The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is designed to be a middle-of-the-market processor SKU from Intel's next generation "Meteor Lake" processor family. It comes with a CPU core configuration of 14-core/18-thread. That's 4P+8E+2L (four performance cores, eight efficiency cores, two low-power island cores), although with a full featured Xe-LPG iGPU that has all 8 Xe cores (128 EU) enabled. The chip is normally rated for a 28 W power envelope, although OEMs such as Lenovo have developed a custom 65 W "power mode," which raises the base power value.

A Chinese PC enthusiast with access to an unreleased Lenovo notebook based on this processor, including Lenovo's 65 W Mode toggle, benchmarked it, and compared it with a notebook powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS "Phoenix" processor (8-core/16-thread, "Zen 4," Radeon 780M iGPU with all 12 compute units enabled); and another notebook powered by Intel's current middle-of-market chip in the H-segment, the Core i5-13500H "Raptor Lake" (4P+8E, Xe-LP iGPU with 5 Xe cores or 80 EU). The results were a little unexpected. The Xe-LPG iGPU of the 125H is shown beating both the Radeon 780M of the Ryzen, and the Xe-LP iGPU of the i5-13500H, with the highest 3DMark Time Spy and Fire Strike scores in the comparison. The Xe-LPG iGPU is 15% faster than the Radeon 780M in Time Spy, and 6% faster in Fire Strike. It's a whopping 70% faster than the Xe-LP iGPU of the "Raptor Lake" chip in this comparison. Things are shockingly different on the CPU performance front for the "Meteor Lake" chip.

When Intel announced the appearance of the 4th generation Xeon-W processors, the company announced that the clock multiplier was left unlocked, available for overclockers to try and push these chips even harder. However, it was only a matter of time before we saw the top-end Xeon-W SKU take a chance at beating the world record in Cinebench R23. The Intel Xeon W9-3495X SKU is officially the world record score holder with 132,484 points in Cinebench R23. The overclocker OGS from Greece managed to push all 56 cores and 112 threads of the CPU to 5.4 GHz clock frequency using liquid nitrogen (LN2) cooling setup. Using ASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE motherboard and G-SKILL Zeta R5 RAM kit, the OC record was set on March 8th.

The previous record holder of this position was AMD with its Threadripper Pro 5995WX with 64 cores and 128 threads clocked at 5.4 GHz. Not only did Xeon W9-3495X set the Cinebench R23 record, but the SKU also placed the newest record for Cinebench R20, Y-Cruncher, 3DMark CPU test, and Geekbench 3 as well.

The Cinebench R20 score of an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X "Zen 4" processor (possibly engineering sample), was allegedly leaked to the web by "Extreme Player Hall," a video-format tech news published on Bili Bili, as discovered by 9550pro on Twitter. The 8-core/16-thread processor was shown scoring 773 points in the single-thread test, and 7701 points in the multi-threaded one. These numbers put it 25-30 percent faster than the current Ryzen 7 5800X, as pointed out by Greymon55. The multi-threaded performance of this chip is roughly on par with that of the 5900X, which means AMD is overcoming a 50% CPU core-deficit on the backs of higher IPC and memory bandwidth.

The 25% single-core performance gain over the 5800X, if extrapolated to other less-parallized workloads such as gaming, could put this processor about 5-10% ahead of the 5800X3D, and about 4-9% ahead of the Core i9-12900K. The 7700X could face an uphill task measuring up to "Raptor Lake" in multi-threaded tests, given that Intel is doubling down on its Hybrid Architecture, with more E-cores across the lineup. AMD may still have a crack at matching Raptor Lake's gaming performance with future variants that have 3DV Cache.

