Intel Core i9-10980XE vs AMD Threadripper 3970X
It’s a flagship showdown! Intel and AMD both have ridiculously expensive desktop CPUs to offer, but which is better? In the Blue corner, we’ve got the Core i9-10980XE, a creative powerhouse built on Intel’s 14nm architecture. In the Red corner, it’s the Threadripper 3970X, a monster of a chip with 32 cores and AMD’s 7nm FinFET process. Zen 2 microarchitecture makes the AMD chip more advanced in some areas, but Intel’s chip has its own benefits too.
ROUND 1
Value
At first glance, the Threadripper dominates here. The i9-10980XE is currently priced at over $2,000, despite previous sales at closer to $1,000. The price will no doubt drop again, but the 3970X is available at the time of writing for $1,899.99, placing it far below the 10980XE in terms of price-per-core. The Threadripper also has higher base memory support and more cache memory, despite its lower price.
However, the Intel chip’s RRP was in fact dropped to $979. One imagines that the high prices we’re seeing right now could be tied to COVID-triggered production issues, or general stock shortages, or simply a price hike for Intel to capitalize on lockdown demand. If we consider that sub-grand price point, the 10980XE looks a lot more reasonable. The 3970X, on the other hand, is a newer chip that isn’t likely to see a significant price drop anytime soon. It looks practically affordable next to the comically expensive 3990X, which is currently priced at $4,170, but it’s still a crazy amount of money to spend on a processor. Neither of these CPUs are truly good value, but nothing in the HEDT sphere is right now. It’s tricky, but assuming you actually can find a 10980XE for closer to $1,000, Intel wins.
Winner: Core i9-10980XE
ROUND 2
Performance
We’ll break this down into professional workloads and gaming workloads. Both chips excel in each area; when you’re spending this much money, you’d expect as much. The Threadripper has a clear edge in productivity tasks, beating the Intel competitor in just about every area. 3D rendering, video encoding, file compression, you name it: the 3970X is a beast with its 64 threads. The 10980XE might perform better in specific benchmarks, but on the whole the Threadripper is simply more powerful.
Gaming is a different story. Yes, the 3970X is still better, but it’s a far less dominant lead. Intel actually demonstrates better performance in some games when using the same GPU, and the AMD processor generally doesn’t provide more than a few fps extra in most titles. Of course, neither of these are CPUs anyone should be buying exclusively for gaming—direct your funds towards a powerful GPU instead for that—but plenty of systems are multipurpose. If you’re a videographer, why keep two powerful PCs around for work and gaming, when one could handle the lot? And in such a system, the Threadripper is going to win out over Intel’s “Extreme Edition” chip. Round 2 goes to AMD, although it’s a close one.
Winner: Threadripper 3970X
ROUND 3
Features
Both of these processors have a lot to offer. Both provide quad-channel memory support up to 256GB, and both utilize proprietary technology to double up on threads (that’s simultaneous multi-threading for AMD, and HyperThreading for Intel). The Threadripper offers EEC memory support, unlike the XE, but this is a niche benefit; EEC memory is often slower than conventional DDR4, and isn’t widely available for individual consumers.
The 3970X has one big point in its favor against the 10980XE, and that’s PCIe 4.0 support. That means it can interface with ultra-fast 4th-gen M.2 SSDs, and the 3970X can also handle more active PCIe lanes: 64 as opposed to 48 on the Intel chip. The 10980XE has superior overclocking potential, but these are both professional-grade workstation CPUs, so anything beyond auto-overclocking is risky. Intel Turbo Boost and Deep Learning Boost are welcome additions, but like EEC RAM support on the 3970X, the latter is niche.
If you’re confident the Intel chip better suits your workloads it’ll do great, but the Threadripper offers wide-reaching benefits. The 3970X’s massive amount of onboard memory (144MB cache) makes it awesome at multitasking too.
Winner: Threadripper 3970X
ROUND 4
Efficiency
Okay, AMD loses this round. Sorry to burst your bubble, Team Red, but the Threadripper 3970X has a TDP of 280W, as opposed to the i9-10980XE’s comparatively subtle 165W. Yes, that’s still a lot, but the 3970X draws so much power it could never hope to win this round. Use of this processor mandates a high-powered PSU, which will cost more initially and over time. The 10980XE is no slouch when it comes to power consumption (note that TDP and power use are only indirectly connected), but a 600W power supply should do the job.
It’s not just about power, either. The Threadripper generates a lot more heat during heavy use than the 10980XE, effectively forcing you to spring for liquid cooling, be that a high-end AIO or a custom loop. The mounting bracket for coolers hasn’t changed from TR4, used by 1st and 2nd-gen Threadripper CPUs, but many coolers don’t come with an sTRX4-compatible bracket, or require one to be purchased separately. The 10980XE’s lower heat generation and LGA 2066 socket allow for a wider range of possible coolers, and demonstrates better power and heat efficiency in mixed workloads anyway. It’s a smaller chip with fewer cores, so this was hardly a surprising result. Intel wins.
Winner: Core i9-10980XE
ROUND 5
Professional support
This category is an important one when discussing HEDT parts. These chips are primarily used by enthusiasts and industry professionals, be they creatives or number-crunchers, so manufacturer support is vital. Both processors offer three-year limited warranties, but what about customer service?
We took to consumer feedback sites to gauge the general response, since we typically deal with tech companies through their corporate PR teams. While both AMD and Intel theoretically offer full refund-or-replace services for faulty parts, anyone who has found a component dead on arrival will be familiar with the murky underbelly of RMA support. It seems from customer reviews that experiences are strongly mixed for both companies. One website listed aggregated user scores for Intel and AMD at 3.0 and 3.1 respectively. However, a read-through of the reviews under Intel revealed a lot of people angrier at processor performance than customer service, whereas we found no end of ticked-off AMD customers struggling to return dodgy parts.
It’s a close one, but we’re going to give the win to Intel. They’ve got more cash to throw around and more experience when it comes to consumer CPUs.
Winner: Core i9-10980XE