AMD Ryzen 9 3950X vs Intel Core i5-12600K

Compare AMD Ryzen 9 Desktop 16 core CPU vs Intel 12th Generation Core i5 10 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

CPU Comparison

Quickly search and compare processors

Price

The cheapest price from our partner retailers

$ 399.99
$ 184.46
$ 215.53 significantly less expensive

Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

9228 points
9422 points
2% slightly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

7460 points
12057 points
61% significantly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

9844 points
14% slightly better multitasking score
8581 points

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

10084 points
20% slightly better heavy workload score
8381 points

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Ryzen 9 3950X and the Core i5-12600K? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

10804 points
34% slightly higher 3DMark Physics score
8019 points
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

371.88 points
58% significantly higher Blender score
233.94 points
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

10775 points
11486 points
6% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1676 points
2357 points
40% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

10665 points
11863 points
11% slightly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1722 points
2478 points
43% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

16
60% significantly more cores
10

Threads

Number of logical processing units

32
100% significantly more threads
16

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

3.5 GHz
3.7 GHz
5% slightly higher clock speed

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

4.7 GHz
4.9 GHz
4% slightly higher turbo speed

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

105 W
42% much lower TDP
150 W

Memory Channels

Lanes for simultaneous memory access

2
Identical
2

L1 Cache

Smallest embedded memory, but the fastest

1024 KiB
28% slightly more L1 cache
800 KiB

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

64 MiB
220% significantly more L3 cache
20 MiB

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

105th of 1,089
102nd of 1,089

Family

The product line

Ryzen 9 Desktop
12th Generation Core i5

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2019 November
2021 November

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR4
DDR5-4800

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

Yes
Yes

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

-
Yes

Ryzen 9 3950X vs Core i5-12600K specs and performance

In our benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 3950X beats the Core i5-12600K in overall performance. Despite this, the Core i5-12600K has the advantage in our gaming benchmark.

When comparing core counts for these CPUs, we notice that the Ryzen 9 3950X has significantly more cores with 16 cores compared to the Core i5-12600K that has 10 cores. It also has more threads than the Core i5-12600K. With our hardware info, we find that the Core i5-12600K has a slightly higher clock speed than the Ryzen 9 3950X. Also, the Core i5-12600K has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Ryzen 9 3950X CPU outputs less heat than a Core i5-12600K CPU because of its much 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. Indeed, the Ryzen 9 3950X has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

Comments

No comments yet! Be the first to leave a comment using the form below.

Keep comments on topic and be polite. Comments are subject to moderation before they are published.

Popular CPU Comparisons