AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X, 3970X & Intel Core i9-10980XE Linux Performance

AMD Ryzen Threadripper and Intel Core X-series (Thumbnail)
Print
by Rob Williams on November 25, 2019 in Processors

The day many have been waiting for has arrived: AMD and Intel have officially launched their respective next-gen enthusiast processors. In this article, we’re going to follow-up on our 3950X Linux article from last week to introduce both Intel’s Core i9-10980XE and AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 3960X and 3970X into the test results.

Page 1 – Introduction; Compiling & Rendering Performance

As we did with the launch of AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X, we’re going to kick off our performance coverage of the company’s newest Threadripper chips, along with Intel’s just-released Core i9-10980XE, under Linux.

We’re going to be following-up on this article with a full Windows-focused view of AMD’s new Threadrippers soon (we already tackled the 10980XE), but since our Linux testing can complete much faster, we’ve gone this route to get performance up in time for embargo.

On the Intel side, getting the i9-10980XE to work with Linux wasn’t even a concern, because the platform itself has remained unchanged. In fact, we’ve been using the same Intel X299 motherboard since the original Core X-series launch (7000-series). This platform is well taken care of support-wise, but the new TRX40 platform from AMD might throw a wrench into that whole process of “booting”.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper Third-gen Packaging and Intel Core i9-10980XE Engineering Sample

You might recall that at the Zen 2 launch, Linux was simply unbootable until some fixes were released. This was due to an issue that impacted some Windows software, as well, but acted as a true roadblock for many Linux users, since it was the systemd manager that had to be patched. Today, the situation on Zen 2 is a lot better, but Threadripper has introduced a brand-new caveat.

To get Linux to boot on third-gen Threadripper right now, a boot flag of mce=off (machine check error) needs to be added. The fix for this was provided to me by Michael from Phoronix, who went through the painstaking effort of figuring out what the temporary fix even was. AMD itself doesn’t seem to know of Linux issues when the CPUs are handed out, because reviewers are left to find unavoidable roadblocks on their own.

We haven’t talked to AMD about this issue yet, but as with the Zen 2 launch, we’d expect the company to help fixes get to market sooner than later. We miss the days of simply building a new PC and booting up, but it’s hard to fault AMD too much with the limited number of engineers it has – something that has got to improve with the ongoing success of its Zen products.

Aside from all of that, the topic of conversation for Intel here is the new i9-10980XE, to see how it compares not just against its competition, but also its predecessor, 9980XE. On the AMD side, the Zen 2-based 3960X and 3970X Threadrippers have the potential to be absolute beasts. The Zen 2 architecture itself has proven to be a genuinely impressive jump over the original, and it’s hard to believe that Zen 3 is apparently already on track, and is expected to bring even more notable gains.

Here are both AMD’s and Intel’s lineups for those who want to see where these new chips are placed:

