Ryzen 9 3900X vs Xeon E3-1280

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E3-1280 and Ryzen 9 3900X processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	1517	269
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.05	20.57
Market segment	Server	Desktop processor
Series	no data	AMD Ryzen 9
Power efficiency	3.53	18.51
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Matisse (Zen 2) (2019−2020)
Release date	3 April 2011 (13 years ago)	7 July 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$450	$499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Ryzen 9 3900X has 1859% better value for money than Xeon E3-1280.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E3-1280 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 cores	4 (Quad-Core)	12 (Dodeca-Core)
Threads	8	24
Base clock speed	3.5 GHz	3.8 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.9 GHz	4.6 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	768 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	6 MB
L3 cache	8 MB (shared)	64 MB
Chip lithography	32 nm	7 nm, 12 nm
Die size	216 mm2	no data
Maximum core temperature	74 °C	95 °C
Number of transistors	1,160 million	19,200 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	+
Unlocked multiplier	-	+

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E3-1280 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 configuration	1	1 (Uniprocessor)
Socket	LGA1155	AM4
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	105 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E3-1280 and Ryzen 9 3900X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX	no data
AES-NI	+	+
AVX	+	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	no data
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	no data
Idle States	+	no data
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
Demand Based Switching	+	no data
FDI	-	no data
Fast Memory Access	+	no data
Precision Boost 2	no data	+

Security technologies

Xeon E3-1280 and Ryzen 9 3900X technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	no data
EDB	+	no data
Identity Protection	+	-

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E3-1280 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 Xeon E3-1280 and Ryzen 9 3900X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR4 Dual-channel
Maximum memory size	32 GB	128 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	21 GB/s	51.196 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	-

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Clear Video HD	-	-
InTru 3D	-	-

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E3-1280 and Ryzen 9 3900X.

PCIe version	2.0	no data
PCI Express lanes	20	no 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.

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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.

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Pros & cons summary

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Performance score	3.61	20.93
Recency	3 April 2011	7 July 2019
Physical cores	4	12
Threads	8	24
Chip lithography	32 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	105 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E3-1280 and Ryzen 9 3900X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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