Armed with 6 "Golden Cove" P-cores, 8 "Gracemont" E-cores, high clock speeds, and clever enough power-management to fit inside a "halo-class" notebook, the new Intel Core i9-12900HK "Alder Lake" offers multi-threaded performance riving HEDT processors, beating AMD's first-gen Ryzen Threadripper 1950X 16-core/32-thread processor, according to an early performance review by Lab501. The 14-core/20-thread processor scores 6741 points, compared to the reference score of 6670 points for the 1950X. The processor ends up roughly 16.8% faster than the previous-generation i9-11980HK that's based on the 8-core/16-thread "Tiger Lake-H" silicon. Stress tests show that the chip can sustain boost frequencies of nearly 4.99 GHz on the P-cores, with 113 W package power draw, and core temperatures of 99°C.

Intel's upcoming Core i3-12100 and i3-12300 quad-core processors that form the value-end of the 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" desktop processor family, pack an incredible mix of performance for their segment, which puts them ahead of six-core parts from the previous-generation, according to performance testing on the ChipHell forums. The two chips are based on the "H0" silicon, and feature four "Golden Cove" P-cores with HyperThreading enabled; no E-cores, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. From what we can tell, the i3-12100 and i3-12300 are segment only by a 100 MHz maximum boost frequency value, and possibly at the iGPU-level.

Among the tests run by ChipHell are Cinebench R20, Cinebench R23, CPU-Z bench, CS:GO; and power/thermal testing using AIDA64. Right off the bat, we see the two chips flex their high IPC in the CPU-Z bench, scoring 687 points (i3-12100), and 702.5 points (i3-12300). An AMD "Zen 3" based quad-core chip, such as the OEM-only Ryzen 3 PRO 5350G, should score roughly 620 points, while the slowest "Rocket Lake" part, the i5-11400, only does 566 points. The multi-threaded test sees scores ranging between 3407 to 3482 points for the two.

Intel is expected to announce their Alder Lake mobile processors in Q1 2022 with rumors and leaks for several of these chips already surfacing. The i7-12700H has recently been spotted running Cinebench on what could possibly be an MSI GE76 Raider 12UH with the results showing impressive performance gains. The processor features six Golden Cove (P) cores and eight Gracemont (E) cores for a total of 14 cores and 20 threads.

The i7-12700H includes a configurable base TDP of 35 W - 45 W and this specific sample was running at a reported base frequency of 2.9 GHz during testing. The processor scored 689 points in Cinebench R20 single-core which places it 12% faster than the Core i9-11950H and 21% faster than AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 5900HX. The processor widens this gap in Cinebench R20 multi-core with a score of 7158 points placing it 47% above the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 9 5900HX. We can also see that multi-core performance is 49% faster than the recently released Apple M1 Max in Cinebench R23. AMD is preparing their Ryzen 6000 processors for an early 2022 launch which will be competing with these Alder Lake chips but we have yet to see many performance leaks for them to compare with.

The recently announced Intel Core i9-12900K is set to launch on November 4th alongside the i7-12700K, and i5-12600K which is the date when we will see reviews for the processors released. We have already seen numerous leaks regarding the processors performance leading up to the announcement and we have now received some new leaked performance figures for the processors when operating in Maximum Turbo Power (MTP). The MTP is defined by Intel as the maximum sustained power dissipation of a processor compared to TDP which is the base power draw. The performance difference between these two power modes has been revealed from Cinebench R20 multi-threaded results posted by Wofstame the Gaming Desktop Product Planning Manager for Lenovo China.

The Intel Core i9-12900K scores 7492 points when running at its TDP of 125 W and 10180 points or 36% faster when operating at the MTP of 241 W. This performance difference is less notable for the other processors with the Core i7-12700K seeing a 30% improvement between its 125 W and 190 W power modes while the Core i5-12600K sees a 10% improvement from the 125 W TDP to 150 W MTP. Intel appears to be extracting the maximum performance from their Core i9-12900K with diminishing returns from the increased power budget compared to the other processors.

