Today I’m reviewing the remainder of Intel’s Core i9 Cascade Lake-X family of CPUs, which are finally starting to appear on etailer’s shelves so we have some realworld pricing to go with. Having already reviewed the Core i9-10980XE late last year – I recommend reading that for more technical discussion about Cascade Lake-X. The Core i9-10900X, 10920X and 10940X sit below the 18-core flagship I looked at a couple of months ago with 10, 12 and 14 cores respectively. The question is, though, which AMD CPUs are they competing against and is Intel or AMD the better buy if you have $600-$1,000 to spend on a seriously powerful CPU?
When Intel slashed the pricing of its high-end desktop (HEDT) CPUs back in October prior to their launch, it was a necessary move given that AMD had both doubled its core counts on its mainstream X570 platform with the Ryzen 9 3950X and also had a monster waiting in the wings in the form of 3rd Gen Threadripper, which would undercut several of Intel’s previous generation HEDT CPUs in terms of price. However, if you vote with your wallet when it comes to PC hardware, then you were likely rubbing your hands at the prospect of owning an Intel HEDT CPU for a huge amount less cash than the year before.
CPU test systems
I’ve rebuilt my test systems so they use cutting-edge components and also fully up to date versions of Windows 10 along with all the various security patches – both from motherboard manufacturers and Microsoft as these are known to have impacted on performance making any data obtained prior to these updates incomparable and unrepresentative.
I should also point out that I’ve used 3466MHz memory with all my systems now as this worked with older AMD CPUs as well as new ones, painting them in their best light, especially given memory prices are so low at the moment. You may see slightly better performance using faster memory, but you’ll be unlikely to get that working on 1st Gen Ryzen CPUs.
Overclocking the Core i9-10900X, 10920X and 10940X
To start with the Core i9-10900X reached 4.8GHz using a vcore of 1.325V. Under the hood is a slightly different die to the other two I’ve tested here – a low core-count die as opposed to a high core-count one. Whether this had an impact on overclocking, I’m not sure, but both the Core i9-10920X and 10940X managed an all-core overclock of 4.9GHz, which across 12 and 14 cores respectively is impressive, requiring 1.32V and 1.3V.
Other CPU overclocks I’ve included in the graphs include: Ryzen 9 3950X to 4.35GHz, Ryzen 7 3800X: 4.4GHz, Ryzen 5 3600: 4.25GHz, Ryzen 5 3600X: 4.25GHz, AMD Ryzen 9 3900X: 4.3GHz, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X: 4.3GHz, AMD Ryzen 7 1800X: 4GHz, AMD Ryzen 7 2700X: 4.2GHz, AMD Threadripper 2920X: 4.2GHz,Intel Core i9-10980XE: 4.7GHz, Core i9-9900KS: 5.1GHz, Intel Core i9-9900K: 5GHz, Intel Core i7-9700K: 5.1GHz, Intel Core i5-9600K: 5GHz, Intel Core i7-8700K: 5GHz.
Common components: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3466MHz memory, Nvidia RTX 2070 Super, Samsung 970 Evo 2TB M.2 SSD, EK Waterblocks EK-MLC Phoenix 240 liquid cooler, Corsair RM850i PSU
AMD systems
Socket AM4: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master (2nd and 3rd Gen Ryzen), MSI X470 Gaming Pro Carbon AC (Ryzen 7 1800X),
Socket TR4: MSI MEG X399 Creation (2nd Gen Threadripper)
Socket TRX40: MSI Creator TRX40
Intel systems:
LGA1151: MSI MEG Z390 Ace
LGA2066: MSI MEG X299 Creation
Gaming Benchmarks
When dealing with frame rates and frame times I either record figures obtained from built-in benchmarks or take readings using recording software to record the 99th percentiles in either a built-in benchmark or one I’ve created myself and the graphs below show the average and minimum 99th percentile frame times reported as a minimum frame rate – that’s not the same as your typical minimum frame rate, which can be highly misleading and only record a momentary blip. You can read more on that here.
Dota 2 isn’t a particularly taxing game for the GPU so there’s a fair amount of load on the CPU, even with a graphics card such as the RTX 2070 Super. It’s fairly clear that at stock speed, AMD really isn’t lagging behind that much with 3rd Gen Ryzen and the Ryzen 9 3950X is pretty much equal to the trio of Cascade Lake-X CPUs. Once the latter are overclocked, though, they do offer an advantage, especially the Core i9-10920X and 10940X, which hit 4.9GHz across all cores.
