# Intel Core i9-10980XE Review: Better Than AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X



## erek (Nov 25, 2019)

"Intel has done the right thing in cutting prices and the reality is that even though the Ryzen 9 3950X is a stunning processor, the Core i9-10980XE still beats it in plenty of tests and it's huge overclocking headroom means it leapfrogs the otherwise dominant AMD CPU in areas it's weak in at stock speed. This is assuming your average retail sample overclocks better than your typcial Core i9-9980XE as mine did - that's something only time will tell and is something to bare in mind. "









						Intel Core i9-10980XE Review:  Better Than AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X?
					

Is Intel's new Core i9-10980XE better than AMD's Ryzen 9 3950X?




					www.forbes.com


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## phill (Nov 25, 2019)

With 2 extra cores and 4 threads, you'd expect it to be a little faster to be honest...  That said, it's still more expensive than AMD's 3950X which whilst amazing value you will need to factor in more expensive hardware on top of the CPU costs, such as quad channel ram and a more expensive motherboard.  I'd have thought also more exotic cooling as well but either way, it's good to see a bit of competition with AMD's finest


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## Tomgang (Nov 25, 2019)

10980XE is not a slow cpu and beats 3950X in some cases. But already at stock is consumes around 100 watt more than 3950X and cost around 230 USD + taxes over 3950X. And then over clock to around 4.6 ghz all core it consumes over 400 watt yikes. So all in all my choise is still ryzen 9 3950X. Also 10980XE still only has pcie gen 3. For not to forget the over all more price for motherboard and quad-channel memory. Also coming from an old I7 980x to a Ryzen 9 3950X shut provide plenty of power for my needs cheaper and less power hungry than a 10980XE build would cost me. 

I have so far only read guru3d review and that is where I have these numbers from as well.


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## Bones (Nov 25, 2019)

Same here, the 3950x is the better buy between the two overall for what you get from how much you pay. 
Cheaper all around and put up some decent numbers to boot with this testing as shown.

All the extra cost of setting up an i9 system based on this chip/socket too figures in as pointed out - For the average joe shmo, AMD here is the better value overall.


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## Melvis (Nov 25, 2019)

I wouldnt say its better honestly, from that review it doesnt look that impressive at all over the 3950X in fact im pretty sure the 3950X beats it more then it losses? and that Adobe result is just a bit off from other reviews ive seen.


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## phill (Nov 25, 2019)

Tomgang said:


> 10980XE is not a slow cpu and beats 3950X in some cases. But already at stock is consumes around 100 watt more than 3950X and cost around 230 USD + taxes over 3950X. And then over clock to around 4.6 ghz all core it consumes over 400 watt yikes. So all in all my choise is still ryzen 9 3950X. Also 10980XE still only has pcie gen 3. For not to forget the over all more price for motherboard and quad-channel memory. Also coming from an old I7 980x to a Ryzen 9 3950X shut provide plenty of power for my needs cheaper and less power hungry than a 10980XE build would cost me.
> 
> I have so far only read guru3d review and that is where I have these numbers from as well.


Raw clock speed and more cores will give it some extra grunt for sure, but as pointed out the power consumption is crazy, could nearly about run two 3950's and have some watts to spare...  

AMD still gets my vote, Intel haven't really released anything here of any value or interest aside from a cheaper X299 CPU that they could have done in the beginning but have been more so forced to do so now.  That said, my X299 Dark might have something else to use instead of the 7980XE I was thinking about..  Hopefully the second hand values of the 79xx and 99xx series will drop like a stone...


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## Deleted member 178884 (Nov 25, 2019)

Amazing CPU, much better buy in my opinion, if you're that into AMD look into a 3900X or threadripper instead.


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## Xzibit (Nov 25, 2019)

*LTT: Intel’s behavior is PATHETIC – Core i9 10980XE Review*









Linus has a sneek peak at ThreadRipper in the video.


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## ratirt (Nov 25, 2019)

According to Guru3D it's not better and these CPUs have 2 additional cores over the 3950X Ryzen. It is competing against 3950x which is way cheaper. $750 for 3950x vs $980 for 10980XE and that is a lot.









						Intel Core i9 10980XE processor  review
					

In this article, we'll review the all-new 18-core Core i9 10980XE from Intel. Despite many announcements, this is the most versatile (in cores) HEDT processor for the consumer market from intel, th... Final Words & Conclusion




					www.guru3d.com


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## dj-electric (Nov 25, 2019)

That time pullback was really something to behold. The performance of the chip itself is not "bad", just "meh". This is still an 18 core CPU that can be brought past 4.5Ghz without much effort.
GN's review gives a more technical perspective on its actual performance, which is most cases is still sub 999$-leading.