Intel's upcoming Core i5-12400 "Alder Lake-S" processor could be an interesting piece of silicon. Apparently, not all 12th Gen Core i5 desktop chips have the same core-configuration. While the top Core i5-12600K is expected to have six "Golden Cove" P cores and four "Gracemont" E-cores, some of the lower variants, such as the i5-12400, will lack E cores, and be pure P core chips. In this case, the chip is 6-core/12-thread with just P cores; 1.25 MB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. You'll probably get all the next-gen I/O, including PCI-Express Gen 5 (PEG slot), a PCI-Express Gen 4 CPU-attached NVMe slot, and DDR5+DDR4 memory.

Given that the Core i5-11400 is a $190 part, even with a 10-15% price hike, the i5-12400 is expected to be under $220. The only drawbacks here are expected to be locked BClk multiplier, and rather low clock speeds of 4.00 GHz. A user on Chinese social media posted alleged Cinebench R20 results of the i5-12400. It scores 659 points in the single-threaded test, and 4784 points in the multi-threaded test. Wccftech tabulated this against known performance numbers of popular chips, and found that the i5-12400 might end up slightly ahead of the Ryzen 5 5600X, a currently-$300 part. The table also puts out leaked i9-12900K numbers, which indicate why AMD is rushing with "Zen 3+" with 3D Vertical Cache, instead of next-gen "Zen 4."

The 8 "Golden Cove" performance cores (P-cores) present on 12th Gen "Alder Lake-S" desktop processors offer an IPC gain of 19% over the "Cypress Cove" cores powering current 11th Gen "Rocket Lake-S" processors, claims Intel. This would put them at roughly 35% higher IPC than the "Skylake" cores that powered Intel client desktop processors until as recently as 2020, with the 10th Gen "Comet Lake." This 19% number, however, is presented as a geomean of performance improvement at iso-frequency, across a wide selection of tests that include SPEC CPU 2017, SYSmark 25, Crossmark, PCMark 10, WebXPRT3, and Geekbench 5.4.1.

The high IPC of the P-cores, coupled with the high rumored frequencies for the enthusiast i9-12900K part running well into 5.30 GHz or beyond, begins to explain how 8 of these "Golden Cove" cores, coupled with 8 fairly fast "Gracemont" cores, closes in on the 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at Cinebench R20.

With qualification samples of the upcoming Intel Core i9-12900K "Alder Lake-S" processors and companion Socket LGA1700 motherboards hitting the black-market, expect a deluge of benchmarks on social media. One such that stands out makes a fascinating claim that the i9-12900K beats AMD's current flagship Ryzen 9 5950X processor at Cinebench R20, which has been AMD's favorite multi-threaded benchmark. At stock speeds, with liquid cooling, the i9-12900K allegedly scores 810 points in the single-threaded test, and 11600 points in multi-threaded.

To put these numbers into perspective, a retail Ryzen 9 5950X scores 641 points in the single-threaded test, and 10234 points in multi-threaded, in our own testing. The i9-12900K is technically a 16-core processor, just like the 5950X, but half its cores are low-power "Gracemont." The "Alder Lake-S" chip appears to be making up ground on the single-threaded performance of the "Golden Cove" P-core, that's a whopping 25% higher than the "Zen 3" core on the 5950X. This is aided not just by higher IPC, but also the max boost frequency of 5.30 GHz for 1~2 cores, and 5.00 GHz "all-core" boost (for the P-cores).

The Intel Core i9-12900K is the companies upcoming flagship 12th Generation Alder Lake-S processor featuring a hybrid design with 8 high-performance cores and 8 high-efficiency cores. The qualification sample for the processor reportedly features a base clock of 3.9 GHz and a boost clock of 5.3 GHz which is less than initial rumors which claimed boost speeds could reach 5.5 GHz. The processor achieved a multi-core score of 11300 points in Cinebench R20 which is 800 points higher than AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 5950X. Intel's 12th Generation Alder Lake-S processors will be manufactured on the 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin node and will include support for PCIe 5.0 and DDR5. Intel is expected to announce the processors in Q3 2021 for a Q4 2021 release which will position them against AMD's upcoming V-Cache technology expected to arrive in early 2022.

