Notebookcheck Logo

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X dumped behind Intel Core i7-12700K as misleading UserBenchmark placing taints genuine i9-13900K prowess

AMD's Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 chips are competing against Intel's 13th Gen Raptor Lake processors. (Image source: AMD/Intel - edited)
AMD's Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 chips are competing against Intel's 13th Gen Raptor Lake processors. (Image source: AMD/Intel - edited)
The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X has been unceremoniously dumped outside the top 10 best-performing processors in UserBenchmark’s average bench chart. While the much-praised Intel Core i9-13900K sits at the top, the Zen 4 part has to settle for a lowly position behind the i7-12700K, despite seemingly scoring much higher test marks than the Alder Lake chip.

Many outlets have been thoroughly excited about the Zen 4 vs. Raptor Lake competition, with some opining that the real winner is the consumer. While the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X offers RDNA 2 graphics power and efficient cores, the Intel Core i9-13900K supplies impressive single-core performance at an arguably reasonable price. Both parts have their strengths and weaknesses, with Ryzen 7000 being fairly criticized for requiring new motherboards and lacking DDR4 support. However, it deserves to be pointed out that both Team Read and Team Blue update sockets for CPUs, with Alder Lake chips requiring LGA 1700 motherboards upon their 2021 release.

Unsurprisingly to many who are more seriously involved with benchmarking processors or watching the industry as a whole, UserBenchmark is not in agreement with the majority. It is, of course, easy to simply dismiss the maligned site as being biased and pro-Intel, but placing a brand-new premium processor like the Ryzen 9 7950X below the Intel Core i7-12700K, ostensibly out of spite, should not be ignored by those who care about Intel vs. AMD processor performance and for people getting into PC building. UserBenchmark purportedly receives around 10 million visits a month, and while that figure is likely wide of the exact mark, it still shows how popular – and therefore influential – the benchmark site is.

The current misleading situation see the Ryzen 9 7950X languishing in 12th position, out of the top 10 places (all occupied by Intel parts), and on the same average bench mark as the i7-12700K: 114%. AMD’s 16-core, 32-thread part with a 170 W TDP and 5.7 GHz boost clock rate is apparently incapable of surpassing a 12-core, 20 thread chip with a 190 W turbo power and turbo max 3.0 level of 5.0 GHz. The nonsense continues with the scoring for each processor, as the Zen 4 chip receives averages of 120%/135%/219% (normal/heavy/server) while the Alder Lake CPU gets 118%/132%/140% but still somehow ranks higher in the charts. Not only does this take some of the shine off the i9-13900K’s results, but it also misinforms potential PC builders looking for recommendations.

Despite accusations of being part of a particular marketing machine, our recent review of the i9-13900K and i5-13600K revealed that the former is capable of keeping up with the Ryzen 9 7950X and even outscoring it depending on the benchmark. It delivers all-round high performance and arguably deserves its place at the top of the UserBenchmark chart on 128%. Unfortunately, the glory of Team Blue’s high-end Raptor Lake processor is tarnished by UserBenchmark deliberately placing Zen 4’s finest 11 positions further down the chart on a somewhat mundane mark of 114% (even the i5-13600K is rewarded with a mark of 121%). The site remains an important stop for spotting SKU leaks and discovering specifications and configurations, but it will likely continue to be ridiculed by the DIY PC community while such overt bias remains on display.

Buy the Intel Core i9-12900KS or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D on Amazon

R9 7950X vs i7-12700K. (Image source: UserBenchmark - edited)
R9 7950X vs i7-12700K
Chart. (Image source: UserBenchmark)
Chart

Source(s)

UserBenchmark (1/2/3/4) & SimilarWeb

Read all 12 comments / answer
static version load dynamic
Loading Comments
Comment on this article
Please share our article, every link counts!
> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2022 10 > AMD Ryzen 9 7950X dumped behind Intel Core i7-12700K as misleading UserBenchmark placing taints genuine i9-13900K prowess
Daniel R Deakin, 2022-10-24 (Update: 2022-10-24)