i5-9600K vs Ryzen 9 3900

VS

Aggregate performance score

Ryzen 9 3900
2019
12 cores / 24 threads, 65 Watt
19.34
+188%
Core i5-9600K
2018
6 cores / 6 threads, 95 Watt
6.71

Ryzen 9 3900 outperforms Core i5-9600K by a whopping 188% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking3001038
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation20.747.02
Market segmentDesktop processorDesktop processor
SeriesAMD Matisse (Ryzen 3000 Desktop)Intel Core i5
Power efficiency28.166.68
Architecture codenameMatisse (Zen 2) (2019−2020)Coffee Lake-R (2018−2019)
Release date24 September 2019 (5 years ago)8 October 2018 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499$262

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Ryzen 9 3900 has 195% better value for money than i5-9600K.

Detailed specifications

Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K 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 cores12 (Dodeca-Core)6 (Hexa-Core)
Threads246
Base clock speed3.1 GHz3.7 GHz
Boost clock speed4.3 GHz4.6 GHz
Bus typeno dataDMI 3.0
Bus rateno data4 × 8 GT/s
Multiplierno data37
L1 cache768 KB384 KB
L2 cache6 MB1.5 MB
L3 cache64 MB9 MB (shared)
Chip lithography7 nm, 12 nm14 nm
Die size2x 74 mm2149 mm2
Maximum core temperatureno data100 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)no data72 °C
Number of transistors7,600 millionno data
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility-+
Unlocked multiplier++

Compatibility

Information on Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K 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 (Uniprocessor)
SocketAM4FCLGA1151
Power consumption (TDP)65 Watt95 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions86x MMX(+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A,-64, AMD-V, AES, AVX, AVX2, FMA3, SHA, Precision Boost 2Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI++
AVX++
vProno data+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)no data+
Turbo Boost Technologyno data2.0
Hyper-Threading Technologyno data-
TSX-+
Idle Statesno data+
Thermal Monitoring-+
SIPP-+
Precision Boost 2+no data

Security technologies

Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXTno data+
EDBno data+
Secure Keyno data+
MPX-+
Identity Protection-+
SGXno dataYes with Intel® ME
OS Guardno data+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K are enumerated here.

AMD-V+-
VT-dno data+
VT-xno data+
EPTno data+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4-3200DDR4-2666
Maximum memory size128 GB128 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth51.196 GB/s42.671 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardN/AIntel UHD Graphics 630
Max video memoryno data64 GB
Quick Sync Video-+
Clear Videono data+
Clear Video HDno data+
Graphics max frequencyno data1.15 GHz
InTru 3Dno data+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supportedno data3

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution supportno data+
Max resolution over HDMI 1.4no data4096 x 2304@24Hz
Max resolution over eDPno data4096 x 2304@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPortno data4096 x 2304@60Hz

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectXno data12
OpenGLno data4.5

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K.

PCIe version4.03.0
PCI Express lanes2416

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 19.34
+188%
i5-9600K 6.71

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 30722
+188%
i5-9600K 10663

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 1678
i5-9600K 1708
+1.8%

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 9543
+49.7%
i5-9600K 6374

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 5700
i5-9600K 7205
+26.4%

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 44191
+30.2%
i5-9600K 33950

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 13817
+25.9%
i5-9600K 10974

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 31
+182%
i5-9600K 11

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

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

Ryzen 9 3900 2804
+156%
i5-9600K 1094

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 197
+2.1%
i5-9600K 193

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 2.22
i5-9600K 2.24
+0.9%

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 10.4
+85.7%
i5-9600K 5.6

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.

Ryzen 9 3900 7145
+21%
i5-9600K 5903

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.  

Ryzen 9 3900 132
+91.7%
i5-9600K 69

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.  

Ryzen 9 3900 256
+2.2%
i5-9600K 250

Geekbench 5.5 Multi-Core

Ryzen 9 3900 10190
+74%
i5-9600K 5855

Blender(-)

Ryzen 9 3900 179
i5-9600K 444
+148%

Geekbench 5.5 Single-Core

Ryzen 9 3900 1246
+2.4%
i5-9600K 1217

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 19.34 6.71
Recency 24 September 2019 8 October 2018
Physical cores 12 6
Threads 24 6
Chip lithography 7 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 65 Watt 95 Watt

Ryzen 9 3900 has a 188.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 months, 100% more physical cores and 300% more threads, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 46.2% lower power consumption.

The Ryzen 9 3900 is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i5-9600K in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Ryzen 9 3900 and Core i5-9600K, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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AMD Ryzen 9 3900
Ryzen 9 3900
Intel Core i5-9600K
Core i5-9600K

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