GIGABYTE Technology, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced the all-new 2021 BRIX mini-PC series, which adopts the latest AMD Ryzen 5000U mobile processors that have leading 7 nm technology, 8 cores/16 threads CPU architecture, low 15 W TDP, and reduced power consumption compared to the previous generation. Benefiting from AMD's premium "Zen 3" core architecture and "Vega" GPU cores, these processors boost the performance significantly in CPU and GPU related workloads. Enhanced by GIGABYTE's exclusive design, the all-new 2021 BRIX mini-PC design integrates 4 display outputs, 2.5G Ethernet, and 802.11ax WiFi 6E configuration, creating the most powerful multitasking mini-PC with astounding performance and responsiveness for either gaming or content creation.

The latest AMD Ryzen 5000U mobile processors highlight 7 nm technology, and when compared to the previous generation, these new processors feature a 16% increase in single-threaded performance, 14% increase in multi-threaded performance, and do so with higher clock frequencies and lower SoC power consumption. The powerful performance of AMD Ryzen 5000U mobile processors sets a milestone for the mobile platform. When it comes to benchmark testing, it is inspiring to see that 3DMark CPU Performance scores come in at 1.23x that of competitor's 11th Gen processors and 1.8x on Cinebench R20 benchmark too. No more needing to compromise between productivity, performance, and gaming/video performance.

We have received various leaks and benchmarks for AMD's upcoming Ryzen 5000G processors, these were all from engineering samples but we now have our first look at the retail 5700G. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G features the model number 100-000000263 attributed to earlier rumors and has been tested in CPU-Z scoring 631 points in single-threaded performance along with 6782 points in multi-threaded, and in Cinebench R20 it scored 6040 points. The integrated Vega graphics lack any official drivers but GPU-Z reports a Vega 8 processor with 12 Streaming Multiprocessors and a base clock of 2 GHz. AMD is yet to officially announce any Ryzen 5000G processors so it is unclear how far away their launch is and whether or not they will be made available to the DIY market.

Intel's 11th generation Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processors could feature similar Power Level values to their 10th Gen counterparts, according to a recent Core i9-11900 engineering sample benchmark leak posted to Chinese social media platform Bilibili. The i9-11900 (non-K) is a locked SKU that succeeds the i9-10900, and has a rated TDP of 65 W (which is also its PL1), but the PL2 value is reportedly 224 W, identical to that of the i9-10900. A recent report also predicted that individual 11th Gen SKUs have the same TDP (PL1) ratings as their 10th Gen counterparts, with locked SKUs rated at 65 W, and unlocked "K" and "KF" SKUs featuring 125 W.

The "QV1J" engineering sample for the i9-11900, which has been doing rounds with most leaks, has a nominal clock speed of just 1.80 GHz, an all-core Turbo Boost frequency of 3.80 GHz, and maximum (single-core) boost frequency of 4.40 GHz. The 8-core/16-thread processor ends up performing slightly better than the i9-9900K at Cinebench R15 and Cinebench R20, although not nearly enough to qualify as a generational performance uplift. The i9-11900 ES was tested on a motherboard based on the next-gen mid-range Intel B560 chipset.

Following the launch of its 5000 series AMD Ryzen processors based on the new Zen 3 core, AMD is preparing for market availability of these processors on November 5th. The reviews are going to arrive on that day as well, meaning that the consumers will know what to look for in the new CPU lineup. Thanks to a LinusTechTips forum member, Jumper118, we have some of the first benchmarks arriving just ahead of the official launch. The user has posted Cinebench R20, R15, and R11.5 scores of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6C/12T CPU. All of the benchmarks were recorded for the single-core values, revealing what we can expect from the new Zen 3 core.

