AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G vs Intel Core i9-9900 Comparison

The Intel Core i9-9900 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G present a fascinating study in contrasting design philosophies. The data reveals a clear split: the AMD part dominates in Cinebench workloads, while the Intel part claims decisive victories in Geekbench. This divergence suggests that benchmark selection heavily influences which processor appears superior, making the choice between them dependent on the specific application environment.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result in the database is the Geekbench multicore test, where the Intel Core i9-9900 scores 8175 against the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G's 6629. This represents a 23.3% advantage for Intel, a substantial margin that underscores the i9-9900's strength in this particular workload. The single-core Geekbench test tells a similar story, with Intel leading 1687 to 1440, a 17.2% gap. These are the only two benchmarks where Intel wins, but they are significant wins.

The Cinebench suite, however, paints a completely different picture. Across all six Cinebench tests, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G emerges victorious. In Cinebench R15 multicore, AMD scores 1379 versus Intel's 1361, a 1.3% lead. The single-core R15 test shows AMD at 194 against Intel's 192, a 1% advantage. Moving to Cinebench R20, AMD leads 5747 to 5673 in multicore (1.3%) and 811 to 800 in single-core (1.4%). The pattern continues in Cinebench R23, where AMD scores 13685 to Intel's 13509 in multicore (1.3%) and 1932 to 1907 in single-core (1.3%).

The consistency of AMD's small but persistent lead across all Cinebench versions is notable. While the margins are narrow, ranging from 1% to 1.4%, they appear across every iteration of the test. Meanwhile, Intel's Geekbench victories are anything but narrow: 23.3% and 17.2% are commanding leads. The data suggests that the i9-9900 has a specialized strength in the workloads Geekbench measures, while the Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G offers more balanced, if modest, superiority in the rendering-oriented Cinebench tests.

FAQ

Q: Which processor has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Core i9-9900 has an average benchmark score of 4163, while the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G averages 3977. Both processors sit at the 57th percentile among all CPUs in the database.

Q: How does the Intel Core i9-9900 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i9-9900's closest competitor is the Intel Core i5-11500H, which scores 4187 and is 0.6% ahead. The AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS trails by 1% at 4121, and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 2700X is 1.2% behind at 4114. The Intel Core i5-12500T leads by 1.3% with a score of 4216.

Q: What are the nearest rivals to the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5875U scores 3971, just 0.2% behind. The Intel Xeon D-2733NT is 0.2% ahead at 3984, the Intel Core i7-6900K is 0.2% behind at 3970, and the Intel Xeon E-2336 leads by 0.2% with a score of 3985.

Q: Does the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G support ECC memory?

A: Yes, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G supports ECC memory. The Intel Core i9-9900 does not support ECC memory.

Q: What is the production status of each processor?

A: The Intel Core i9-9900 is marked as end-of-life, while the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G is listed as active production.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the Intel Core i9-9900?

A: The Intel Core i9-9900 has a launch MSRP of $423. No launch MSRP is recorded for the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G.

Architecture Differences

The two processors are built on fundamentally different architectures. The Intel Core i9-9900 uses Coffee Lake, specifically the Coffee Lake-R refresh, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process with a die size of 180.3 mm². The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G employs Zen 2, codenamed Renoir, built on TSMC's 7 nm process with a die size of 156 mm². The AMD part integrates 9,800 million transistors, while the database does not record a transistor count for the Intel chip.

Cache configurations differ significantly. Both processors feature 64 KB of L1 cache per core, but the L2 cache differs: Intel provides 256 KB per core, while AMD doubles this to 512 KB per core. The L3 cache shows a dramatic divergence, with Intel offering 16 MB shared and AMD providing 8 MB shared. This means the i9-9900 has twice the total L3 cache of the Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G, a factor that may influence performance in cache-sensitive workloads.

Memory bandwidth also differs. Both support DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration, but Intel's memory bandwidth is rated at 42.7 GB/s, while AMD achieves 51.2 GB/s. The AMD part's higher memory bandwidth could contribute to its performance in memory-intensive tasks. PCIe capabilities vary as well: Intel offers Gen 3 with 16 lanes from the CPU, while AMD provides Gen 3 without a specific lane count listed in the database. The integrated graphics differ, with Intel using UHD Graphics 630 and AMD using Radeon Vega 7. The AMD processor also supports ECC memory, a feature absent from the Intel part.

Specification Differences

The core and thread counts present a clear distinction. The Intel Core i9-9900 has 8 cores and 16 threads, while the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G has 6 cores and 12 threads. Clock speeds tell a different story: Intel's base clock is 3.10 GHz with a boost of 5.00 GHz, while AMD starts higher at 3.70 GHz base but boosts to only 4.20 GHz. Both processors have a TDP of 65 watts. The Intel part uses Socket 1151, while AMD uses Socket AM4.

The manufacturing process differs, with Intel on 14 nm and AMD on 7 nm. The foundries also differ: Intel fabricates its own chip, while TSMC produces the AMD processor. The Intel chip has a die size of 180.3 mm², larger than AMD's 156 mm². The Intel Core i9-9900 was released on April 22, 2019, while the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G arrived on July 20, 2020. Intel's part is end-of-life, AMD's is active. The Intel chip has a launch MSRP of $423, while AMD has no recorded launch MSRP. Neither processor has an unlocked multiplier. The part numbers differ as well: Intel lists SRG18, while AMD lists 100-000000143100-100000143MPK.

The Verdict

The recorded data does not declare an outright winner, as the two processors dominate in different benchmarks. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G wins 6 of the 8 head-to-head benchmarks, all of them Cinebench tests, with margins between 1% and 1.4%. The Intel Core i9-9900 wins the remaining 2 benchmarks, both Geekbench tests, with commanding margins of 23.3% and 17.2%. Users whose workloads resemble Cinebench rendering tasks would find the AMD processor consistently ahead, albeit by small amounts. Users whose workloads align with Geekbench's measurement patterns would find the Intel processor dramatically faster. The AMD part also offers ECC memory support, a feature absent from the Intel chip, and remains in active production while Intel's part is end-of-life. The Intel chip provides more cores and threads, 8 cores and 16 threads versus 6 cores and 12 threads, along with double the L3 cache, 16 MB versus 8 MB.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G wins across the entire Cinebench suite, including R15, R20, and R23, in both multicore and single-core tests. This consistency suggests a well-rounded performance profile in rendering and CPU-intensive computing tasks. The margins are narrow, but they are uniform, indicating that AMD's architecture delivers slightly better efficiency in these workloads despite having fewer cores and threads. The AMD part's higher base clock of 3.70 GHz, compared to Intel's 3.10 GHz, may contribute to its single-core Cinebench wins, while its higher memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s could aid multicore performance.

The Intel Core i9-9900 wins decisively in Geekbench, both multicore and single-core. The 23.3% multicore advantage is particularly striking given that the AMD part wins all Cinebench multicore tests. This suggests that Geekbench measures different aspects of performance, possibly favoring Intel's higher boost clock of 5.00 GHz or its larger L3 cache of 16 MB. The Intel chip also offers more cores and threads, which could benefit workloads that scale well with core count but are not well represented by the Cinebench tests. The Intel part's end-of-life status may matter for system longevity, while the AMD part's active production and ECC memory support could appeal to users prioritizing stability and ongoing availability.