Ryzen 9 3900X vs i5-8259U

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Aggregate performance score

Core i5-8259U
2018
4 cores / 8 threads, 28 Watt
4.96
Ryzen 9 3900X
2019
12 cores / 24 threads, 125 Watt
20.53
+314%

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Core i5-8259U by a whopping 314% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking1235275
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data21.78
Market segmentLaptopDesktop processor
SeriesIntel Core i5AMD Ryzen 9
Power efficiency16.6815.46
Architecture codenameCoffee Lake-U (2018−2019)Matisse (Zen 2) (2019−2020)
Release date5 April 2018 (6 years ago)7 July 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$320$499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores4 (Quad-Core)12 (Dodeca-Core)
Threads824
Base clock speed2.3 GHz3.8 GHz
Boost clock speed3.8 GHz4.6 GHz
Bus typeOPIno data
Bus rate4 GT/sno data
Multiplier23no data
L1 cache64K (per core)96K (per core)
L2 cache256K (per core)512K (per core)
L3 cache6 MB (shared)64 MB
Chip lithography14 nm7 nm, 12 nm
Die size126 mm2no data
Maximum core temperature100 °C95 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °Cno data
Number of transistorsno data19,200 million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility++
Unlocked multiplier-+

Compatibility

Information on Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration1 (Uniprocessor)1 (Uniprocessor)
SocketFCBGA1528AM4
Power consumption (TDP)28 Watt125 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2no data
AES-NI++
AVX++
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)+no data
eDRAM128 MBno data
Speed Shift+no data
My WiFi+no data
Turbo Boost Technology2.0no data
Hyper-Threading Technology+no data
Idle States+no data
Thermal Monitoring+-
Flex Memory Access+no data
Precision Boost 2no data+

Security technologies

Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT-no data
EDB+no data
Secure Key+no data
MPX+-
Identity Protection+-
SGXYes with Intel® MEno data
OS Guard+no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X are enumerated here.

AMD-V++
VT-d+no data
VT-x+no data
EPT+no data

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4DDR4 Dual-channel
Maximum memory size32 GB128 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth38.397 GB/s51.196 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardIntel Iris Plus Graphics 655-
Max video memory32 GB-
Quick Sync Video+-
Clear Video+-
Clear Video HD+-
Graphics max frequency1.05 GHz-
InTru 3D+-

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported3-
eDP+-
DisplayPort+-
HDMI+-
DVI+-

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution support+-
Max resolution over HDMI 1.44096x2304@30Hz-
Max resolution over eDP4096x2304@60Hz-
Max resolution over DisplayPort4096x2304@60Hz-

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX12-
OpenGL4.5-

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X.

PCIe version3.0no data
PCI Express lanes16no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

i5-8259U 4.96
Ryzen 9 3900X 20.53
+314%

Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

i5-8259U 7878
Ryzen 9 3900X 32615
+314%

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

i5-8259U 1238
Ryzen 9 3900X 1709
+38%

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

i5-8259U 4099
Ryzen 9 3900X 9942
+143%

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

i5-8259U 5706
Ryzen 9 3900X 6019
+5.5%

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

i5-8259U 21869
Ryzen 9 3900X 45539
+108%

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

i5-8259U 7916
Ryzen 9 3900X 14889
+88.1%

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

i5-8259U 7.48
Ryzen 9 3900X 2.69
+178%

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i5-8259U 7
Ryzen 9 3900X 34
+379%

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

i5-8259U 615
Ryzen 9 3900X 3049
+396%

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

i5-8259U 149
Ryzen 9 3900X 207
+39.3%

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i5-8259U 1.67
Ryzen 9 3900X 2.36
+41.3%

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i5-8259U 4.1
Ryzen 9 3900X 10.8
+162%

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i5-8259U 5348
Ryzen 9 3900X 7534
+40.9%

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i5-8259U 40
Ryzen 9 3900X 147
+272%

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i5-8259U 165
Ryzen 9 3900X 268
+62%

Geekbench 5.5 Multi-Core

i5-8259U 3607
Ryzen 9 3900X 10498
+191%

Blender(-)

i5-8259U 730
+349%
Ryzen 9 3900X 162

Geekbench 5.5 Single-Core

i5-8259U 951
Ryzen 9 3900X 1250
+31.4%

7-Zip Single

i5-8259U 3976
Ryzen 9 3900X 5316
+33.7%

7-Zip

i5-8259U 19105
Ryzen 9 3900X 80935
+324%

WebXPRT 3

i5-8259U 176
Ryzen 9 3900X 225
+27.8%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 4.96 20.53
Recency 5 April 2018 7 July 2019
Physical cores 4 12
Threads 8 24
Chip lithography 14 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 28 Watt 125 Watt

i5-8259U has 346.4% lower power consumption.

Ryzen 9 3900X, on the other hand, has a 313.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, 200% more physical cores and 200% more threads, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The Ryzen 9 3900X is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i5-8259U in performance tests.

Be aware that Core i5-8259U is a notebook processor while Ryzen 9 3900X is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i5-8259U and Ryzen 9 3900X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i5-8259U
Core i5-8259U
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Ryzen 9 3900X

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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