Scoring 609 points in Cinebench R20, 272 and 258 points in R15, and 3.0 points in R11.5, the new Ryzen 5 5600X CPU shows that there is a good performance improvement to be gained from upgrading to the latest generation. Below, you can see the newly released Zen 3 core detailed by AMD, and the benchmark results of the new leak.

Taiwan-based tech publication CoolPC.com.tw published one of the first comprehensive performance reviews of the recently announced AMD Ryzen PRO 4750G, PRO 4650G, and PRO 4350G Socket AM4 desktop processors based on the 7 nm "Renoir" silicon that combines up to 8 "Zen 2" GPU cores with a Radeon Vega iGPU that has up to 8 compute units (512 stream processors). In their testing, the processors were paired with an AMD Wraith Prism (125 W TDP capable) cooler, an ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming motherboard, 2x 8 GB ADATA Spectrix D50 DDR4-3600 memory, and a Seagate FireCuda NVMe SSD.

The benchmark results are a fascinating mix. The top-dog Ryzen 7 4750G was found to be trading blows with the Core i7-10700K, the i7-10700, and AMD's own Ryzen 7 3700X, depending on the benchmark. In CPUMark 99 and Cinebench R20 nT, the PRO 4750G beats the i7-10700 and 3700X while practically matching the i7-10700K. It beats the i7-10700K at 7-Zip (de-compression) and HWBOT x265 video encoding benchmark. The story repeats with the 6-core/12-thread PRO 4650G beating the Core i5-10600K in some tests, and AMD's own Ryzen 5 3600X in quite a few tests. Ditto with the quad-core PRO 4350G pasting the previous generation Ryzen 3 3300G.

Overclocking feats and benchmarks of the upcoming Ryzen 7 4700G "Renoir" desktop APU are getting more frequent, which is an indication that we're moving closer to its launch. Chinese language publication ITCooker put their 4700G engineering sample through a bit of manual overclocking to 4.65 GHz, up from the processor's alleged 3.60 GHz base frequency, resulting in a Cinebench R15 score of 217 points in the single-threaded test, and 2306 points in the multi-threaded test. At 4.54 GHz, the same setup goes on to score 5336 points in Cinebench R20. The processor is paired with 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4-4266 MHz memory, and a 240 mm AIO CLC.

Intel's upcoming Core i5-10400 processor, priced at USD $184, with an iGPU-devoid i5-10400F variant priced at $157, could be a serious mid-range price-performance package, building on the popularity of its predecessors, the i5-9400F and the i5-8400. The new chip is 6-core/12-thread, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache, or a similar die configuration to the 8th generation Core i7 series. The chip has the same 2.90 GHz nominal clock as the i5-9400, but increases the max Turbo Boost frequency by 200 MHz to 4.30 GHz.

A PC enthusiast on ChipHell, with access to an i5-10400, tested it on an MSI MAG Z490 Tomahawk motherboard, and compared its performance with the i5-9400F. Among the strictly-synthetic tests are Cinebench R15 and R20, various forms of CPU-Z bench, and SuperPi. The processor posts a tiny 2-5% performance gain in single-threaded tests that scale perfectly with its 4.8% higher max boost frequency (4.30 GHz vs. 4.10 GHz on the i5-9400F). It's the multi-threaded tests where the i5-10400 comes alive, thanks to HyperThreading. It posts massive 35-45% performance gains with CPU-Z bench multi-threaded; a 41.85% gain with Cinebench R20 nT, and 45.05% gain with Cinebench R15 nT. This would bring the i5-10400 within 10-15% of the Ryzen 5 3600X in multi-threaded Cinebench tests.

