PGC NEWS

At Gamescom 2019, Intel publicly asserted the continued superiority of its processors over AMD’s Ryzen lineup, amidst increasing competition from the “red team.” This marked a shift for Intel, who had previously avoided directly referencing AMD in presentations. However, at Gamescom, Intel specifically compared its Core i9 and i7 processors against AMD’s Ryzen processors, claiming the latter couldn’t match Intel’s real-world performance.

Intel aimed to demonstrate its continued dominance in consumer processor performance, directly comparing its two flagship CPUs, the Core i9-9900K and Core i7-9700K, against AMD’s top-tier Ryzen 9 3900X.

“When we launched the i9-9900K a year ago, it was called the world’s fastest gaming processor. And that hasn’t changed,” stated Troy Severson, Intel’s VR and PC sales and development manager.

“I’ll be very honest and transparent in saying that they’ve done a good job in closing the gap, but we still have the highest performance processor in the gaming industry, and we’re going to maintain that advantage.”

Troy Severson

Intel’s testing, conducted across 16 new games, showed the Core i9-9900K outperforming the Ryzen 9 3900X by 9%, while the Core i7-9700K held a smaller 2% advantage.

Intel Core i9-9900K Performance Chart

The Core i9-9900K and i7-9700K won in most tested games, with the exceptions of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation. However, the Core i7-9700K’s performance was considered statistically tied with the Ryzen 9 3900X due to a stated margin of error of ±3%.

Intel Core i7-9700K Performance Chart

While Intel claimed its CPUs outperformed AMD’s Ryzen processors, the performance difference, often around 5%, was arguably marginal, especially considering AMD’s significantly lower pricing for the Ryzen series compared to Intel’s i7 and i9 offerings.

Intel and AMD CPU Comparison

Just days prior, Intel’s new 18-core Cascade Lake X processor appeared on Geekbench 4. However, Intel’s launch date for the Cascade Lake X series, or even its 10th generation desktop processors, remained unconfirmed.

Intel's Presentation at Gamescom

Intel’s claim of maintaining a performance edge, while statistically supported by their internal testing, highlighted the increasingly competitive landscape in the CPU market, where performance gains were becoming incrementally smaller, while price differences remained substantial. Consumers looking for the best gaming CPU would need to weigh the performance differences against the cost factor when choosing between Intel and AMD.

Source: Guru3D