The rivalry between both these companies have taken a pole position for the last couple of years and finally, in 2021, both AMD and Intel have made some of their best chips possible. Intel finally is back in level terms with AMD, finally switching to the 10nm process with Alder Lake but as it stands there has to be one winner.
While we really had a hard time comparing both these flagship CPUs, at the end of this article you will know which team should you opt for, is it Team Red or Team Blue. So, let’s quickly start the ultimate comparison between both the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and Intel Core i9 12900K processors and help you make a decision to buy any one of these during the holiday season.
Where the competition stands?
Gamers and productivity users have been blessed with high-performance CPUs since AMD announced its Ryzen processors back in 2017. However, it really went to another level when it announced 12 and 16 core CPUs in 2019 with Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 9 3950X respectively.
Since then while gamers were still preferring Intel, a chunk of users started shifting to AMD. With outstanding future compatibility and a broad lineup, AMD quickly became a fan favourite in no time. In 2020, it shook the laptop industry, then the data centre market and then came new Ryzen 5000 series processors along with RX 6000 series Radeon GPUs.
2020 marked one of the best years for AMD while just snatching the gaming crown from Intel somehow. Now after a year of the Ryzen 5000 series, Intel finally announced its 12th Gen Alder Lake processors based on new hybrid architecture, packing more cores than before but drawing more power than ever!
This new approach has really got me exciting and having tested out the Core i9 12900K, I can assure you, the leaks were true. It definitely can compete against a powerful processor like Ryzen 9 5950X even though Intel has got 8 small cores whereas AMD possesses all 16 core high-performance cores.
Still, on paper, AMD has one clear edge over Intel in its TDP, the Ryzen 9 5950X has a max TDP of only 105W TDP while the Core i9-12900K has a base TDP of 125W and can suck up to 241W. This means AMD is not only efficient but also generates less heat thanks to the actual 7nm process while Intel has finally shifted to the 10nm process which they call Intel 7.
However, with an expensive LGA 1700 platform, Intel has brought standout features like PCI Gen 5, DDR5 RAM support, Wi-Fi 6E and much more. So, naturally upgrading to new platform with new 12th Gen processors will cost you a lot of money whereas Ryzen 5000 series motherboards are very affordable.
Each has its own uniqueness and features that makes them even more buyable but talking about raw performance of these CPUs, let’s see who wins:
Intel Config Specifications:
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix Z690-E Gaming WIFI Motherboard
- CPU: Intel Core i9-12900K
- RAM: 32GB (2X16) Astra Gandiva ARGB DDR5 Memory
- SSD: 240GB XPG Gaming NVMe SSD, 480GB Crucial SATA SSD
- Power Supply: Antec HCG-1000-EXTREME PSU
- GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6900XT
- CPU Cooler: ASUS ROG RYUJIN II RGB AIO Liquid CPU Cooler
- Cabinet: Cooler Master MasterBox K501L
- OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
AMD Config Specifications:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 UD
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
- RAM: 32GB (2X16) Corsair Vengeance 3200MHz DDR4 memory
- SSD: 240GB WD Sn550, 480GB Crucial SATA SSD
- Power Supply: Cooler Master 750W
- GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6900XT
- CPU Cooler: Deepcool Gammaxx GTE V2
- Cabinet: MSI Mag Forge 100R
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Productivity
If you are talking about raw numbers, Intel has come a long way actually matching the performance of the Ryzen 9 5950X in multi-core scores. However, last year AMD gave everyone a surprise when they dominated the single-core benchmarks and stunned everyone by destroying Intel.
Well, in 2021, not with 11th Gen but with 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake-S desktop processors, the Blue team has bounced back in single-core performance and totally destroyed everyone out there. Let’s see some interesting benchmarks of all of these CPUs:
As you see in the raw sythetic benchmarks, the Core i9-12900K completely destroys every other processor out there with astounding single-core scores and multi-core scores just beating or matching with the Ryzen 9 5950X. In true sense, both flagships have performed exceedingly well but the Intel Core i9 12900K edges out in overall performance.
However, one thing you have to keep in mind that the Ryzen 9 5950X is far more efficient than Core i9-12900K, and you can cool an AMD Ryzen with a good Air cooler or moderate liquid cooling. However, to tame the Core i9, you will need a high-quality liquid AIO like the ASUS ROG RYUJIN II 360 AIO Liquid Cooler that adds to the cost.
In PCMark 10 benchmark, which is deemed one of the most accurate in the world, the Ryzen 9 5950X delivered around 8406 points which in itself is really good with the Radeon RX 6900 XT. However, the Intel Core i9-12900K processor with the same GPU manages to grab 9037 points and you see a 7.5% better performance with Intel.
So, the moral of the productivity story is both of these absolute flagships go head-to-head with each other but this time the productivity performance is very close. Gone are those days when Intel was very hesitant to provide more cores, however, AMD being the master of it is more efficient in delivery superior performance.
Gaming
In gaming, Intel had always been the king but last year, AMD’s strong Ryzen 5000 series portfolio completely changed it, while Intel made claims of turning around with 11th Gen but no luck as the Ryzen 9 5900X hit a sweet spot among gamers. Now, Intel has made its 12th Gen processors insanely strong in single-core performance, so a lot of them can easily overthrow the AMD Ryzen 5000 processors.
Here, we have taken the overkill Intel Core i9 12900K which is the absolute best against AMD’s absolute best currently, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. Here are the gaming benchmarks with AMD’s flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU across several new modern games:
In 1440p you clearly see the Intel Core i9 12900K destroys the Ryzen 9 5950X in almost all games and the difference widens when you game at lower quality. This goes to show the raw power of the new 12th Intel flagship posses as in a lot of games you there’s a difference of 70FPS just because of the CPU.
Except Control, in all games, the new Intel CPU is destroying AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X and shows how Intel is dominating this time clearly.
Obviously at 4K, the difference is lot less but as you see Intel is dominating in games like Control and giving better performance while in others there’s not a huge difference at native 4K. Overall, in gaming Intel clealy dominates more and goes to show its huge improvements it has made with strong single-core performance.
In games like CS:GO, Intel again goes to show its excellent single-core performance giving over 400FPS at 4K while giving hundreds of FPS at 1440p or 4K in Far Cry 6. The Guadians of the Galaxy also perform very well with Core i9 12900K paired with an RX 6900 XT.
Though Intel Core i9-12900K is lot more power hungry and gets hot but if you have a proper cooling solution, enough power to tame the beast, you can get some serious number and extra boost in frame rates just by changing the CPU. This greatly justifies the cost of upgrading to a new platform and you have other latest features like PCIe Gen 5 support or DDR5 RAM support among others.
Which one should you pick?
Now, this is the most serious part of the article as you have to pick only one side, I would say both the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and Intel Core i9 12900K are really great CPUs and as of now, the older Ryzen 9 5950X is retaling cheaper than then Core i9-12900K.
So, if you are more of a produtivity centric user or do not want to spend more to buy the expensive LGA 1700 socket motherboard then choosing the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X makes more sense. Sure, you won’t get the insane gaming performance with the Ryzen processor but at the end of the day is still decent.
However, if you are a serious gamer or one who needs the absolute best performance regardless of the spending I would say the Intel Core i9-12900K is a better option as also its platform is more future-proof with new features onboard. Which one are you looking to buy? Tell us in the comments down below…😎
