The Core i7-6950X is Intel’s new top of the range prosumer CPU. This flagship model has a whopping ten cores with base and turbo frequencies of 3.0 and 4.0 GHz respectively. The 6950X is based on the 14 nm Broadwell-E architecture. It has a TDP of 140 watts, 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes and no integrated graphics. Because of its ridiculously high MSRP of around $2,000, this CPU only makes sense for very niche use cases which could include top end graphics design or video production workstations. Comparing the 6950X and 6700K shows that for typical desktop use the 6950X only offers a gain of around 20% for a whopping 6 fold price increase. This is because desktop computing largely depends on single core performance and the Skylake i7-6700K is both clocked higher and has higher IPC due to its one generation lead over the 6950X. That said, if you want the most powerful desktop processor money can buy, then the 6950X hits the spot. [Jun '16CPUPro]
The 5800X3D has the same core architecture as the 5800X but it runs at 11% lower base and 4% lower boost clocks. The lower clocks are in exchange for an extra 64MB of cache (96MB up from 32MB) and around 40% more money. For most real-world tasks performance is comparable to the 5800X. Cache sensitive scenarios such as low res. canned game benchmarks with a 3090-Ti ($2,000 USD) benefit at the cost of everything else. Be wary of sponsored reviews with cherry picked games that showcase the wins, conveniently ignore frame drops and gloss over the losses. Also watch out for AMD’s army of Neanderthal social media accounts on reddit, forums and youtube, they will be singing their own praises as usual. Instead of focusing on real-world performance, AMD’s marketers aim to dupe consumers with bankrolled headlines. The same tactics were used with the Radeon 5000 series GPUs. Zen 4 needs to bring substantial IPC improvements for all workloads, rather than overpriced "3D" marketing gimmicks. New PC builders have little reason to look further than the $260 12600K which, at a fraction of the price, offers better all round performance in gaming, desktop and workstation applications. Users with an existing AM4 build should wait just a few more months for better performance at lower prices with Raptor Lake or even Zen 4. The marketers selling expensive “3D” upgrades today will quickly move onto Zen 4 (3D) leaving unfortunate buyers stuck on an overpriced, 6 year old, dead-end, platform. [Mar '22CPUPro]
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]
Welcome to our PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best value for money upgrades.