W
ith the Core i9-10980XE out of reach
in this sub-£1,000 Labs test, the
Core i9-10940X is Intel’s most
potent weapon on test this month, and at
£828, also the most expensive CPU in this
roundup. This means it’s the target for AMD’s
Ryzen 9 3950X, which undercuts it by £100
and offers an additional two cores over and
above the Intel CPU’s 14. However, aside from
multi-threaded performance, there’s a
number of reasons why you might consider
the Core i9-10940X over the Ryzen 9 3950X.
Firstly, the accompanying X299 platform
is mature and motherboards can now be
bought for under £150. That’s less than
the price of any AMD X570 motherboards
we could find – you’d need to lose PCI-E 4
support and dip down to boards based on
AMD’s older X470 or B450 chipsets to get
a similarly priced motherboard. Secondly,
you get quad-channel memory support with
X299, as well as 48 PCI-E lanes, meaningINTEL CORE
i9-10940X /£828 inc VAT
SUPPLIER novatech.co.ukyou can provide a home to
several graphics cards and SSDs
with full bandwidth supplied to them.
AMD might have the faster PCI-E
4 protocol, but while some X570
motherboards offer three or more M.2
PCI-E 4 slots, there are still bandwidth
limitations that will hinder the performance
when hammering several M.2 PCI-E SSDs at
the same time. That’s clearly not an issue for
most of us, but high-end content creators
dealing with lots of massive files would
benefit from opting for X299 or either of
AMD’s HEDT Threadripper platforms, which
have even more PCI-E lanes, in particular
linking the CPU to the chipset.
The Core i9-10940X also has a 4.8GHz
peak boost frequency and can reach 4.1GHz
across all cores under multi-threaded loads,
so it’s a little slower on the latter than the
other two Cascade Lake-X CPUs in this
group test. It has the same 19.25MB L3
cache as its siblings, but more L2 cache at
14MB, thanks to fewer cores being disabled
on its High Core Count (HCC) die.
In terms of performance, the Core
i9-10940X was the most powerful of all
Intel’s CPUs in our RealBench tests, coming
second only to the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and
3950X. It matched the former in Cinebench
and was quicker than both the AMD chips inAdobe Premiere pro, albeit not by as much
as the price difference would suggest.
It was similar in our game tests too, but
in a familiar story, a monster overclock of
4.9GHz across all 14 cores allowed the
CPU to offer similar performance to the
Ryzen 9 3950X outside of games and was
massively faster in Adobe Premiere Pro.
The overclock lifted its previously mediocre
gaming results above AMD’s reach too, but
at a huge cost to power consumption, which
hit 576W and was even a significant 378W
at stock speed.Conclusion
The Core i9-10940X is a beast of a CPU
when overclocked and offers stellar Adobe
Premiere performance when outputting 4K
video projects. It also matches or betters
the Ryzen 9 3950X in games and comes
close in other content creation software.
Ultimately, the AMD CPU offers better
value for money, but if you’re prepared
to overclock your CPU, and spend a lot of
time in Premiere Pro and dabble in the odd
gaming session, it won’t disappoint.SPEC
Base frequency 3.3GHz
Turbo frequency 4.8GHz
Core Cascade Lake-X
Manufacturing process 14nm
Number of cores 14 x physical (28 threads)
Hyper-Threading Ye s
Cache 19.25MB L3 cache, 14 x 1MB L2 cache
Memory controller Quad-channel
DDR4, up to 2933MHz
Packaging LGA2066
Thermal design power (TDP) 165W
Features Turbo Boost Max Technology 3,
Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI /
BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES,
SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMXVERDICT
A beast once it’s overclocked, but only in
select applications.AUTOBAHN
+^ Huge all-core^
overclocking potential
+^ More PCI-E lanes than^
mainstream platforms
+^ Great Adobe Premiere^
performanceM25-^ Huge power
consumption,
especially when
overclocked
-^ Ryzen 9 3950X is
cheaper and faster
in many tests
-^ Poor at stock speed
PERFORMANCE
43 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALL SCORE
75 %%
VALUE
19 / 35W
iththeCorei9-10980XEoutofreach
inthissub-£1,000Labstest,the
Corei9-10940Xis Intel’smost
potentweaponontestthismonth,andat
£828,alsothemostexpensiveCPUinthis
roundup.Thismeansit’sthetargetforAMD’s
Ryzen9 3950X,whichundercutsit by£100
andoffersanadditionaltwocoresoverand
abovetheIntelCPU’s14.However,asidefrom
multi-threadedperformance,there’sa
numberofreasonswhyyoumightconsider
theCorei9-10940XovertheRyzen9 3950X.
