i7-4790K vs i9-10980XE

#ad 
Buy on Amazon
VS

Aggregate performance score

Core i9-10980XE
2019
18 cores / 36 threads, 165 Watt
21.42
+306%

Core i9-10980XE outperforms Core i7-4790K by a whopping 306% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking2601202
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation12.040.92
Market segmentDesktop processorDesktop processor
Seriesno dataCore i7 (Desktop)
Power efficiency11.845.46
Architecture codenameCascade Lake-X (2019)Devil's Canyon
Release date19 October 2019 (5 years ago)June 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$979$339

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

i9-10980XE has 1209% better value for money than i7-4790K.

Detailed specifications

Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K 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 cores18 (Octadeca-Core)4 (Quad-Core)
Threads368
Base clock speed3 GHz4 GHz
Boost clock speed4.8 GHz4.4 GHz
Bus rate8 GT/s DMI3 MHz5 GT/s
L1 cache64K (per core)64K (per core)
L2 cache1 MB (per core)256K (per core)
L3 cache24.75 MB (shared)8 MB (shared)
Chip lithography14 nm22 nm
Die sizeno data177 mm2
Maximum core temperature86 °Cno data
Maximum case temperature (TCase)no data72 °C
Number of transistorsno data1,400 million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility+-
Unlocked multiplier++

Compatibility

Information on Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K 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 configuration11
SocketFCLGA2066FCLGA1150
Power consumption (TDP)165 Watt88 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI++
AVX++
vPro++
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
My WiFino data+
Turbo Boost Technology2.02.0
Hyper-Threading Technology++
TSX+-
Idle Statesno data+
Thermal Monitoring-+
Turbo Boost Max 3.0+no data
FDIno data+
Deep Learning Boost+-

Security technologies

Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT++
EDB++
Secure Keyno data+
Identity Protection-+
OS Guardno data+
Anti-Theftno data+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K are enumerated here.

AMD-V++
VT-d++
VT-x++
EPTno data+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4DDR3
Maximum memory size256 GB32 GB
Max memory channels42
Maximum memory bandwidth94 GB/s25.6 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardno dataIntel HD Graphics 4600
Max video memoryno data2 GB
Quick Sync Video-+
Clear Video HDno data+
Graphics max frequencyno data1.25 GHz
Execution Unitsno data20
InTru 3Dno data+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supportedno data3
eDPno data+
DisplayPort-+
HDMI-+
DVIno data+
VGAno data+

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

Max resolution over HDMI 1.4no data3840x2160@24Hz
Max resolution over eDPno data3840x2160@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPortno data3840x2160@60Hz
Max resolution over VGAno data1920x1200@60Hz

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectXno data11.2/12
OpenGLno data4.3

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K.

PCIe version3.03.0
PCI Express lanes4816

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.

i9-10980XE 21.42
+306%
i7-4790K 5.27

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.

i9-10980XE 32787
+307%
i7-4790K 8065

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.

i9-10980XE 1600
+13.6%
i7-4790K 1409

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.

i9-10980XE 12186
+177%
i7-4790K 4398

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.

i9-10980XE 7847
+20.4%
i7-4790K 6520

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.

i9-10980XE 59479
+137%
i7-4790K 25082

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.

i9-10980XE 14129
+49%
i7-4790K 9485

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.

i9-10980XE 2.81
+111%
i7-4790K 5.94

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.

i9-10980XE 38
+320%
i7-4790K 9

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

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

i9-10980XE 3744
+343%
i7-4790K 846

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.

i9-10980XE 208
+19.5%
i7-4790K 174

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.

i9-10980XE 2.36
+21%
i7-4790K 1.95

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.

i9-10980XE 18.2
+264%
i7-4790K 5

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.  

i9-10980XE 158
+206%
i7-4790K 52

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.  

i9-10980XE 215
+13.7%
i7-4790K 189

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.

i9-10980XE 7172
+29.6%
i7-4790K 5534

Geekbench 3 32-bit multi-core

i9-10980XE 56351
+262%
i7-4790K 15557

Geekbench 3 32-bit single-core

i9-10980XE 4578
+3.6%
i7-4790K 4418

Geekbench 2

i9-10980XE 38219
+177%
i7-4790K 13779

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 21.42 5.27
Recency 19 October 2019 on June 2014
Physical cores 18 4
Threads 36 8
Chip lithography 14 nm 22 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 165 Watt 88 Watt

i9-10980XE has a 306.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, 350% more physical cores and 350% more threads, and a 57.1% more advanced lithography process.

i7-4790K, on the other hand, has 87.5% lower power consumption.

The Core i9-10980XE is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i7-4790K in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i9-10980XE and Core i7-4790K, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite CPU.


Intel Core i9-10980XE
Core i9-10980XE
Intel Core i7-4790K
Core i7-4790K

Similar processor comparisons

We picked several similar comparisons of processors in the same market segment and performance relatively close to those reviewed on this page.

Community ratings

Here you can see how users rate the processors, as well as rate them yourself.


3.8 563 votes

Rate Core i9-10980XE on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
4.3 2455 votes

Rate Core i7-4790K on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about Core i9-10980XE or Core i7-4790K, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.