Somewhere though, i really wish it would be even cheaper, -100$ extra to get it to 899$ would have sweetened the deal for some that are seeking a CPU for certain tasks that the 10980XE do good.
While not having PCIE 4.0, the X299 with these 48-lane CPUs is still connectivity rich. There's still just plenty of stuff that can be connected at the same time, so its not an unreasonable argument. Even some X299 board prices came down lately.


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## silentbogo (Nov 25, 2019)

Lol, it's f#$%ing Forbes, which not only pisses me off by adblock nagging, but is also not quite competent in tech reviews. 
They are comparing AMD's highest mainstream offering to Intel's highest HEDT offering both in terms of performance and I/O, but when it comes to price - they are quick to fall back to comparing it to Threadripper 2. What a f#$%g joke.

On the serious note - Intel is definitely having its bulldozer moment. Moar cores, moar clockz, moar powa-a-a while barely catching up with competitors previous gen offerings....
9980XE was smacked and laughed at by nearly all tech reviewers, and this is just take #2 of the same story.


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## PerfectWave (Nov 25, 2019)

just wait the 3960X  review


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## ratirt (Nov 25, 2019)

PerfectWave said:


> just wait the 3960X  review


Yeah. I'd like to see some cool numbers 'cause this 10980 doesn't offer much though


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## R0H1T (Nov 25, 2019)

Speaking of TR, when're the reviews gonna be posted


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## ratirt (Nov 25, 2019)

R0H1T said:


> Speaking of TR, when're the reviews gonna be posted


Probably Guru3d. I always look there first. I don't think TPU will be reviewing the threadripper on its launch? Unless I'm wrong.


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## oxrufiioxo (Nov 25, 2019)

Gamersnexus video will be up at 6am pst I believe for TR.


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## Tomgang (Nov 25, 2019)

phill said:


> Raw clock speed and more cores will give it some extra grunt for sure, but as pointed out the power consumption is crazy, could nearly about run two 3950's and have some watts to spare...
> 
> AMD still gets my vote, Intel haven't really released anything here of any value or interest aside from a cheaper X299 CPU that they could have done in the beginning but have been more so forced to do so now.  That said, my X299 Dark might have something else to use instead of the 7980XE I was thinking about..  Hopefully the second hand values of the 79xx and 99xx series will drop like a stone...



Yeah until Intel can provide 10 nm for desktop, don't expect anything ekstra ordanary from them.

This round i bet my money on ryzen 9 3950X and also what just had been said about zen 3, ryzen 4000 cut also be a interesting choise to upgrade later to maybe with IPC gain of 15 % according to amd them self and if that is true, they are gonna be pretty darn close to intels 10 nm claimed 18 % IPC gain as well.

No doubt this round amd line up just seems more appealing to me. Cheaper, less power hungry, cheaper boards/memory config and 3950X seems to be a really good all around cpu for people that games and editing, making animation and so on.


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## W1zzard (Nov 25, 2019)

ratirt said:


> I don't think TPU will be reviewing the threadripper on its launch? Unless I'm wrong.


Nope, no Threadripper sample from AMD.. the usual, we have so few samples, we have to give to the german-language media


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 25, 2019)

W1zzard said:


> Nope, no Threadripper sample from AMD.. the usual, we have so few samples, we have to give to the german-language media


Same old story...
I don't get the fact that after 15+ years of international online publications (does anyone even buy computer magazines any more?) these companies still haven't worked out how to sample products to that market...

Also, why did Linus get one? I bet he would need help to just put it in the motherboard...


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## Vya Domus (Nov 25, 2019)

600W once overclocked is astonishing, their 14nm node has been pushed so far out of it's optimal power envelope it's downright ridiculous. I don't think there has ever been such a wide gap in terms of efficiency and to think AMD was once the subject to all of the "hot and power hungry" jokes and memes.


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## Frick (Nov 25, 2019)

From the reviews I've seen the 3950x is better overall, and a reviewer on Sweclockers has hinted that TR3 is a HEDT game changer, which may be why Intel pulled back review publication time (midnight instead of whatever).


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## ratirt (Nov 25, 2019)

Vya Domus said:


> 600W once overclocked is astonishing, their 14nm node has been pushed so far out of it's optimal power envelope it's downright ridiculous. I don't think there has ever been such a wide gap in terms of efficiency and to think AMD was once the subject to all of the "hot and power hungry" jokes and memes.


