Agisoft Metashape 1.7.2: 11th Gen Intel Core vs AMD Ryzen 5000 Series

Introduction

Intel has released their latest mainstream desktop CPU family, the 11th Gen Intel Core processors. These new processors are supposed to have substantially better per-core performance compared to their previous 10th Gen Core models, but the top-end model has two fewer cores than the previous generation as well. And while it is safe to assume that Intel will have surpassed their older CPUs with this launch, the real competition comes from AMD's Ryzen 5000 Series processors – which offer both more cores and higher per-core speeds than Intel's older chips. The only way to know where these CPUs truly stand is to test them in real-world applications, so this article will focus on how they all perform with photogrammetry in Agisoft Metashape.

Test Setup

Here are the specifications of the system we used for our Metashape testing, with components selected to minimize other bottlenecks:

One thing you will note is that we are using a Z490 motherboard for both the 10th and 11th Gen Intel CPUs. There is a newer Z590 chipset that is launching alongside the 11th Gen CPUs, but we unfortunately did not have access to a board early enough to make it into this article. We don't expect the chipset to make much of a performance difference, but we may revisit Z490 vs Z590 performance later on if our qualification process uncovers any reason to think using Z590 would improve CPU performance in this application.

In addition, the 11th Gen CPUs also support a new technology called "Intel Thermal Velocity Boost" which allows the CPUs to run at a slightly higher clock speed than Turbo Boost 2.0 or Turbo Boost 3.0 (and yes, those are independent) based on the CPU temperature and power draw. This feature is still in beta, however, so we opted not to use it in this round of testing.

To test each processor, we used our in-house Metashape benchmark – both the standard and extended versions. Each was run twice per CPU, and the best results were included in the charts below. Here is some basic info about the image sets in these projects:

• Rock Model – 36 photos at 20 megapixels each
• School Map – 51 photos at 18 megapixels each
• School Model – 439 photos at 18 megapixels each
• Park Map – 792 photos at 18 megapixels each

We make these benchmarks publicly available under the Creative Commons BY-ND license, so if you use Metashape Professional (or get the 30-day trial) you can download them from our website and compare your system's performance with the results shown here.

Benchmark Results

Here are charts showing the overall per-project performance of the new 11th Gen Intel Core processors (in green) compared to the older 10th Gen and AMD's Ryzen 5000 Series (both in blue):

Performance Analysis

Intel's new 11th Gen Core processors do fairly well in Metashape, but don't quite unseat AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X from its top performance spot. Moreover, we've seen in other articles that AMD's higher core count Ryzen 9 chips can beat the 5800X if SMT is disabled, but these new 8-core chips from Intel are unlikely to see any substantial improvement from turning off Hyperthreading.

There is also the odd outlier of our School Model test, which puts the CPUs with more cores in the lead even without SMT turned off. Users who work on large 3D models, rather than maps, will want to take notice of that when selecting what processor to purchase.

For those interested in a detailed breakdown of per-step processing speeds, here is a full table of the results:

It is also worth noting that Intel did manage a substantial gain in performance with these new CPUs, compared to the preceding models. Here is a chart showing just the generational improvement from Intel's Core 10th Gen to 11th Gem, to help visualize this difference:

Are 11th Gen Intel Core Processors Good for Agisoft Metashape?

In the grand scheme of all currently-available CPUs, yes – the new Intel 11th Gen Core processors score near the top in Agisoft Metashape. However, AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X beats them for roughly the same price; its MSRP of $449 puts it right between the $399 and $513 for Intel's Core i7 11700K and i9 11900K, respectively. Those wanting the absolute best performance in Metashape will want to stick with AMD's Ryzen 5000 Series, but for most users, any of these top-end Intel and AMD processors would do very nicely.