

Battle cruiser

550,833 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 105% Base clock 3.6 GHz, turbo 5.2 GHz (avg)
Worst Bench: 82% Base clock 3.6 GHz, turbo 0.8 GHz (avg)

Poor: 82% Great: 105%

SPEED RANK: 98^th / 1442

Gaming 97%

Nuclear submarine

Desktop 97%

Nuclear submarine

Workstation 89%

Aircraft carrier


Effective Speed Effective CPU Speed		77.7 %			96.9 %	Faster effective speed. +25%


Memory Avg. Memory Latency	87.1 Pts	90.9 Pts	+4%
1-Core Avg. Single Core Speed	96.7 Pts	140 Pts	Much faster single-core speed. +45%
2-Core Avg. Dual Core Speed	192 Pts	279 Pts	Much faster dual-core speed. +45%
4-Core Avg. Quad Core Speed	369 Pts	552 Pts	Much faster quad-core speed. +50%
8-Core Avg. Octa Core Speed	585 Pts	964 Pts	Much faster octa-core speed. +65%


Memory OC Memory Latency	95.3 Pts	96.6 Pts	+1%
1-Core OC Single Core Speed	118 Pts	155 Pts	Much faster OC single-core speed. +31%
2-Core OC Dual Core Speed	233 Pts	309 Pts	Much faster OC dual-core speed. +33%
4-Core OC Quad Core Speed	457 Pts	618 Pts	Much faster OC quad-core speed. +35%
8-Core OC Octa Core Speed	715 Pts	1123 Pts	Much faster OC octa-core speed. +57%

Market Share

Based on 67,754,117 CPUs tested

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Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0 %	1.88 %	Insanely higher market share. +∞%
Value Value For Money	78.7 %	99.5 %	Better value. +26%
User Rating UBM User Rating	53 %	92 %	Much more popular. +74%
Price Price (score)	$265	$252	+5%


Age Newest	151 Months		66 Months	Much more recent. +56%
TDP Thermal Design Power (TDP)	130 Watts		95 Watts	More energy efficient. +27%
Cores CPU Processing Cores	6 cores		8 cores	Much higher core count. +33%
Threads CPU Processing Threads	12 threads	Much higher thread count. +50%	8 threads
Lithography Manufacturing process	32 nm		14 nm	Much newer manufacturing. +56%
Base Clock Base Clock Speed	3.3 GHz		3.6 GHz	Slightly faster base frequency. +9%
Turbo Clock Turbo Clock Speed	3.9 GHz		4.9 GHz	Faster turbo frequency. +26%
64-Core OC Multi Core Speed	888 Pts		1145 Pts	Faster OC 64-core speed. +29%
64-Core Avg. Multi Core Speed	728 Pts		1001 Pts	Much faster 64-core speed. +38%


Series CPU Architecture	Sandy Bridge-E	Coffee Lake
Socket Motherboard Socket	FCLGA2011	FCLGA1151
Graphics Integrated Graphics	None	UHD 630
Launch Date Launch Date	Q4'11	Q4'18
Cache Cache	15 MB SmartCache	12 MB SmartCache
Instruction Set Extensions Instruction Set Extensions	SSE4.2, AVX, AES	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
Lithography Lithography	32 nm	14 nm
Recommended Price Recommended Customer Price	N/A	$374.00 - $385.00
Max Turbo Frequency Max Turbo Frequency	3.9 GHz	4.90 GHz
Bus Speed Bus Speed	5 GT/s DMI2	8 GT/s DMI3
Memory Types Memory Types	DDR3 1066/1333/1600	DDR4-2666
Memory Channels Max # of Memory Channels	4	2
Memory Bandwidth Max Memory Bandwidth	51.2 GB/s	41.6 GB/s
Package Size Package Size	52.5mm x 45.0mm	37.5mm x 37.5mm
Hyper-Threading Tech Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology ‡	Yes	No
Trusted Execution Tech Intel® Trusted Execution Technology ‡	No	Yes
PCI Express Revision PCI Express Revision	2.0	3.0
Max # of PCI Express Lanes Max # of PCI Express Lanes	40	16
	More specs »	More specs »

The fact that the near three year old Intel i7-3960X still tops the speed charts reflects just how little competition there is in the CPU market. Intel have dominated for so long that there is simply no economic incentive to push the speed boundaries at anywhere nearly the pace of improvement we saw in previous years. The i7-3960X has 6 cores and 12 threads which is two cores more than the vast majority of Intel's other top end processors. The extra two cores explain why the 3960X still performs so well compared to the majority of the 3960X's newer siblings. This processor will offer little more than a far cheaper i3 to regular desktop users but for server orientated workloads it is still one of the best processors available. ^{[Mar '14 CPUPro]}

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Intel’s Core i7-9700K is an unlocked 9th generation Coffee Lake CPU. It is an 8 core, 8 thread processor. The 9700K features 12 MB of cache, a 95W TDP and Intel UHD 630 graphics. Like the other 9th generation chips, it is compatible with Intel’s new Z390 chipset as well as last years Z370 chipset (with an updated BIOS). The 9700K has stock base / boost clocks of 3.6 / 4.6 GHz and a single core boost of 4.9 GHz (compared to 3.6, 4.7 and 5.0 GHz for the flagship 9900K). This translates to almost identical single, quad and octa core performance between the 9900K and 9700K. Mainstream PC games do not benefit from more than six threads, so at $350 (25% cheaper than the 9900K), the 9700K offers far better value for money to gamers. That said gamers have very little reason not to consider the i5-9600K which, when overclocked, offers almost equivalent performance at a 35% discount. ^{[Oct '18 CPUPro]}

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We calculate effective speed which measures real world performance for typical users. Effective speed is adjusted by current prices to yield a value for money rating. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top CPUs. ^[CPUPro]

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CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $273	Nvidia RTX 4060 $300	Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $177	Nvidia RTX 4070 $539	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $45	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $37	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16

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