Intel Core i7-9700K vs Intel Core i9-7980XE

Core i7-9700K vs Core i9-7980XE specs and performance

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i7-9700K performs better than the Core i9-7980XE. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i9-7980XE in all gaming tests too.

When comparing core counts for these CPUs, we notice that the Core i9-7980XE has significantly more cores with 18 cores compared to the Core i7-9700K that has 8 cores. It also has more threads than the Core i7-9700K. These CPUs have different clock speeds. Indeed, the Core i7-9700K has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i9-7980XE. Also, the Core i7-9700K has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i7-9700K CPU outputs less heat than a Core i9-7980XE CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. For instance, the Core i7-9700K has the same number of threads as cores. This means the the CPU does not support hyperthreading.