Yeah. it is amazing how things turned out  Who would've thought that AMD will be the energy efficient one. Mind blowing 
Other thing is, I understand cherry picked benchmarks (kinda understand) but cherry picked products you compare others too? The title of this thread says a lot in that regard since the 10980XE is not a competitor to the 3950x.
600W is a lot for just a CPU. My entire system draws less.


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 25, 2019)

woaaahhh a "HEDT" 18c/36t is faster than a "Mainstream" 16c/32t? who knews? ...
nonetheless ... not impressively faster, as some mentioned, i thought it would be a little faster than that ...  specially for the price difference that doesn't get justified by 2c/4t more
all i draw from that article is that the 3950X is better option (although the offer from Intel is not bad either ... just .... not appealing at all)

funny in the article one argument was "This will potentially give it an advantage over AMD's 3rd Gen Threadripper CPUs, which require new motherboards. Not only this, but X299 motherboards are cheaper than I expect their TRX40 chipset counterparts to be."
humpf ... why would a HEDT from Intel be compared to a HEDT from AMD when the one from Intel justcompete with the mainstream line from AMD?




Xx Tek Tip xX said:


> Amazing CPU, much better buy in my opinion,


eh? and in what aspect? price is horrible (280$ more is not justified in that case) , performance gap is meh (and with 2c/4t more ... make it less impressive ) power consumption is not on his side and Intel will probably f!ck up you OC later with a microcode update via WU ... (well ... it does feel like the K on my i5-6600K was a "temporary rental" ... )  well there is still the memory bandwidth advantage...

although in a the article results that HEDT CPU is barely above a Mainstream CPU... a better buy for sure ...  (well ... it seems Forbes and some, considere a few seconds less a few FPS more to be an abyssal gap )






W1zzard said:


> Nope, no Threadripper sample from AMD.. the usual, we have so few samples, we have to give to the german-language media


that's kinda stupid from them ... German? seriously?


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## W1zzard (Nov 25, 2019)

GreiverBlade said:


> German? seriously?


I'm physically located in Germany, but write in English


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## GreiverBlade (Nov 25, 2019)

W1zzard said:


> I'm physically located in Germany, but write in English


well i am of French mother language but Intel Apple Google and many other big names, think that since i am Swiss ... my main language should be German even tho in the preference for newsletter it's set to English or French ... 

aherm ... uh.. nope i mentioned stupid because of "we have to give to the german-language media" ... "computer Bild" is still a big shot in the computer press? 



TheLostSwede said:


> (does anyone even buy computer magazines any more?)/QUOTE]
> i do sometime ...


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## erek (Nov 25, 2019)




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## phill (Nov 25, 2019)

Tomgang said:


> Yeah until Intel can provide 10 nm for desktop, don't expect anything ekstra ordanary from them.
> 
> This round i bet my money on ryzen 9 3950X and also what just had been said about zen 3, ryzen 4000 cut also be a interesting choise to upgrade later to maybe with IPC gain of 15 % according to amd them self and if that is true, they are gonna be pretty darn close to intels 10 nm claimed 18 % IPC gain as well.
> 
> No doubt this round amd line up just seems more appealing to me. Cheaper, less power hungry, cheaper boards/memory config and 3950X seems to be a really good all around cpu for people that games and editing, making animation and so on.


AMD is definitely the way forward for price and performance ratio   I can't see why you'd go any other way...

The CPU battle side of things are going nicely, we have some competition from both sides, which is only going to benefit us in the end


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## ShurikN (Nov 25, 2019)

Anand is postponing their 10 series review to match review embargo of TR3. This way you get to see a massacre in a single review.
Mad respect for Anand.








						It’s a Cascade of 14nm CPUs: AnandTech’s Intel Core i9-10980XE Review
					






					www.anandtech.com


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## ratirt (Nov 25, 2019)

ShurikN said:


> Anand is postponing their 10 series review to match review embargo of TR3. This way you get to see a massacre in a single review.
> Mad respect for Anand.
> 
> 
> ...


Guru3d will update the charts  









						Intel Core i9 10980XE processor  review
					

In this article, we'll review the all-new 18-core Core i9 10980XE from Intel. Despite many announcements, this is the most versatile (in cores) HEDT processor for the consumer market from intel, th... Final Words & Conclusion




					www.guru3d.com
				




when the TR's time comes.


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## kapone32 (Nov 25, 2019)

Looks like there will be 3 different new HEDT entries 

1. These new Cascade Lake based PCs with CPUs not over $1000
2. AMD TR3 with CPUS starting at $1400
3. AMD TR2 with CPUs starting at $149

The 3900X and 3950X (even though the core count is high) are still considered by me as being regular desktop parts as they are on X570.


