i9-9900KS vs Ryzen 9 3900X

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Aggregate performance score

Ryzen 9 3900X
2019
12 cores / 24 threads, 125 Watt
20.53
+67.6%
Core i9-9900KS
2019
8 cores / 16 threads, 127 Watt
12.25

Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Core i9-9900KS by an impressive 68% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900KS processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking274633
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation21.7010.79
Market segmentDesktop processorDesktop processor
SeriesAMD Ryzen 9Intel Core i9
Power efficiency15.549.13
Architecture codenameMatisse (Zen 2) (2019−2020)Coffee Lake-R (2018−2019)
Release date7 July 2019 (5 years ago)28 October 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499$513

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Ryzen 9 3900X has 101% better value for money than i9-9900KS.

Detailed specifications

Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900KS 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)8 (Octa-Core)
Threads2416
Base clock speed3.8 GHz4 GHz
Boost clock speed4.6 GHz5 GHz
Bus typeno dataDMI 3.0
Bus rateno data4 × 8 GT/s
Multiplierno data40
L1 cache96K (per core)64 KB (per core)
L2 cache512K (per core)256 KB (per core)
L3 cache64 MB16 MB (shared)
Chip lithography7 nm, 12 nm14 nm
Die sizeno data180 mm2
Maximum core temperature95 °C100 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)no data72 °C
Number of transistors19,200 millionno data
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility++
Unlocked multiplier++

Compatibility

Information on Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900KS 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)
SocketAM4FCLGA1151
Power consumption (TDP)125 Watt127 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900KS. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsno dataIntel® 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 3900X and Core i9-9900KS 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 3900X and Core i9-9900KS 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 3900X and Core i9-9900KS. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4 Dual-channelDDR4
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 card-Intel UHD Graphics 630
Max video memory-64 GB
Quick Sync Video-+
Clear Video-+
Clear Video HD-+
Graphics max frequency-1.2 GHz
InTru 3D-+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900KS integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported-3

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900KS integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution support-+
Max resolution over HDMI 1.4-4096 x 2304@24Hz
Max resolution over eDP-4096 x 2304@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPort-4096 x 2304@60Hz

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900KS integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX-12
OpenGL-4.5

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900KS.

PCIe versionno data3.0
PCI Express lanesno data16

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 3900X 20.53
+67.6%
i9-9900KS 12.25

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 3900X 32610
+67.6%
i9-9900KS 19460

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 3900X 1710
i9-9900KS 1811
+5.9%

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 3900X 9940
+15%
i9-9900KS 8647

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 3900X 6019
i9-9900KS 8183
+36%

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 3900X 45539
i9-9900KS 51779
+13.7%

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 3900X 14889
+0%
i9-9900KS 14884

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.

Ryzen 9 3900X 2.69
+33.8%
i9-9900KS 3.6

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 3900X 34
+46.3%
i9-9900KS 23

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 3900X 3049
+48.2%
i9-9900KS 2058

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 3900X 207
i9-9900KS 216
+4.3%

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.

Ryzen 9 3900X 2.36
i9-9900KS 2.45
+3.8%

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 3900X 10.8
i9-9900KS 12.2
+13%

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 3900X 7534
i9-9900KS 8353
+10.9%

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.  

Ryzen 9 3900X 147
+20%
i9-9900KS 123

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 3900X 268
i9-9900KS 279
+4.2%

Geekbench 5.5 Multi-Core

Ryzen 9 3900X 10498
+15.4%
i9-9900KS 9100

Blender(-)

Ryzen 9 3900X 162
i9-9900KS 225
+38.4%

Geekbench 5.5 Single-Core

Ryzen 9 3900X 1250
i9-9900KS 1372
+9.8%

7-Zip Single

Ryzen 9 3900X 5316
i9-9900KS 5734
+7.9%

7-Zip

Ryzen 9 3900X 80935
+45.2%
i9-9900KS 55735

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 20.53 12.25
Recency 7 July 2019 28 October 2019
Physical cores 12 8
Threads 24 16
Chip lithography 7 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 125 Watt 127 Watt

Ryzen 9 3900X has a 67.6% higher aggregate performance score, 50% more physical cores and 50% more threads, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 1.6% lower power consumption.

i9-9900KS, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 3 months.

The Ryzen 9 3900X is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i9-9900KS in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Ryzen 9 3900X and Core i9-9900KS, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Ryzen 9 3900X
Intel Core i9-9900KS
Core i9-9900KS

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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