EPYC 7371 vs Core i9-9990XE

The EPYC 7371 packs 16 cores / 32 threads, while the Core i9-9990XE offers 14 cores / 28 threads — the EPYC 7371 has 2 more cores. Boost clocks reach 3.8 GHz on the EPYC 7371 versus 5.1 GHz on the Core i9-9990XE — a 29.2% clock advantage for the Core i9-9990XE (base: 3.1 GHz vs 4 GHz). The EPYC 7371 uses the Naples (2017−2018) architecture (14 nm), while the Core i9-9990XE uses Skylake (server) (2017−2018) (14 nm). In PassMark, the EPYC 7371 scores 30,156 against the Core i9-9990XE's 30,162 — a 0% lead for the Core i9-9990XE. Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 1,216 vs 1,392, a 13.5% lead for the Core i9-9990XE that directly translates to higher frame rates. Multi-core Geekbench: 6,941 vs 16,199 (80% advantage for the Core i9-9990XE). L3 cache: 64 MB (total) on the EPYC 7371 vs 19.25 MB (total) on the Core i9-9990XE.

The EPYC 7371 uses the TR4 socket (PCIe 4.0), while the Core i9-9990XE uses LGA2066 (PCIe 3.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Both support up to DDR4-2666 memory speed. The EPYC 7371 supports up to 2048 GB of RAM compared to 128 GB — 176.5% more capacity for professional workloads. Memory channels: 8 (EPYC 7371) vs 4 (Core i9-9990XE). PCIe lanes: 128 (EPYC 7371) vs 44 (Core i9-9990XE) — the EPYC 7371 offers 84 more lanes for additional GPUs or NVMe drives. Chipset compatibility: SP3 platform (EPYC 7371) and X299 (Core i9-9990XE).

Both processors feature an unlocked multiplier for overclocking. Only the Core i9-9990XE supports AVX-512 instructions — important for machine learning and scientific applications. Virtualization support: AMD-V, SVM (EPYC 7371) vs VT-x, VT-d (Core i9-9990XE). Primary use case: EPYC 7371 targets High-frequency Server Workloads, Core i9-9990XE targets HEDT. Direct competitor: EPYC 7371 rivals Xeon Gold 6134; Core i9-9990XE rivals Threadripper 2970WX.