Intel is giving finishing touches to its 10th generation Core i3 desktop processors based on the "Comet Lake" microarchitecture. These upcoming socket LGA1200 processors are 4-core/8-thread, and see the debut of HyperThreading and Turbo Boost technologies to the Core i3 desktop processor brand extension. The i3-10100 is an entry-level part clocked at 3.60 GHz with 4.30 GHz boost; while the i3-10300 is clocked higher with 3.70 GHz nominal and 4.40 GHz boost frequency. The TDP of both parts is rated at 65 W. Besides clock speeds, the two parts are differentiated with L3 cache amount, with the i3-10100 featuring 6 MB, and the i3-10300 featuring 8 MB. Cinebench R20 scores of the two chips were leaked to the web by CPU-Monkey.

The i3-10100 reportedly scores 448 points in the single-thread, and 2284 points in the multi-threaded test. The i3-10300, on the other hand, scores 457 points in the single-threaded test, and 2330 points in the multi-threaded test. The same source also claims to have tested the upcoming 3rd generation AMD Ryzen 3 "Matisse" 4-core/8-thread processor series, with the Ryzen 3 3100 scoring 444 points single-thread and 2154 points multi-threaded; and the Ryzen 3 3300X scoring 491 points single-thread, and 2341 points multi-threaded. If these scores hold true, it's game on between the two companies' entry-level chips.

Hong Kong-based tech publication HKEPC posted a performance review of a few 10th generation Core "Comet Lake-S" desktop processor engineering samples they scored. These include the Core i7-10700 (8-core/16-thread), the i5-10600K (6-core/12-thread), the i5-10500, and the i5-10400. The four chips were paired with a Dell-sourced OEM motherboard based on Intel's B460 chipset, 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4-4133 memory, and an RX 5700 XT graphics card to make the test bench. This bench was compared to several Intel 9th generation Core and AMD 3rd generation Ryzen processors.

Among the purely CPU-oriented benchmarks, the i7-10700 was found to be trading blows with the Ryzen 7 3700X. It's important to note here, that the i7-10700 is a locked chip, possibly with 65 W rated TDP. Its 4.60 GHz boost frequency is lesser than that of the unlocked, 95 W i9-9900K, which ends up topping most of the performance charts where it's compared to the 3700X. Still the comparison between i7-10700 and 3700X can't be dismissed, since the new Intel chip could launch at roughly the same price as the 3700X (if you go by i7-9700 vs. i7-9700K launch price trends).

The Core i7-10700F is an upcoming 8-core/16-thread processor that's expected to be significantly affordable compared to the i7-10700K. Unlike the i7-10700K targeted at overclockers, the i7-10700F is multiplier locked, has lower nominal clock speeds of 2.90 GHz, and lacks integrated graphics (hence the "F" extension). PC enthusiasts on Korean tech community QuasarZone posted a screenshot of an alleged i7-10700F test run on Cinebench R20. The chip is shown scoring 4781 points in the multi-threaded test, and 492 points single-threaded. These scores roughly compare with AMD's Ryzen 7 3700X processor. No other details such as motherboard or memory configuration were put out.

AMD today announced four new desktop processors across three very diverse markets. To begin with, the company crowned its socket AM4 mainstream desktop platform with the mighty new Ryzen 9 3950X processor. Next up, it released its new baseline entry-level APU, the Athlon 3000G. Lastly, it detailed the 3rd generation Ryzen Threadripper HEDT processor family with two initial models, the Ryzen Threadripper 3960X and the flagship Ryzen Threadripper 3970X. The company also formally released its AGESA Combo PI 1.0.0.4B microcode, and with it, introduced a killer new feature for all "Zen 2" based Ryzen processors, called ECO Mode.

The Ryzen 9 3950X is a 16-core/32-thread processor in the AM4 package, compatible with all socket AM4 motherboards, provided they have the latest BIOS update with AGESA Combo PI 1.0.0.4B microcode. The processor comes with clock-speeds of 3.50 GHz base, with 4.70 GHz maximum boost frequency, and the same 105 W TDP as the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X. With 512 KB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and 64 MB of shared L3 cache, the chip has a mammoth 72 MB of "total cache."