AMD’s Ryzen & Ryzen Threadripper Lineup
Cores Clock (Turbo) L2+L3 Memory TDP Price
Threadripper WX-series
3970X 32 (64T) 3.7 GHz (4.5) 144MB Quad 280W $1999
3960X 24 (48T) 3.8 GHz (4.5) 140MB Quad 280W $1399
2990WX 32 (64T) 3.0 GHz (4.2) 16+64MB Quad 250W $1799
2970WX 24 (48T) 3.0 GHz (4.2) 12+64MB Quad 250W $1299
Threadripper X-series
2950X 16 (32T) 3.5 GHz (4.4) 8+32MB Quad 180W $899
2920X 12 (24T) 3.5 GHz (4.3) 6+32MB Quad 180W $649
Ryzen 9
R9 3950X 16 (32T) 3.5 GHz (4.7) 72MB Dual 105W $749
R9 3900X 12 (24T) 3.8 GHz (4.6) 70MB Dual 105W $499
Ryzen 7
R7 3800X 8 (16T) 3.9 GHz (4.5) 36MB Dual 95W $399
R7 3700X 8 (16T) 3.6 GHz (4.4) 36MB Dual 65W $329
Ryzen 5
R5 3600X 6 (12T) 3.8 GHz (4.4) 35MB Dual 95W $249
R5 3600 6 (12T) 3.6 GHz (4.2) 35MB Dual 65W $199
Ryzen w/ Radeon Vega Graphics
R5 3400G 4 (8T) 3.7 GHz (4.2) 0.5+4MB Dual 65W $149
R3 3200G 4 (4T) 3.6 GHz (4.0) 0.5+4MB Dual 65W $99
Intel Processor Lineup
Cores Clock (Turbo 3.0) L3 Memory IGP TDP Price
Core X-Series
i9-10980XE 18 (36T) 3.0 GHz (4.8) 24.75MB Quad No 165W $979
i9-10940X 14 (28T) 3.3 GHz (4.8) 19.25MB Quad No 165W $784
i9-10920X 12 (24T) 3.5 GHz (4.8) 19.25MB Quad No 165W $689
i9-10900X 10 (20T) 3.7 GHz (4.7) 19.25MB Quad No 165W $590
i9-9980XE 18 (36T) 3.1 GHz (4.5) 24.75MB Quad No 165W $1,979
i9-9960X 16 (32T) 3.5 GHz (4.5) 22MB Quad No 165W $1,684
i9-9940X 14 (28T) 3.8 GHz (4.5) 19.25MB Quad No 165W $1,387
i9-9920X 12 (24T) 3.4 GHz (4.5) 19.25MB Quad No 165W $1,189
i9-9900X 10 (20T) 3.5 GHz (4.5) 19.25MB Quad No 165W $989
i9-9820X 10 (20T) 3.8 GHz (4.5) 16.5MB Quad No 165W $898
i9-9800X 8 (16T) 3.8 GHz (4.5) 16.5MB Quad No 165W $589
Core Series
i9-9900KS 8 (16T) 4.0 GHz (5.0) 16MB Dual Yes 127W $513
i9-9900K 8 (16T) 3.6 GHz (5.0) 16MB Dual Yes 95W $480
i9-9900 8 (16T) 3.1 GHz (5.0) 16MB Dual Yes 65W $439
i7-9700K 8 (8T) 3.6 GHz (4.9) 12MB Dual Yes 95W $374
i7-9700 8 (8T) 3.0 GHz (4.7) 12MB Dual Yes 65W $323
i5-9600K 6 (6T) 3.7 GHz (4.6) 9MB Dual Yes 65W $262
i5-9600 6 (6T) 3.1 GHz (4.6) 9MB Dual Yes 65W $213
i5-9500 6 (6T) 3.0 GHz (4.4) 9MB Dual Yes 65W $192
i5-9400 6 (6T) 2.9 GHz (4.1) 9MB Dual Yes 65W $182
i3-9350K 4 (4T) 4.0 GHz (4.6) 8MB Dual Yes 91W $173
i3-9320 4 (4T) 3.7 GHz (4.4) 8MB Dual Yes 62W $154
i3-9300 4 (4T) 3.7 GHz (4.3) 8MB Dual Yes 62W $143
i3-9100 4 (4T) 3.6 GHz (4.2) 6MB Dual Yes 65W $122

There is not much else that can be said here; the only thing left lingering is the actual performance results. As of the time of this article’s publishing, we’re foregoing our usual commentary on each set of results due to time, although they may be slipped in later. We’re trying to get more performance content done ahead of travel this weekend; this really has proven to be an incredible month for launches and benchmarking.

