Ryzen 9 9950X tested at different power levels: CPU shows excellent perf/watt and beats Ryzen 9 7950X using less power
When AMD unveiled the Zen 5 CPUs at Computex 2024, the company claimed that due to an average IPC uplift of 16% vs Zen 4, the Ryzen 9 9950X is anywhere from 7% to 56% faster than the Core i9-14900K in workloads such as Procyon Office and Blender. On the gaming side, the Zen 5 chip was claimed to overtake the Intel champion with a delta of 4% to 23%. So, the Ryzen 9 9950X with a TDP of 170 W appears to comfortably outperform the Core i9-14900K.
However, the Ryzen 9 9950X performance increases substantially when more power is supplied to the CPU according to tests conducted by igor_kavinsky. The results of the Cinbench R23 multi-core benchmarks were posted on the Anandtech forums.
Ryzen 9 9950X performance at different power levels
Starting with the unlimited power profile, the Ryzen9 9950X scored an outstanding 48,011 in the Cinbench R23 multi-core test when all power limits were lifted. In this case, the CPU consumed 309 W, or 55% more than the default TDP, with a 5.5 GHz boost clock, and a 79.4℃ temperature.
Per our testing, the Ryzen 9 9950X’s Cinbench R23 multi-core score at 309 W is 17% better than the Core i9-14900K and 34% better than the Ryzen 9 7950X. Additionally, numbers compiled by Wccftech put the Ryzen 9 9950X’s 48,011 score 12.5% ahead of the Core i9-14900KS running at the Extreme power profile, resulting in power consumption of 320 W.
Moving on, the Ryzen 9 9950X slowed down a bit when PPT was capped at 253 W. Here, the processor managed a score of 46,904, a 4% reduction vs the unlimited power profile. The Core i9-14900KS with the default performance profile at the same 253 W power trails the Zen 5 CPU by 10.5%. In fact, the Ryzen 9 9950X was apparently still faster than the Core i9-14900KS when capped at just 160 W with a score of 42,336.
Finally, Zen 5 seems to have excellent perf/watt compared to Zen 4 as, at just 160 W, the Ryzen 9 9950X was an impressive 18% faster than the Ryzen 9 7950X that has a default TDP of 170 W.
Long story short, if igor_kavinski’s numbers are correct, the performance of the Ryzen 9 9950X and, by extension, other Zen 5 processors should scale nicely with power which is good news for folks who want to get the most out of their systems. Additionally, users who are fine with a healthy performance boost but also want to conserve power draw should also be delighted with the perf/watt offered by the Ryzen 9 9950X.
Source(s)
