The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X has been unceremoniously dumped outside the top 10 best-performing processors in UserBenchmark’s average bench chart. While the much-praised Intel Core i9-13900K sits at the top, the Zen 4 part has to settle for a lowly position behind the i7-12700K, despite seemingly scoring much higher test marks than the Alder Lake chip.
Many outlets have been thoroughly excited about the Zen 4 vs. Raptor Lake competition, with some opining that the real winner is the consumer. While the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X offers RDNA 2 graphics power and efficient cores, the Intel Core i9-13900K supplies impressive single-core performance at an arguably reasonable price. Both parts have their strengths and weaknesses, with Ryzen 7000 being fairly criticized for requiring new motherboards and lacking DDR4 support. However, it deserves to be pointed out that both Team Read and Team Blue update sockets for CPUs, with Alder Lake chips requiring LGA 1700 motherboards upon their 2021 release.
Unsurprisingly to many who are more seriously involved with benchmarking processors or watching the industry as a whole, UserBenchmark is not in agreement with the majority. It is, of course, easy to simply dismiss the maligned site as being biased and pro-Intel, but placing a brand-new premium processor like the Ryzen 9 7950X below the Intel Core i7-12700K, ostensibly out of spite, should not be ignored by those who care about Intel vs. AMD processor performance and for people getting into PC building. UserBenchmark purportedly receives around 10 million visits a month, and while that figure is likely wide of the exact mark, it still shows how popular – and therefore influential – the benchmark site is.
The current misleading situation see the Ryzen 9 7950X languishing in 12th position, out of the top 10 places (all occupied by Intel parts), and on the same average bench mark as the i7-12700K: 114%. AMD’s 16-core, 32-thread part with a 170 W TDP and 5.7 GHz boost clock rate is apparently incapable of surpassing a 12-core, 20 thread chip with a 190 W turbo power and turbo max 3.0 level of 5.0 GHz. The nonsense continues with the scoring for each processor, as the Zen 4 chip receives averages of 120%/135%/219% (normal/heavy/server) while the Alder Lake CPU gets 118%/132%/140% but still somehow ranks higher in the charts. Not only does this take some of the shine off the i9-13900K’s results, but it also misinforms potential PC builders looking for recommendations.
Despite accusations of being part of a particular marketing machine, our recent review of the i9-13900K and i5-13600K revealed that the former is capable of keeping up with the Ryzen 9 7950X and even outscoring it depending on the benchmark. It delivers all-round high performance and arguably deserves its place at the top of the UserBenchmark chart on 128%. Unfortunately, the glory of Team Blue’s high-end Raptor Lake processor is tarnished by UserBenchmark deliberately placing Zen 4’s finest 11 positions further down the chart on a somewhat mundane mark of 114% (even the i5-13600K is rewarded with a mark of 121%). The site remains an important stop for spotting SKU leaks and discovering specifications and configurations, but it will likely continue to be ridiculed by the DIY PC community while such overt bias remains on display.
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Daniel R Deakin – Managing Editor News & Magazine – 2845 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2012
My interest in technology began after I was presented with an Atari 800XL home computer in the mid-1980s. I especially enjoy writing about technological advances, compelling rumors, and intriguing tech-related leaks. I have a degree in International Relations and Strategic Studies and count my family, reading, writing, and travel as the main passions of my life. I have been with Notebookcheck since 2012.
Daniel R Deakin, 2022-10-24 (Update: 2022-10-24)