Intel 10th Gen Core i9-10900K Comet Lake-S Battles AMD Ryzen 9 3900X In Fresh Benchmark Leak
AMD is winning the core wars in the mainstream desktop CPU space (in terms of how many cores/threads are available), while Intel is focused on squeezing as much performance as it can out of its 14-nanometer node, which will see another round with its Comet Lake-S CPUs. How will they fare against AMD's third-generation Ryzen processors based on its 7nm Zen 2 CPU architecture? A fresh benchmark leak may provide us with a hint of what is to come.
The usual disclaimer applies—there is only so much we can garner from a leaked benchmark, for a variety of reasons. Even assuming everything is legit, a single benchmark run falls well short of painting a complete picture. Nonetheless, we can only work with what is out there, and right now that's a 3Mark Time Spy run.
As spotted by Twitter user @_rogame, who can often be found in the trenches of leaked benchmarks, the Time Spy database entry highlights a supposed Intel 10th generation Core i9-10900KF processor. The chip wields 10 cores and 20 threads, and is shown to have a 3.7GHz base clock and 5.1GHz boost clock, along with 16MB of L3 cache. Past leaks suggest it can boost a little higher (5.2GHz) on a single-core via Turbo Boost Max 3.0.
Here is the benchmark entry...
Source: 3DMark via @_rogame
The CPU score is the value that is of interest here, as the Overall and Graphics scores lean heavily on the GPU. As shown in this particular benchmark run, the Core i9-10900KF posted a CPU score of 12,412. That is not very meaningful in a vacuum, though fortunately, 3DMark's database is fleshed out with plenty of other CPUs to compare against.
So, how does it stack up? Well, @_rogame took the liberty of digging up some AMD Ryzen 3900X entries, and here is how the CPU boxing match went...
Source: 3DMark via @_rogame
The Ryzen 9 3900X is a 12-core/24-thread CPU with a 3.8GHz base clock and 4.6GHz max boost clock. It also features 64MB of L3 cache.
Faster memory benefits AMD's processors more than it does Intel's chips, and the above comparison shows the Ryzen 9 3900X paired with DDR4-3200, DDR4-3400, and DDR4-3800MHz memory. Intel's Core i9-10900KF with DDR4-2666 memory managed to outpace the Ryzen 9 3900X with DDR4-3200 RAM. When paired with DDR4-3400 memory the Ryzen 9 3900X slipped ahead, then drew a larger margin of victory with DDR4-3800 memory.
The scores are relatively close across the board. That's impressive at a glance, given the core/thread disparity, though Intel's chip appears to be benefiting from a faster boost frequency.
This is a good sign for Comet Lake-S. Of course, it's not as though AMD is standing pat—it will be releasing Zen 3 processors later this year. We also have to wait and see how pricing shakes out. At present, AMD's Ryzen 9 3900X can be had for $418.70 at Amazon (on sale from $499).
