13900K vs 7950X - Which CPU is the Best?

Who has the best CPU right now, Intel or AMD? I’ve compared Intel’s Core i9-13900K against AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X in productivity workloads, and 25 games at 1080p, 1440p & 4K to find out!

Test PC Components:

EVERYTHING I USE:

FOLLOW ME:

7950X vs 13900K CPU Comparison Timestamps
0:00 Who Has The Best CPU?
0:09 CPU Spec Differences
0:33 Price Differences
0:49 Test PC Specs
1:18 Cinebench R23
1:40 Power Draw
1:48 Performance Per Watt (Efficiency)
1:59 Temperatures
2:16 Clock Speeds
2:34 Blender Open Data
2:51 V-Ray & Corona Renderer
3:05 Linux Kernel & LLVM Compilation
3:32 Handbrake Video Encode
3:47 Adobe Premiere
4:00 DaVinci Resolve
4:13 Adobe Photoshop
4:28 Microsoft Office
4:38 7-Zip Compression & Decompression
4:53 Encryption & Decryption
5:00 GeekBench
5:18 13900K vs 7950X - All Application Differences
5:39 25 Games at 1080p, 1440p & 4K
5:50 Red Dead Redemption 2
6:06 Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
6:22 Metro Exodus Enhanced
6:39 Halo Infinite
6:53 Microsoft Flight Simulator
7:10 Total War: WARHAMMER III
7:25 CS:GO
7:39 Fortnite
7:51 Far Cry 6
8:06 Microsoft Flight Simulator
8:10 15 More Games Compared!
8:41 13900K vs 7950X (1080p)
9:07 13900K vs 7950X (1440p)
9:33 13900K vs 7950X (4K)
9:52 25 Game Average
10:12 Cost Per Frame (Best Gaming Value)
10:28 Cost Per Cinebench Point (Best Productivity Value)
10:43 Cost Per V-Ray Score
10:52 Conclusion - 7950X or 13900K?
11:12 Future Upgrade Options
11:52 The CPU I Would Pick
12:09 Budget Friendlier CPUs

Disclosure: Purchases made through store links above may provide some compensation to Jarrod'sTech.

[madpistol]

It's crazy that AMD and Intel are now at parity with each other on performance. They've got 2 completely different methods of getting there, but performance is so similar that you probably wouldn't be able to tell a difference with the 2 machines side-by-side. Fantastic!

[al_stand_]

Thanks for that video, I decided to stay with AMD and go for AM5 since I really like the idea of having a long term platform. It will be a great performance boost compare to my 3900x cpu.

[Ahduciekwndnbbbsvvvghhhyyyyy]

They’re both so fast I doubt I would ever notice even if I switched them back and forth.

[VirtualAirTour]

Thank you so much for including MSFS in your benchmark suite. It amazes me most CPU reviewers neglect including this heavily CPU bound title in their gaming tests.

[hoven-lhwq]

Respect for AMD's power efficiency

[robertwilliam]

31% less power consumption is a no brainer tbh

[BCSpikeFM]

It seems once again Jarrod deserves praise for using the same memory kit for both platforms. Almost everyone else has used DDR5-6400 on intel, giving the 13th gen an advantage there.

[ultraviolet]

With differences so small, you're either picking the cheap but dead end option which uses a LOT more power, which will essentially negate the price difference on the long run, or go the future upgradability option which costs more now but it'll pay for itself in a few years... 7950X is king

[valhallasashes]

Yeah I went for the 7950X for the same reasons. One, because of the upgradability of the platform. And two, and more importantly for me at the moment, the drastically lower power usage. I live in the UK where we've been going through an energy crisis the last couple years and my electric bill on it's own is still well over double what it used to be even with all devices I've turned off when not in use in vain attempts to lower energy costs. So with the core upgrade I'm working on at the moment, energy efficiency became a huge factor in my buying decision. The 7950X is a lot faster than my current CPU and uses a lot less power, so that put it high up on my list of prospects pretty much immediately, and has pretty much made Intel a no go for me.

For me, here in the UK, 110 Watts more power to achieve only a couple percentage more performance, just isn't worth it for me. Not when I have to pay that bill every month. So I waited for prices to come down a bit and managed to get my 7950X for 560 quid. 500 quid effectively if I discount the cost of Star Wars Jedi Survivor I got with it for free, which I had planned to buy anyway. The motherboard cost is going to be the most painful, but with future upgradability assured, I guess I can stomach the upfront cost.

