Intel’s core i9-7900X, from the Skylake-X series, is Intel’s latest 10-core, 20-thread flagship processor. It's the first to bear the i9 moniker and utilize the new X299 (Basin Falls) chipset/motherboard. The 7900X is the fastest CPU on the market today, however, imminent competition from AMD’s 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen Threadripper CPUs and the forthcoming release of more Intel Core X series mean that its reign will be a short one. The i9-7900X supersedes the 10-core Broadwell-E core i7-6950X that held the crown for little over a year. Both are extremely powerful and pricey high end desktop processors (HEDTs) which excel in multi-threaded tasks such as media encoding. However, despite the same power draw (TDP 140W), the newer i9-7900X betters the i7-6950X in terms of peak overclocked performance by 10% mostly thanks to increased clock speeds from 3.0GHz/4.0GHz to 3.3GHz/4.3GHz for base/turbo. It also betters the i7-6950X on price by around 28%. This all translates to the i9-7900X offering around 20% more value for money, even despite its eye-watering $999 price tag. The more accessible pricing (albeit not accessible for the majority) and hurried release of the i9-7900k to market is widely perceived as a reaction to AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper CPUs, rumoured for release towards the end of July 2017. So if you want to own the fastest consumer CPU in the world, it would be wise to wait for the dust to settle. [Jul '17CPUPro]
The 3700X is a $320 USD 8-core, 16-thread mid-range Ryzen 3000 series CPU. Out of the box, the 3700X, 3600X and 3600 achieve similar quad core speeds but the 16 threaded 3700X is 30% faster at multi-core computations than the 12 threaded 3600X. Comparing the 3700X to Intel’s i7-9700K shows that, when overclocked, the 3700X is 26% faster at 64-core computations but 13% slower for gaming and desktop (sub eight core performance). Unlike lower end Ryzen 3000 SKUs, the 3700X comes with a half decent cooler but AMD should not have bothered since a $20 aftermarket cooler is still quieter, easier to change, and better at cooling. With a Gammaxx 400 cooler we were able to maintain a 43.25x OC during our EFps tests. We had to use a fixed clock OC (rather than Offset/PBO) to avoid significant frame drops in Fortnite. With strong single-core scores, the 3700X should offer very strong gaming performance but in reality it is let down by its memory controller, which, although significantly improved over previous Ryzen iterations, still has limited bandwidth and high latency. The heavily hyped 3700X, paired with a 2060S, offers real world gaming performance comparable to the $80 USD entry level 4-core, 4-thread Intel Core i3-9100F. At $320 USD, the 3700X offers reasonable value to full time media encoders but general desktop users, gamers and even streamers should look elsewhere. Streaming with dedicated hardware such as NVENC or a separate stream PC will nearly always result in fewer dropped frames. The 3700X severely bottlenecks a 2070S: gamers should investigate the 9600K, which is both cheaper and faster. [Jul '19CPUPro]
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.