Early benchmarks pit AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X against Intel Core i9-7900K

LinusTechTips scored a pre-NDA (non-disclosure agreement) deal with Dell to review the new Alienware Area-51 desktop before the review embargo lifts for AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper desktop processors. As previously reported, Dell’s new monster hexagonal desktops span two base models: one with Intel’s latest Core i9 X-Series processor, and one with AMD’s new Ryzen Threadripper 1950X chip. The Intel-based desktop may not arrive until the end of August while AMD’s two Ryzen Threadripper chips launch on August 10.

In its review, LinusTechTips pitted the 12-core Ryzen Threadripper 1950X against a stock ten-core Intel Core i9-7900X processor because they’re similar in price. That said, the benchmarks won’t be a fair 12-core to 12-core chip comparison, and LinuxTechTips also threw in stock mainstream desktop processors into the benchmarking mix as well, including the four-core Intel Core i7-7700K, and the eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 1800X.

First, we have the chips’ performance with Rise of the Tomb Raider (higher is better):

Overall, the scores here range from 62 to 68 frames per second, and only vary when DirectX 12 is in play. The site doesn’t state the resolution and graphics level they were using during the benchmark testing, as the benchmark itself doesn’t provide any adjustable settings, but instead relies on whatever you set in the game’s main Options menu. This benchmark spans three test scenarios – Geothermal Valley, Syria, and Mountain Peak – and provides an overall average generated from the three.

For the record, we benchmarked the GTX 1080 GPU and Intel’s Core i7-6820HK CPU in an Alienware 17 R4 laptop, and got an average of 59.29 fps at a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution, high/very high settings, and using DirectX 12. The results in the chart above rely on Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card, so we suspect the results are based on a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, and the same maximum graphics settings.

Now here are the 3DMark numbers (higher is better):

Next is Cinebench Release 15 using the multi-threaded workload benchmark (higher is better):

Finally, the review used Blender 2.78c to test Ryzen Threadripper’s time to render 3D objects and environments (lower is better):

Ultimately, PC gamers wanting to dump loads of cash into a new desktop can purchase the Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition model right now. Here are the starting points: