CPU Rendering: AMD Ryzen 9000 Series vs Intel Core 14th Gen

Introduction

AMD’s latest Ryzen 9000 Series processors have been released, marking a subtle refresh of the current Ryzen 7000 series. These processors, which continue to use the AM5 socket and are compatible with X670 motherboards, feature AMD’s new Zen 5 architecture, promising higher IPC (Instructions Per Clock), increased efficiency, and enhanced memory support.

In this article, we will examine how these new processors perform specifically in CPU rendering using V-Ray, Cinebench, and Blender. Amongst the consumer-level CPUs, Intel and AMD often trade the top spot, sometimes swapping places after BIOS or software updates. More and more, users are moving to GPU rendering, as most modern video cards would outperform even the top Ryzen or Core CPU. However, these CPUs do offer higher single-core performance, which is often useful in modeling or animation tasks. Even if you render on the GPU, the results below can be useful analogs for other tasks.

Because we will be examining so many CPUs, we will divide our analysis into Intel vs. AMD and performance versus the previous generation.

If you want to read more about the new AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs and what separates them from the previous generation, we recommend checking out our main AMD Ryzen 9000 Series Content Creation Review article. That post includes more detailed information on the CPU specifications, MSRP, and an overview of testing results for a range of other applications, including Photoshop, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, After Effects, Unreal Engine, and Reality Capture.

AMD Ryzen 9000 vs Intel Core 14th Gen for CPU Rendering

Comparing Intel and AMD CPU models directly is a bit tough since they do not carry equivalent MSRP. However, the closest matches are:

• AMD Ryzen 9 9950X ($650) vs. Intel Core i9 14900K ($590)
• AMD Ryzen 9 9900X ($500) vs. Intel Core i9 14900K ($590)
• AMD Ryzen 7 9700X ($360) vs. Intel Core i7 14700K ($410)
• AMD Ryzen 5 9600X ($280) vs. Intel Core i5 14600K ($320)

We do want to point out that in these comparisons, AMD is always a bit less expensive than Intel, other than the 9950X vs 14900K. They also have a lower power draw, meaning less heat output and noise. Because of that, if things are close, that actually gives AMD the advantage.

Starting at the bottom of the stack, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X lags behind the Intel Core i5 14600K, scoring 18% lower in Vray, 20% slower in Blender, and 10% lower in Cinebench. However, the single core score in Cinebench does show the new Ryzen at 8% faster. The Ryzen 7 9700X also fails to catch up to Intel, coming in at 20-25% slower than the Intel Core i7 14700K. 

Moving up to the Ryzen 9 models, the 9900X performed on par with the Intel Core i9 14900K in Cinebench and Blender and 10% faster in V-Ray, giving AMD the overall lead here as well due to its lower price and TDP.

At the top end, the Ryzen 9 9950X scores 36% higher in V-Ray, 30% higher in Blender, and 18% in Cinebench. In single-core rendering (which is an analog for modeling performance rather than real-world rendering), Intel and AMD are tied. If you are specifically looking for a processor for CPU rendering without going with a more expensive Threadripper or Threadripper PRO platform, then the Ryzen 9 9950X is the fastest option available.

AMD Ryzen 9000 vs AMD Ryzen 7000 for CPU Rendering

When comparing the new AMD Ryzen 9000 Series to the previous Ryzen 7000 Series, you need to be aware that AMD technically introduced a small price drop with the new CPUs. However, since AMD CPUs are often on sale, the new models will actually be a bit more expensive in most cases. That will likely even out over time, but for now, Ryzen 9000 will likely have a small price premium over the older 7000 models.

Again, starting at the lower end, the Ryzen 5 9600X sees about a 10% performance uplift in both Blender and Cinebench, and 20% in V-Ray versus the previous-generation Ryzen 5 7600X. The Ryzen 7 9700X, on the other hand, only sees about a 3-5% performance uplift in Blender and Cinebench, and 13% in V-Ray versus the 7700X. The Ryzen 9 9900X does a bit better and saw a 10% higher performance compared to the Ryzen 9 7900X in Cinebench and Blender and 18% higher in V-Ray.

The Ryzen 9 9950X sees a 14% improvement over the 7750X in V-Ray but only 5% in Blender, and no changes in Cinebench multi-core. Depending on exactly which engine you look at, this could be a nice upgrade or not much of one at all. Single-core performance does see a 12% uplift over the previous generation, so if your primary concern is modeling and animation performance to pair with a GPU renderer, then the 9000 series does show a decent generational uplift.

How Well Do the AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs Perform in CPU Rendering?

CPU Rendering is fairly straightforward; it wants as many threads as possible and for those threads to operate as efficiently as possible. On the lower-end CPUs, Intel’s 14600K offers more cores/threads (14/20) than the closest AMD Ryzen counterpart, 9600X, which has 6/12 and therefore holds on to its lead. However, moving up to the 9900X things even out compared to the Intel 14900K. The AMD 9900X offers 12 full power cores with 24 threads, while the 14900K only has 8 performance cores and makes up the difference with its efficiency cores. Even though Intel offers more total threads (32 vs 24), AMD’s more powerful cores bring them very close in rendering speeds. The 9950X extends the lead AMD already enjoyed from the previous generation 7950X, with the 9950X being as much as 14% faster than the 14900K in V-Ray.

Every application uniquely utilizes hardware, so our results here don’t necessarily translate to any other application. Our focus in this article centers specifically on AMD Ryzen 9000 Series performance for CPU rendering. However, we recommend checking out our AMD Ryzen 9000 Series Content Creation Review article, which includes a broad overview of results for several different applications. If you use other software packages, it also has links to our in-depth testing articles for content creation: Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, After Effects, Unreal Engine, and Reality Capture.

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