AMD Ryzen 9 5900X in iMac Pro produces spectacular single-core scores on Geekbench that seem too good to be true

At the time of writing, the leading two entries in the top single-core score chart for Geekbench 5 belong to the same processor in the same device: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Apple iMac Pro (1,1). The multi-core scores are nothing to be sneezed at, but it’s the alleged single-core scores that are real eye-openers: 2,125 points and 2,181 points. These are incredible results that go way beyond the average results produced by other powerful parts. For instance, the current average single-core score on Geekbench 5 for the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is 1,637 (max 1,804 points) and the highest-scoring Intel CPU listed at the moment is an Intel Core i7-9700KF that managed 2,000 points.

So can users start getting excited at the prospect of a world-conquering 27-inch Apple iMac Pro featuring one of AMD’s latest and greatest Vermeer chips in the form of the Ryzen 9 5900X being released in the near future? It would be wise to scatter a good pinch of salt here, as this is not the first time that a Ryzen 5000/iMac Pro combination has torn up the Geekbench rulebooks, as shown by recent results we reported about in October. That time, it was a Ryzen 9 5950X supposedly throwing caution to the wind by speeding at around 6 GHz and also coming up with 2,000+ points in the single-core benchmark. However, those listings were later flagged as “inaccurate”, so the same could happen with these two new entries.

There is a pointed difference between these latest remarkable results and the ones from last month, though. The previous entries for the iMac Pro had the processor name as “AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000059-37_46/35_N”, so it was a supposed engineering sample being benchmarked. This time around we have a specific CPU name: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X. It has often been reported that Geekbench records can be fabricated or tampered with, so for the time being it might be best to admire the recent results offered up by the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 9 5950X that perfectly demonstrate the gains AMD has made against Intel in regard to single-core performance.