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## ratirt (Nov 25, 2019)

kapone32 said:


> Looks like there will be 3 different new HEDT entries
> 
> 1. These new Cascade Lake based PCs with CPUs not over $1000
> 2. AMD TR3 with CPUS starting at $1400
> ...


The 3900x and 3950x are desktop parts despite the core count. Does the TR2 price really start from $149?  That's crazy :O.


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## dj-electric (Nov 25, 2019)

Since connectivity is another thing, that's why things don't always boil down to cores and clocks. Some users may need what X299 \ X399 \ TRX40 has to offer over Z390 \ X570


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## PerfectWave (Nov 25, 2019)

review of 3960 and 3970








						The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X and 3970X Review: 24 and 32 Cores on 7nm
					






					www.anandtech.com


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## R0H1T (Nov 25, 2019)

This massacre is basically unseen, sure it's "that many" cores but I fail to remember the last time a new product beat the competitor's by this wide a margin across the board even with Conroe or K8 

P.S. don't recall the exact reviews from back then, so don't quote me on that


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## kapone32 (Nov 25, 2019)

ratirt said:


> The 3900x and 3950x are desktop parts despite the core count. Does the TR2 price really start from $149?  That's crazy :O.



Yep the 1900X is $149.99 US and the 2990WX is $1718 on Amazon.com (oops look it went up by $6 vs last week) 



			https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Threadripper-16-thread-Processor-YD190XA8AEWOF/dp/B0754JNQBP/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=1900X&qid=1574691790&sr=8-1


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## Bill_Bright (Nov 25, 2019)

I think Linus hit the nail on the head. We see this BS all the time with many products, hardware and software. Microsoft is a perfect example. 

The engineers and developers do a great job of developing the product. Then the marketing weenies and clueless executives get their grubby paws in the mix and ruin the reputation of the developers and pi$$ off the consumers. Its like when MBAs and lawyers start running hospitals. What happens? Patient care is put on the back burner. 

What engineering experience does the current Intel CEO, Robert Swan have? Nada!


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## Hellfire (Nov 25, 2019)

But is it really faster...









In some cases it is, in some it isn't, I'd say the 3950x is on par with it.

Also let's not forget TR3.


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## Deleted member 178884 (Nov 25, 2019)

Hellfire said:


> View attachment 137584
> 
> But is it really faster...
> 
> ...


NDA has lifted already - check Linus's channel again.


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## Hellfire (Nov 25, 2019)

Already have. Just finished actually. I felt had, like AMD were beating the special kid up.

Intel fanboys are like


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## phanbuey (Nov 25, 2019)

It's going to be a rough 2020 for the Intel.


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## Tomgang (Nov 25, 2019)

phill said:


> AMD is definitely the way forward for price and performance ratio   I can't see why you'd go any other way...
> 
> The CPU battle side of things are going nicely, we have some competition from both sides, which is only going to benefit us in the end



Yeah no doubt there and I also just made an order for a Ryzen 9 3950X. It's time to move on from X58 as well.


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## HD64G (Nov 25, 2019)

You are joking right? 3950X is half the price being equal in performance and having PCI-E 4.0 when including board and RAM price and the TR4 platform paves over Intel, while not being much more expensive.

Update: Even gaming is a field that new TR4 CPUs have leading performace or on par with 9900K as one can see in the video below



Spoiler: 3960X & 3970X HU review


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## dgianstefani (Nov 25, 2019)

3950x is better all around choice obviously. But for certain use cases, and if you are willing to overlook overcomeable shortcomings such as thermals etc. the Intel x299 platform is superior. What it boils down to is that the choice is between consumer platform amd/intel, HEDT platform Intel, or workstation platform AMD. 

Fanbois on both sides don't help clarify things. Hurr durr AMD good Intel Bad or Hurr Durr Intel Fast AMD slow are just moronic oversimplifications of a changing dynamic.


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## Hellfire (Nov 25, 2019)

I was bored so made a thing


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## Khonjel (Dec 14, 2019)

aldousmuni said:


> Somewhere though, i really wish it would be even cheaper, -100$ extra to get it to 899$ would have sweetened the deal for some that are seeking a CPU for certain tasks that the 10980XE do good.


Lol. Is this a bot?
Usually I don't read multi page threads and just skip to the last page but somehow reading this 2 page thread wholly gave me this gem. Copy paste of part of @dj-electric's comment.


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