I’ve added two new games to the suit this time around and haven’t managed retest everything just yet, but the above stack still represents a good comparison. This time, AMD was quicker than all three Intel HEDT CPUs at stock speed, with even the Ryzen 7 3700X adding a few frames on top. Once overclocked, the tables were turned, and even the Ryzen 9 3950X couldn’t out-gun them, albeit the difference was very small. It’s also worth noting that Intel’s mainstream CPUs were all quicker still.
Metro Exodus didn’t see much variation between CPUs, but the trend continued – mediocre results for Cascade Lake-X at stock speed and far better once overclocked, offering a noticeable leap over the Ryzen 9 3950X.
Content Creation
Adobe Premiere Pro has thrown up some interesting results recently and 3rd Gen Threadripper is the king of the hill here as far as 4K project exports go. However, as you can see, Intel is pretty potent below $1,000 with the Core i9-10940X offering a huge lead over the Ryzen 9 3950X and even beat the Threadripper 2950X and once overclocked, even the Core i9-10900X was quicker than the Ryzen 9 3950X.
Switch to 3D modelling, though, and AMD is touch to beat with the Ryzen 9 3950X proving faster than all three Intel HEDT CPUs in Cinebench R20′s multi-threaded test.
Intel can still hold its own in single-threaded performance with Cascade Lake-X but only once overclocked. It’s mainstream CPUs are much quicker.
Once again, if 3D modelling is your focus, AMD really makes a strong case and only once overclocked did the Core i9-10940X and 10920X offer comparable performance to the Ryzen 9-3950X.
HandBrake sees AMD take the stock speed performance crown and even the Ryzen 9 3900X was quicker, but Intel has a number of quicker options when overclocked with the Core i9-10940X and 10920X offering better or comparable performance to the Ryzen 9 3950X.
AMD has been completely dominant in the multi-threaded GIMP-based image editing test in PC Mark 10 and the same was true here. Once overclocked, the Ryzen 9 3900X was still quicker but the Core i9-10940X was snapping at its heels.
Finally there’s power consumption and it’s honestly not great news for Intel here. At stock speed, AMD’s Zen 2 architecture is a huge amount less power-hungry and once overclocked, which is pretty much essential for Intel, the gap widens significantly. Power consumption has rarely been much of a concern for content creators or PC enthusiasts, but if ever there was a graph showing just how much Intel needs to drop below a 14nm manufacturing process, it’s this one.
Conclusions
Cascade Lake-X did not have the warmest of receptions at launch, but much of the negative press was focused at the lack of innovation rather than performance or value. It’s true that not much has changed compared to the previous generation, but that’s certainly not a reason to ignore these CPUs – you should vote with your wallet and buy whatever is best for you after all and the huge price cuts mean that we need to look carefully at what Intel is offering here, even if it only makes sense in niche areas. In this light, I think we need to break this down to a per CPU basis.
Core i9-10900X: Ultimately, this is my least favourite of the trio I’m looking at here. It’s regularly outgunned by AMD and doesn’t really offer many compelling reasons to opt for Intel’s HEDT platform except once overclocked, where it offers decent game and Adobe Premiere Pro performance for the cash and is equipped with quad-channel memory support and more PCI-E lanes than the Ryzen 9 3950X. Apart from this it’s a mediocre CPU.
Core i9-10920X: If you can actually find stock of this CPU, it’s likely retailing for similar prices to the Ryzen 9 3950X. Much like the previous CPU, it’s only really in Adobe Premiere Pro and games where it has an advantage, but this time offers similar or better performance at stock speed, gaining sizeable advantages once overclocked. Outside of the popular video editing software and games, AMD quickly becomes better value and some gaming titles such as Far Cry New Dawn see the Ryzen 9 3950X as the better stock speed performer too. Ultimately, it’s far more interesting than the Core i9-10900X and can be a better option than the Ryzen 9 3950X in some scenarios, if you can find it and at the right price, especially if you need those extra PCI-E lanes and memory channels.
Core i9-10940X: This represents a big step up in price compared to the Ryzen 9 3950X and it’s still only in games and select applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro where it shines. At stock speed, its advantage over the cheaper AMD CPU is questionable given the price hike, but once overclocked it shaved a sizeable amount off the export time in Adobe Premiere Pro and was quicker than the AMD CPU in all game tests. There are still plenty of scenarios that see the Ryzen 9 3950X become far better value, but if you spend the majority of time in games and Premiere Pro, it’s clearly a great all-rounder for those tasks, especially if you overclock it.
I’ll be back with more rumors, analysis and reviews of Intel and AMD’s desktop products this year so be sure to follow me here on Forbes using the link below, on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or Reddit for more PC hardware news and reviews.
