AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs Intel Core i9-12900KF vs Intel Core i9-13900K Comparison

A lot of people have been asking me … What’s the real difference in performance between AMD’s newest Ryzen 7000 series vesus Intel’s latest 13th Gen Core processors? Well, we’re about to find out in today’s processor comparison. We’ll be comparing the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X against last year’s Intel Core i9-12900KF and this year’s newest Intel Core i9-13900K processor.

Over the past few years, AMD have made great stride in closing the gap against Intel. They were the first to release ground-breaking 7nm processors a few year ago, and this year in 2022 they’ve just announced and launched their new Ryzen 7000 series, which are all 5nm chips. In fact they’ve overtaken Intel at one point in terms of market share for desktop processors.

However, things are about to change. There have been reports that Intel albeit slow, are pushing their fabrication process to 4nm (from their current 10nm) by the end of 2023, and up to 3nm by the end of 2024. We will have to wait and see who will come out on top!

So here’s what we’re going to do. We will provide a 3-way comparison of the performance of these processors. Let’s begin with a quick comparison table …

Quick Comparison

	Ryzen 9 7900X	Core i9-12900KF	Core i9-13900K
Generation (Code Name)	Zen 4 – Raphael	12th Gen (Alder Lake)	13th Gen (Raptor Lake)
Cores	12	16 (8 Performance-cores/8 Efficient-cores)	24 (8 Performance-cores/16 Efficient-cores)
Threads	24	24	32
Default Base clock rate	4.7 GHz	3.2 GHz	4.30 GHz
Max Turbo Boost	5.6 GHz	5.2 GHz	5.80 GHz
Fabrication Process	5nm	10nm	10nm
Cache L2	12MB	30 MB	32 MB
Integrated Video	Radeon Graphics	N/A	Intel® UHD Graphics 770
TDP	170W	125W Turbo: 241W	125W Turbo: 253W
Socket Type	LGA1718 (AM5)	LGA1700	LGA1700
PCIe/DDR support	PCIe 5.0 / DDR5	PCIe 5.0 / DDR4 / DDR5	PCIe 5.0 / DDR5
Current Price from Amazon (Oct 2022)	USD $539	USD $699	USD $720

Network Diagram

Test Rig

We prepared 3 test rigs with the configuration as per below.

Installation and BIOS

All BIOS settings were at default, with XMP profiles enabled (only for Intel based systems). Graphics resolution set to 1920×1080 (HD 1080p). High or Ultra settings enabled.

CPU-Z Info

Load Temps

Benchmarks (Part 1)

I’ll let the numbers do all the talking … 1st column is AMD Ryzen 9 7900X/X670E, 2nd column is Core i9-12900KF/Z690, while the 3rd column is the Core i9-13900/Z790

PCMark 10

PCMark 10 is the latest in our series of industry standard PC benchmarks. Updated for Windows 10 with new and improved workloads, PCMark 10 is also faster and easier to use. PCMark 10 features a comprehensive set of tests that cover the wide variety of tasks performed in the modern workplace. With express, extended, and custom run options to suit your needs, PCMark 10 is the complete PC benchmark for the modern office and an ideal choice for organizations that buy PCs in high volumes.

PassMark 9

Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing and benchmarking. PassMark PerformanceTest allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.

3DMark Speed Way

3DMark Speed Way is a graphics card benchmark for testing DirectX 12 Ultimate performance. To run this test, you must have a graphics card that supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and has 6GB or more of video memory.

3DMark – Port Royal (DXR – Ray Tracing)

Port Royal is a graphics card benchmark for testing real-time ray tracing performance. To run this test, you must have a graphics card and drivers that support Microsoft DirectX Raytracing.

Time Spy

3DMark Time Spy is a new DirectX 12 benchmark test for Windows 10 gaming PCs. Time Spy is one of the first DirectX 12 apps to be built “the right way” from the ground up to fully realize the performance gains that the new API offers. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, which supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal test for benchmarking the latest graphics cards.

UL Procyon Photo Editing Benchmark

The UL Procyon Photo Editing Benchmark uses Adobe® Lightroom® Classic and Adobe® Photoshop® in a typical photo editing workflow that includes batch processing and image retouching. Using relevant apps ensures that the benchmark score reflects the real-world performance of the whole system.

UL Procyon Video Editing Benchmark

The UL Procyon Video Editing Benchmark uses Adobe Premiere Pro in a typical video editing workflow. Using relevant apps ensures that the benchmark score reflects the real-world performance of the whole system.

The benchmark starts by importing two video project files. The project timelines include various edits, adjustments and effects. The second project uses several GPU-accelerated effects.

Each video project is exported in Full HD encoded with H.264 and again in 4K UHD encoded with HEVC (H.265). The benchmark score is based on the time taken to export all four videos.

AIDA64 Memory Test

This benchmark measures the bandwidth and latency of the CPU caches and the system memory. By double-clicking any rectangle, column or row in the window, we can launch benchmarks or benchmark types individually. For example, if we double-click “Memory”, only system memory read, write, copy and latency benchmarks will be run, that is, only the operations in the given row are executed. Similarly, if we double-click “Read”, only read benchmarks will be run on all memory types, that is, only the operations in the given column are executed. If we double-click any rectangle, only the selected single benchmark will be run.

Cinebench 

CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software Cinema 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Iron Man 3, Oblivion, Life of Pi or Prometheus and many more. CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and OS X).

HyperPi  

A simple-to-configure and portable software program that helps you calculate the pi value for a given number of digits and perform overclocking operations on multi-core machines.

Verdict and Conclusion

So, what can we say? Well, take a look at the benchmarks above … all 3 systems performed amazingly well, and to be honest, I’ll be happy to have any one of them at any time! The overall performance difference is really marginal. It all basically boils down to whether you want to overclock your CPU and memory (or not) … if so, then go for the Intel, but you’ll need a sufficient and adequate CPU cooler. These Intel processors tend to run quite hot.

When it comes to compatibility and stability … of course, there’s no question Intel is king. They are the standard by which most software developers and hardware manufacturers go by. Mind you, AMD are not far behind. Over the past few years, a lot manufacturers have worked with AMD tirelessly to ensure compatibility and stability.

The other thing which Intel seem to have an advantage over AMD is the superb integrated memory controller. Memory speeds are astounding on the Intel Z690 and Z790 platforms when paired with XMP 3,0 compatible ram. Ram compatibilty is still an issue for AMD platforms.

Oddly, Intel 13th Gen processors does not have AVX-512, but the Ryzen 7000 series will have AVX-512 … this is something I really don’t understand. According to Intel, they said it wasn’t enabled due to the inclusion of two different architectures (E-cores + P-cores). However, some motherboard manufacturers allow users to enable AVX-512 after disabling the E cores in the BIOS.

For gamers and AMD fans (Team RED), the Ryzen 9 7900X offer the best bang for your buck. Costing a mere USD $539, it offers 12 cores/24 threads, not E-cores or P-cores (like Intel). 12 real cores! The new AM5 platform now supports DDR5 ram, PCIE 5.0 for next-gen graphics cards and EXPO memory profiles. What’s more, all of AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 series processors are made from 5nm fabrication process, something Intel is still lacking behind.

In the end, I think all 3 processors offer great performance, so no complaints here. Just choose one based on your budget and needs. Here’s my quick breakdown below.

Final Thoughts

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