Some early benchmarks of
Intel's not-yet-released
Core i9-9900KS processor have popped up, with comparison figures to AMD's recently launched
Ryzen 7 3800X. It is a fitting cage fight, as both processors sport 8 physical cores and 16 threads, the former with faster clockspeeds and the latter boasting a new chip architecture.
Famed leaker and Twitter user APISAK spotted the leaked benchmark comparison on Geekbench. Before we get to the numbers, let's quickly recap the specs. Intel's Core i9-9900KS is a Special Edition version of the
Core i9-9900K based on the company's
Coffee Lake architecture. What sets it apart, however, is that can achieve an all-core boost clock of 5GHz. It also has a faster 4GHz base clock.
The Ryzen 7 3800X, meanwhile, is based on AMD's 7-nanometer
Zen 2 architecture and sports a 3.9GHz base clock and 4.5GHz boost clock.
As with any leaked benchmark run, the usual disclaimer applies—take the numbers with a grain of salt. Assuming everything is legit, we see the Core i9-9900KS posting a higher single-threaded score and a lower multi-threaded score.
It is an interesting split, particularly with AMD winning the multi-threaded run despite being at a clockspeed disadvantage. For what it's worth, the test bed for the Ryzen 7 3800X consisted of an
ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Extreme (X470) motherboard with memory running at 3,460MHz, while the Intel chip sat in a
Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master motherboard with memory running at 2,134MHz.
We'll reserve judgement until the Core i9-9900KS actually ships and we get a chance to test it ourselves, in a variety of benchmarks. It is expected to debut in the fourth quarter of this year. As for pricing, that has not yet been announced. For reference, the regular Core i9-9900K sells for $484.99, whereas the Ryzen 7 3800X goes for $399.99.