Desktop processor dominance: PassMark's single-thread performance chart is headed by 17 Intel processors

The PassMark benchmark database has plenty of vocal critics and the latest single-thread performance chart isn’t going to silence those critics. At the time of writing, Intel processors occupied the first 17 positions, with the Core i9-9900KS still holding on to top spot. This is at least less egregious in comparison to the table a month ago that showed Intel processors in the top 34 places, as PassMark switched from PerformanceTest V9 to V10.

The latest chart no longer features the AMD Ryzen 3 4300U APU either, which somehow took 35th position last month in the desktop processor chart even though it is a mobile chip. That Ryzen 4000 part now resides in eighth position in the appropriate single-thread performance chart for laptop processors. Now the highest-ranked AMD desktop processor is the Ryzen 9 PRO 3900, while a powerful chip like the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X is down in 23rd position.

It is well known that Intel processors perform better than their similar AMD counterparts in single-thread and single-core benchmarks, just like the latter tends to throw up better results in multithread or multi-core tests. However, you can’t help raising an eyebrow when PassMark rates the admittedly decent but ageing (Jan 2017 release) Kaby Lake Intel Core i7-7700K higher than the Ryzen 9 3950X from mid-2019. Even though the i7-7700K has a much higher base clock, other benchmarks and databases place the AMD part ahead of the Intel processor in single-core tests.