Firstly,theaccompanyingX299platform
ismatureandmotherboardscannowbe
boughtforunder£150.That’slessthan
thepriceofanyAMDX570motherboards
wecouldfind– you’dneedtolosePCI-E 4
supportanddipdowntoboardsbasedon
AMD’solderX470orB450chipsetstoget
a similarlypricedmotherboard.Secondly,
yougetquad-channelmemorysupportwith
X299,aswellas 48 PCI-Elanes,meaning
INTEL CORE
i9-10940X/£828inc VAT
SUPPLIER novatech.co.ukyou can provide a home to
several graphics cards and SSDs
with full bandwidth supplied to them.
AMD might have the faster PCI-E
4 protocol, but while some X570
motherboards offer three or more M.2
PCI-E 4 slots, there are still bandwidth
limitations that will hinder the performance
when hammering several M.2 PCI-E SSDs at
the same time. That’s clearly not an issue for
most of us, but high-end content creators
dealing with lots of massive files would
benefit from opting for X299 or either of
AMD’s HEDT Threadripper platforms, which
have even more PCI-E lanes, in particular
linking the CPU to the chipset.
The Core i9-10940X also has a 4.8GHz
peak boost frequency and can reach 4.1GHz
across all cores under multi-threaded loads,
so it’s a little slower on the latter than the
other two Cascade Lake-X CPUs in this
group test. It has the same 19.25MB L3
cache as its siblings, but more L2 cache at
14MB, thanks to fewer cores being disabled
on its High Core Count (HCC) die.
In terms of performance, the Core
i9-10940X was the most powerful of all
Intel’s CPUs in our RealBench tests, coming
second only to the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and
3950X. It matched the former in Cinebench
and was quicker than both the AMD chips inAdobe Premiere pro, albeit not by as much
as the price difference would suggest.
It was similar in our game tests too, but
in a familiar story, a monster overclock of
4.9GHz across all 14 cores allowed the
CPU to offer similar performance to the
Ryzen 9 3950X outside of games and was
massively faster in Adobe Premiere Pro.
The overclock lifted its previously mediocre
gaming results above AMD’s reach too, but
at a huge cost to power consumption, which
hit 576W and was even a significant 378W
at stock speed.Conclusion
The Core i9-10940X is a beast of a CPU
when overclocked and offers stellar Adobe
Premiere performance when outputting 4K
video projects. It also matches or betters
the Ryzen 9 3950X in games and comes
close in other content creation software.
Ultimately, the AMD CPU offers better
value for money, but if you’re prepared
to overclock your CPU, and spend a lot of
time in Premiere Pro and dabble in the odd
gaming session, it won’t disappoint.SPEC
Base frequency 3.3GHz
Turbo frequency 4.8GHz
Core Cascade Lake-X
Manufacturing process 14nm
Number of cores 14 x physical (28 threads)
Hyper-Threading Ye s
Cache 19.25MB L3 cache, 14 x 1MB L2 cache
Memory controller Quad-channel
DDR4, up to 2933MHz
Packaging LGA2066
Thermal design power (TDP) 165W
Features Turbo Boost Max Technology 3,
Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI /
BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES,
SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMXVERDICT
A beast once it’s overclocked, but only in
selectapplications.AUTOBAHN
+Hugeall-core
overclockingpotential
+MorePCI-Elanesthan
mainstreamplatforms
+Great Adobe Premiere
performanceM25- Huge power
consumption,
especially when
overclocked - Ryzen 9 3950X is
cheaper and faster
inmanytests - Poor at stock speed
PERFORMANCE
43 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALLSCORE
75 %%
VALUE
19 / 35