AMD Ryzen 9 9950X vs Intel Core Ultra 9 285K: Which Is the Better CPU?

Zen 5 Flagship Ryzen 9 9950X meets Arrow Lake’s flagship 285K. Find out which one is better in gaming, benchmarks, and multithreading.

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The Ryzen 9 9950X and the Core Ultra 9 285K are currently the flagship offerings from Intel and AMD. These two processors are very closely matched in multi-threading performance and support DDR5 right out of the box. Architecture-wise, the Ryzen chip incorporates a chiplet design, and Intel also does the same. Apart from multi-threading, video editing, and Quicksync, there isn’t a lot of difference out there.

Also Read: Intel Core i9-14900K vs AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Specs, Price, Performance, and More Compared

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X vs Intel Core Ultra 9 285K: Detailed Comparison

Specs Comparison

Here are the specs of Ryzen 9 9950X and Intel Core Ultra 9 285K:

Specifications	Ryzen 9 9950X	Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
Architecture	Zen 5	Arrow Lake
Core/Thread count	16/32	24 (8P + 16E)/24
Max clock speed	5.7 GHz	5.7 GHz
L3 cache	64 MB	36 MB
RAM support	DDR5-5600	DDR5-6400
PCIe Gen support	Gen 5	Gen 5
Platform Socket	AM5	LGA 1851
Thermal design power (TDP)	170W – 230w	125-250W
Manufacturing nodes	4nm	3nm

In terms of core count, these CPUs are very different. One follows SMT, whereas the other stopped the use of SMT (Hyperthreading). Both support Gen 5 and are about the same TDP levels in practical use cases.

Synthetic Performance Comparison

The numbers below represent an overall roundup of publicly available information. As the results speak, in terms of synthetic benchmarks these CPUs are very closely matched. That said, this means that any multi-core task you throw at them will perform equally well on either.

Benchmark	AMD Ryzen 9 9950X	Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
Cinebench R23 Single-Core	2,252	2,312
Cinebench R23 Multi-Core	41,617	41,125
Geekbench 6 Single-Core	3,400	3,418
Geekbench 6 Multi-Core	22,520	23,370

Gaming Performance Comparison

The results below are taken from Testing Games’ YouTube channel, where the person conducted this test with all games on the max settings preset, using 6000MT/s Dual Channel DDR5 Memory with the RTX 4090 at 1080p.

There is around a 10% difference between the two, making them suitable for gaming alongside content creation work. If you play at 1440p or higher, then this discrepancy disappears, so for gaming, these CPUs are gems.

Games	RYZEN 9 9950X	Ultra 9 285K
Cyberpunk: 2077	134 FPS	129 FPS
Ghost of Thushima	193 FPS	180 FPS
Starfield	147 FPS	131 FPS
Forza Horizon 5	272 FPS	269 FPS
Hogwarts Legacy	77 FPS	78 FPS
Red Dead Redemption 2	182 FPS	178 FPS

Price Comparison

The Ultra 9 currently retails at Amazon.com for $559, and the Ryzen 9950 X for $515. Pricing information is accurate as of August 1, 2025, and can change without notice.

Final Verdict on AMD Ryzen 9 9950X vs Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

For workstation use, both CPUs are great picks. They will consume immense power and require incredibly potent coolers to keep them cool. However, the Ryzen is very aggressively priced and is a much better buy. Intel seems to be at a dead end, as the Nova Lake is rumored to have a new socket, requiring you to buy a new motherboard. For strictly gaming, if you only need 16 cores, then go for the 9950X3D variant or the 9800X3D, the current king for gaming.

Also Read: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D vs Ryzen 7 9800X3D: Which Is the Better CPU?

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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X vs Intel Core Ultra 9 285K: Which Is the Better CPU?