Performance Testing CPUs Under Linux

Techgage Workstation Test System(s)
Processors AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X (32C/64T; 3.7GHz)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X (24C/48T; 3.8GHz)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX (32C/64T; 3.0 GHz)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X (16C/32T; 3.5 GHz)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X (12C/24T; 3.8GHz)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X (12C/24T; 3.8GHz)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (8C/16C; 3.6GHz)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X (6C/12C; 3.8 GHz)
AMD Ryzen 5 3400G (4C/8T; 3.7 GHz)
Intel Core i9-10980XE (18C/36T; 3.0GHz)
Intel Core i9-9980XE (18C/36T; 3.0GHz)
Intel Core i9-9900KS (8C/16T; 4.0 GHz)
Intel Core i9-9900K (8C/16T; 3.6 GHz)
Intel Core i9-8700K (8C/16T; 3.7 GHz)
Motherboards AMD X399 (TR3gen): ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme
AMD X399 (TR2gen): MSI MEG CREATION
AMD X570: Aorus X570 MASTER
AMD B450: Aorus B450 Pro WiFi
Intel Z390: ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING
Intel X299: ASUS ROG STRIX X299-E GAMING
Cooling AMD X399 (TR3gen): NZXT Kraken X62
AMD X399 (TR2gen): Enermax LIQTECH TR4 240mm
AMD X570: Corsair Hydro H115i PRO RGB
AMD B450: AMD Wraith Spire
Intel Z390: Corsair Hydro H100i V2
Intel X299: NZXT Kraken X62
Chassis AMD X399: Cooler Master MasterCase H500P Mesh
AMD X570: Fractal Design Define C
AMD B450: Enermax Equilence
Intel Z390: NZXT S340 Elite
Intel X299: Corsair Carbide 600C
Graphics NVIDIA TITAN RTX
Memory G.SKILL Flare X (F4-3200C14-8GFX)
4x8GB; DDR4-3200 14-14-14
Et cetera Ubuntu 19.10 (5.3.0-23 kernel)

Our Linux configuration is simple overall. We’re using the latest version of Ubuntu (19.10) for our testing here, updated as much as possible. It includes the 5.3 kernel and GCC 9.2.1. A lot of our tests are run with the help of Phoronix Test Suite, with tests locked to a specific version to generate reliable data. We don’t do any real OS configuration outside of disabling sleep, and enforcing the performance power profile.

As for platform configurations, all of them have been tested with the same 32GB kit of DDR4-3200 memory, and outside of enabling the memory spec, the motherboard UEFIs are left stock. An exception to that rule is with ASUS motherboards on Intel platforms. On those, Multi-Core Enhancement is disabled to prevent a vendor-specific automatic overclock. MCE is not the same as regular Intel Turbo, and it needs to be off for true apples-to-apples results. The tested AMD boards do not have the same vendor-specific automatic overclocking feature.

Beyond all of that, all of the platforms have been updated to their latest UEFI, which for AMD means the latest AGESA release is reflected. No special patches are installed for the sake of security mitigation; we simply take the updates that Ubuntu provides us by default.

Compiling Performance

Compile Performance (Linux Kernel, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Compile Performance (ImageMagick, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Compile Performance (GCC, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Compile Performance (LLVM, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)

Rendering Performance

Blender Cycles Rendering Performance (BMW, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Blender Cycles Rendering Performance (Classroom, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Ray Tracing Performance (C-ray, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Ray Tracing Performance (Smallpt, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Ray Tracing Performance (Tachyon, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
V-Ray Next Benchmark CPU Performance (Linux, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
IndigoBench Performance (Linux, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Intel Embree Rendering Performance (Linux, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Intel Open Image Denoise Performance (Linux, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)
Intel OSPRay Rendering Performance (Linux, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and 3960X, Intel Core i9-10980XE)

Support our efforts! With ad revenue at an all-time low for written websites, we're relying more than ever on reader support to help us continue putting so much effort into this type of content. You can support us by becoming a Patron, or by using our Amazon shopping affiliate links listed through our articles. Thanks for your support!

Rob Williams

Rob founded Techgage in 2005 to be an 'Advocate of the consumer', focusing on fair reviews and keeping people apprised of news in the tech world. Catering to both enthusiasts and businesses alike; from desktop gaming to professional workstations, and all the supporting software.

twitter icon facebook icon instagram icon