AMD Ryzen 7 8840U vs Intel Core i9-11900F Comparison

The AMD Ryzen 7 8840U and Intel Core i9-11900F make for an unusually interesting matchup: a modern mobile chip on a 4 nm process against an older desktop flagship on 14 nm silicon, both with 8 cores and 16 threads. The recorded head-to-head data is nearly split down the middle, with AMD taking 11 benchmark wins and Intel taking 12, yet the margin of each win varies enormously depending on the workload. That tension between an even win count and wildly uneven gaps is exactly what the database suggests digging into.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Intel's biggest victories come in the rendering-heavy, all-core sustained tests. In Cinebench R23 multi-core, the i9-11900F posts 18759 points against the 8840U's 12972, a 30.8% lead. The 3DMark CPU profile tells the same story as thread counts climb: Intel wins the 16-thread test 7995 to 5691 (28.8%), the max-threads test 7961 to 5677 (28.7%), and the 8-thread test 6018 to 4896 (18.6%). With a 65 W rated power budget versus the AMD chip's 28 W, the desktop part simply sustains higher throughput when every core is loaded.

Single-core results are more divided than they first appear. Intel dominates Cinebench R23 single-core, 2648 to 1703, a 35.7% gap, and takes Geekbench single-core 2220 to 1970 (11.3%). But the two chips are dead even in Cinebench R15 single-core at 266 apiece, Intel edges 3DMark single-thread by just 1.7% (996 vs 979), and AMD actually wins PassMark single-thread 3543 to 3413, a 3.8% advantage. Which single-thread benchmark you trust clearly changes the narrative.

AMD's wins cluster in the PassMark suite and the older Cinebench R15 multi-core test, where it leads 2024 to 1890 (7.1%). PassMark multi-thread goes to the 8840U, 23346 to 22115 (5.6%), and Geekbench multi-core also favors AMD, 9610 to 9417 (2%). The most lopsided results of the entire comparison belong to AMD: PassMark physics, 1176 to 949 (23.9%), PassMark find prime numbers, 78 to 61 (27.9%), and PassMark data encryption, 16072 to 13636 (17.9%). Integer math and floating point math are near ties, with AMD ahead 2.4% and 0.5% respectively. Intel's remaining wins are small: data compression by 4.7%, extended instructions by 4.1%, random string sorting by 1.1%, and the 4-thread 3DMark test by 9%.

Where Each One Wins

The data implies two distinct profiles. The i9-11900F is the sustained-throughput render engine: Cinebench R23 multi-core, all high-thread 3DMark CPU tests, and compression workloads consistently favor it. If a workload runs all cores flat out for long stretches, the desktop chip's power envelope lets it pull away, sometimes by nearly a third.

The 8840U is the efficiency outlier and the PassMark specialist. It wins the PassMark multi-thread aggregate, encryption, prime finding, physics, integer math, and both single-thread PassMark tests, while doing so within a 28 W envelope on a 4 nm node. Geekbench multi-core also leans its way, which raises an interesting question: why does the AMD chip look stronger in Geekbench and PassMark but weaker in Cinebench R23 and 3DMark? The pattern suggests shorter or more burst-friendly workloads suit the Hawk Point design, while long sustained renders expose the power differential.

The Verdict

Neither chip sweeps, so the choice depends on which benchmark family matches the intended use. For sustained multi-core rendering, the i9-11900F is the clear pick: its 28.7% to 30.8% leads in max-thread tests are the largest gaps in the dataset. For mixed everyday and bursty workloads, encryption, physics simulation, and power-constrained scenarios, the 8840U wins more often than not, and it does so as an active mobile product versus an end-of-life desktop part. Both sit at the 76th percentile against all CPUs in the database, with average benchmark scores of 23982 for AMD and 23254 for Intel, a difference of roughly 3%. The 8840U's nearest rivals include the Ryzen 5 8600G (within 0.4%) and Ryzen 5 7540U (within 0.9%), while the i9-11900F is statistically indistinguishable from the Ryzen 7 5800H (0.1%), Intel Core Ultra 9 288V (0.2%), and Core Ultra 7 266V (0.2%).

FAQ

Q: Which CPU wins in Cinebench R23 multi-core? A: The Intel Core i9-11900F, with 18759 points versus 12972 for the Ryzen 7 8840U, a 30.8% lead.

Q: Which CPU is faster in single-threaded PassMark? A: The Ryzen 7 8840U, scoring 3543 against 3413, a 3.8% advantage.

Q: Do the two chips tie anywhere? A: Yes, Cinebench R15 single-core is a dead heat at 266 points each.

Q: Which CPU has integrated graphics? A: The Ryzen 7 8840U includes Radeon 780M graphics; the i9-11900F has no integrated graphics listed.

Q: Are both chips still in production? A: No. The 8840U is listed as active, while the i9-11900F is end-of-life.

Q: Which is more power efficient on paper? A: The 8840U, with a 28 W rating versus 65 W for the i9-11900F, despite comparable overall benchmark performance.

Architecture Differences

These chips come from different eras and philosophies. The Ryzen 7 8840U is a Zen 4 (Hawk Point) design fabricated by TSMC on a 4 nm process, packing 25,000 million transistors into a 178 mm² die. The i9-11900F is a Rocket Lake-S desktop architecture on Intel's own 14 nm process with a larger 276 mm² die and no transistor count recorded. Cache design diverges notably: AMD gives each core 1 MB of L2 (versus Intel's 512 KB per core) and 64 KB of L1 per core (versus Intel's 80 KB), while both share an identical 16 MB L3. Both parts have locked multipliers, support dual-channel memory with PCI Express Gen 4 at 20 CPU lanes, and lack ECC support, though the 8840U is a mobile Socket FP8 part and the i9-11900F fits Intel Socket 1200.

Specification Differences

• Base clock: 3.30 GHz (8840U) vs 2.50 GHz (i9-11900F); boost: 5.10 GHz vs 5.20 GHz
• TDP: 28 W vs 65 W
• Process node: 4 nm (TSMC) vs 14 nm (Intel); die size 178 mm² vs 276 mm²
• Memory: DDR5 at 89.6 GB/s bandwidth vs DDR4 at 51.2 GB/s
• Integrated graphics: Radeon 780M vs none
• L2 cache: 1 MB per core vs 512 KB per core; L1: 64 KB vs 80 KB per core
• Market segment: Mobile vs Desktop; production status: Active vs End-of-life
• Release dates differ, and the i9-11900F carries a launch MSRP of $422