[kennonfleisher]

It's so strange to me that I can't find a single comprehensive comparison between both processors for After Effects. Since it relies heavily on a higher base clock speed (even with the development of multi frame rendering) I'd assume the 7950x is actually better for intensive workflows, but I'd like to see actual render times.

*Follow up*: I went to a Ryzen 7950x from a Ryzen 5900x, and I’m here to provide some anecdotal results.

I did practical real life tests in After Effects 2023. Renders that previously took 25 minutes and 21 minutes (fairly heavy 4K files with intensive effects and layering) took only 3 minutes and 28 seconds and 2 minutes and 54 seconds respectively.

So, while the benchmarks and online comparisons show about a 40% gain from Ryzen’s 5900x to their 7950x, I have experienced a much more massive performance boost. I literally got 10x faster renders. I don’t know if that can be expected every time, but so far it has been the case.

Last week I needed to render 3 aspect ratios for the previously mentioned 25 minute render (which took over an hour and 10 minutes) and then I did it today as a test for the 7950x andI and had them all ready in just under 11 minutes. That means I saved an hour of time, which, extrapolated out over the course of the work year and the amount of work I do is a massive amount of time savings.

If you’re debating getting this or the 13900k, I would recommend AMD simply because these results are incredible. Intel is offering better results on paper, but the point I want to make is that if you’re in a previous generation AMD CPU and you’re a working professional who uses After Effects, this upgrade is well worth the money.

[JamesSmith-swnk]

Good video. Few people will be buying Ryzen 7000 until the "X3D" cpu's are released in January. Most people using Intel are simply doing a bios update and then switching out their 12th gen for a 13th gen cpu. The i7-13700K seems to be the sweet spot, it's practically an i9 i9-12900k.

[Luka_Nogalo]

Summary:
13900k
- 5% faster
- $40 cheaper

7950x
- AM5 longevity
- Uses 30% less power

[business]

I have just bought a 7700x for my new gaming computer, you are the only one who can honesty compare intel and amd new cpu.
All others youtuber in the "world" just say yes to intel instead of any fair
thanks for your video lets me know more about my amd cpu!

[GatoPaint]

will disabling 8 cores on the 7950x boost gaming performance? my 5900x gets a boost when I disable 4 cores of the other core die on gaming, will it happen here as well ?

[thehahahaha]

will you do a review on power limit test between those two ? like at 100, 150, 200 and 250 watts. keeping those ridiculous high temp on multicore workload seems not good for the system longevity.

[cdmikelis]

AMD for me. Thank you. I just wanted to know how little I loose choosing AMD "on paper". Currently in my area 7950X+board+cooler+ram comes cheaper than 13900K+board+ram, before I add adequate cooler to Intel. Intel does need hefti cooling and DDR5 ram and good PSU to pull ahead of Ryzen and that just slightly and not always. Electricity, heat and noise is also important in hot areas. But those who would want to upgrade to 13900k on budget, picking old boards and ram, running it at stock cooler there is question if Intel at faster at any test at all. And we have to understand all theese test are generic and does not always (or at all) reflect (my) workflow.

[juanh]

very good comparison, always honest and helping people to choose with the truth. Ryzen and Raptor are very close this generation and that is good for the consumer

[FoxvoxDK]

While I agree that the 13900 is the overall cheaper package at this time, I still believe it's necessary to reiterate that is a dead and final platform, whereas the AMD platform is in its infancy.

While I see that the motherboards for the AMD platform are more pricey, they are also inherently upgradeable in the future and can easily slot any new AMD CPU, without incurring yet another motherboard cost, as with Intel.

For that reason alone I don't mind the slightly higher Motherboard pricing, and knowing that I will be able to upgrade just my CPU, it means a lot more to me.

[JoePolaris]

Great video !! Kudos of methodology of testing . Very informative

[Dixy]

@Jarrod'sTech, thanks for the comparison information on the new Intel 13900k VS AMD 7950X processor's. Is there any disadvantages on the Z790 and AM5 chipset's on their motherboards? A few years ago there was problems with poor timing on the AMD chipset when compared to Intel's chipset. In my case it was critical to have precise timing to track orbiting sun synchronous satellites which AMD chipset's failed to stay in time. Do any of the new motherboards and chipset's have any problems?