Originally Cinebench R20 was released to the Microsoft Store which as you can probably guess caused a bit of negative PR for Maxon due to the benchmarks popularity within the enthusiast community. What really seemed to fuel the fire was the fact it was always freely distributed just about everywhere even here on TechPowerUp. Fast forward to the latest release and with it being locked to a digital walled garden of sorts really didn't sit too well within the community. However, it did not take long for enterprising enthusiasts to discover you could make it standalone.

This prompted Maxon to request the hosted files be taken down which generated quite the discussion within our own forums both for and against the move. Yet in the end, Maxon's reasoning behind their decision still remains a bit perplexing and with little clarity. Even more so now as the company has released there very own standalone version. Which leads us to wonder why they went about doing things in this circuitous manner in the first place. Still, this standalone release will likely be met with much more fanfare, well that is if the download link pointed to the right files. Currently, the official download page will direct users to a Mac .dmg file, which seems to be a copy and paste mistake. We figured out the correct link, it's listed below.Download: Maxon Cinebench R20

Maxon last week week posted its Cinebench R20 CPU benchmark. Breaking convention, the company behind rendering software such as Cinema 4D R20, did not host the installer of Cinebench R20 on its own website. Instead, the software is being exclusively distributed through Microsoft Store (for Windows) and Apple App Store (for the MacOS platform). Several reputable PC enthusiast websites such as Guru3D and us, were bombarded by comments from their readers that they didn't like having to get their Cinebench R20 copy from "walled garden DRM platforms," and instead preferred portable versions of the software. Cinebench R20 is freeware, and so with good intentions, many PC enthusiast websites decided to build portable versions of Cinebench R20 that people can just unzip and run. Maxon did not take kindly to this.

Guru3D received legal threats from Maxon to take down their download hosting of Cinebench R20 portable. Facing these threats, Guru3D took down their download and amended their news articles with links to the Microsoft DRM store. The e-mail we received politely asked us to remove the "unauthorized download" but did include a threat that the company "reserves the next legal steps." We believe this behavior by Maxon is unfair, and will alienate a section of PC enthusiasts form Cinebench. No record-seeking PC enthusiast with an LN2 bench painstakingly set up has time to plug their machine to the Internet, launch the UWP store, evade attempts to get them to log in with a Microsoft account, and fetch Cinebench R20 with versions they have no control over. They'd rather install and run their benchmarks and tools off a flash drive, with control over versions, and the ability to keep their machines offline to stabilize their overclock. Many others simply hate DRM platforms for freeware. TechPowerUp has since taken down Cinebench R20 portable from its Downloads section. You can find it on Microsoft UWP Store.

Maxon Tuesday unveiled its Cinebench R20 benchmark designed to test CPU performance at photorealistic rendering using the company's Cinema 4D R20 technology. The benchmark runs on any PC with at least 4 GB of memory and SSE3 instruction-set support, although it can scale across any number of cores, memory, and supports exotic new instruction-sets such as AVX2. Maxon describes Cinebench R20 as using four times the memory, and eight times the CPU computational power as Cinebench R15. The benchmark implements Intel Embree ray-tracing engine. Maxon is distributing Cinebench R20 exclusively through the Microsoft Store on the Windows platform.

Unlike its predecessor, Cinebench R20 lacks a GPU test. The CPU test scales by the number of CPU cores and SMT units available. It consists of a tiled rendering of a studio apartment living room scene by Render Baron, which includes ray-traced elements, high resolution textures, illumination, and reflections. The number of logical processors available determines the number of rendering instances. The benchmark does indeed have a large memory footprint, and rewards HTT or SMT and high clock-speeds, as our own quick test shows. A 4-core/8-thread Core i7-7700K beats our Core i5-9400F 6-core/6-thread processor.

Update (11th March): We have removed the portable version download at Maxon's request.DOWNLOAD: Maxon Cinebench R20 (Microsoft Store)